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Folk, fiddles and foot-stomping: how gen Z rebooted old-school Norwegian music

Norway’s traditional music scene gaining traction and been given a twist by a new clubby younger audience

The Sámi vocal tradition of joiking, which for a long time was banned in schools as a result of racist assimilation policies by the Norwegian government, is also being revitalised by younger generations and artists such as Marja Mortensson, 30, gaining mainstream recognition. The Sámi people are the Indigenous population of Sápmi, a region covering northern Finland, Russia, Norway and Sweden, who have been subjected to widespread discrimination. Syvertsen, who plays the hardanger fiddle and grew up with folk music, said a big part of her own fascination comes from the power of a single instrument and its survival over so many hundreds of years.

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