Music like Ulla Pirttijärvi

Ulla Pirttijärvi-Länsman is a Sami joik singer from the village of Angeli (Sami: Aŋŋel), Finland. She began her career with the music group Angelin Tytöt, but left soon after to pursue a solo career. She performs traditional joik music with Western arrangements of contemporary instruments.

Ulla Pirttijärvi was raised with joik music and chanting. As a young child, she listened to her mother and uncle sing stories to her, and she chanted along; by age ten she was singing on her own. She then started performing in public with a group of young girls who called themselves Angelin Tytöt.

Pirttijärvi is very involved promoting Sami culture and Sami self-rule. In 1996, she wrote a music book called Hoŋkoŋ dohkká, which won the cultural prize given by the Saami Council, and composed and produced an accompanying album full of songs aimed at children to teach them the Sami language and the Sami world experience.