Simon Issát Marainen is a joik, poet and reindeer herder from Nedre Soppero, and culture is in his genes.
He started writing poems in his teens and is now an established joik and musician. He has received a cultural scholarship, been nominated for the Swedish Radio Short Story Prize, appeared on stage as Lars Levi Laestadius and can also be heard as a vocalist in the Swedish-Norwegian band Ára. "A Sami cultural worker must be broad in his register if he is to make a living".
Now we look forward to finally hearing his mesmerizing stories and joik. He has been described as a "low-key culture bearer with a voice that makes the audience's skin crawl and want to get up from the benches".
About his joik, Simon has said:
"It feels awkward and uncomfortable to write in Swedish. It feels uncomfortable for the tongue, indeed for the whole mouth to speak Swedish. Almost like when the dentist examines your teeth and looks for holes, sometimes it hurts. What soothes best is to lubricate my tongue, my thoughts, my mouth and my whole soul with my mother tongue Sami. And if the joik were a language, it would also be my mother tongue."
