“We have a disturbing history here in Norway about how the Sámi people and their language have been treated,” explained Sølvi Lien, artistic director of the Førdefestivalen. The Sámi are an Indigenous group that have lived in northern Scandinavia for thousands of years, but have faced often violent forced assimilation in Norway, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries. “Their language has been banned and yoik was not allowed", adds Lien. “We, as a big festival on traditional music, have a responsibility for lifting these artists up, as well as their language and culture.” According to Wikipedia, 10,339 people live in the town of Førde, Norway. It’s 61.45 degrees north (as far north as parts of Yukon, Canada and Greenland), which means that it never gets truly “dark” during this unique Norwegian festival that takes place during the first week of July in the fjords (the word “førde” is an old Norwegian term for fjord).
Fjord near Vassenden, northwest of Førde, Norway. Photo by Dan Rosenberg
2025 marked the 35th edition of the Førdefestivalen, and Sámi music played a prominent role at the massive event that included 250 musicians and 71 shows. Marja Mortensson, a young South Sámi yoiker and singer from Svahken Sïjte, a reindeer herding region, wowed audiences with a special program, the first Sámi work ever commissioned for the Førdefestivalen. It was central to theme for this year’s festival: “Music and Language.” Mortensson uses music as part of her mission to preserve the South Sámi language, while also developing her own artistic voice, complete with new yoiks, lyrics, and music, accompanied by collaborators Daniel Herskedal on tuba, Jakop Janssonn on percussion and Kristian Olstad on guitar. Sámk yoiks (also spelled joiks) are among the oldest vocal traditions in Europe.
Sámi singer Marja Mortensson and Førdefestivalen artistic director Sølvie Lien. Photo by Lieve Boussauw
The biggest personal highlight of 2025 Førdefestivalen was on the main stage, a new production featuring Iranian singer, Mahsa Vahdat (now living in San Francisco to pursue her career, as women in Iran aren’t allowed to sing in public) and Sámi singer Kajsa Balto.
Kajsa Balto (L) performing with Mahsa Vadat (R) at the 2025 Førdefestivalen. Photo by Lieve Boussauw
“The focus of the project is on light, in the world that now seems darker and darker,” explains the festival’s artistic director Sølvi Lien. “It’s a project to give us hope, as both Persian and Sámi culture have a passion for the sun,” she adds. The heartfelt musical encounter was so moving it left many in the audience in tears.
Dan Rosenberg interviewing Mahsa Vadat after her concert at the 2025 Førdefestivalen. Photo by Erik Hillestad
After the concert, Iranian vocalist Mahsa Vadat told me more about the project’s origins. “Both Sámi music and Persian music are strongly connected to nature. We exchanged songs on how to created a musical dialogue around Nowruz, the spring equinox,” where the show first premiered in Norway, followed by this event in Førde, just after the summer solstice.
2am in Førde during the Førdefestivalen in July, where skies never go dark during festival week. Photo by Dan Rosenberg
Indigenous languages were a central theme of the 2025 edition of the Førdefestivalen. Guatemalan singer/guitarist Sara Curruchich presented songs in Kaqchikel, one of 17 Mayan languages still spoken in her home country. “First, I'm singing in Kaqchikel as it's an act of love to my ancestors, to my communities,” she told me before her concert. “I think when you sing in your mother tongue, it's like singing to your ancestors. I sing in Kaqchikel, because it's an act of resistance in this colonialist system.”
Sara Curruchich performing at the 2025 Førdefestivalen. Photo by Knut Utler
“When we lose our languages, we lose our universe,” Currichich told me about her motivation to perform, and how she dedicates much of her program to the 200,000 Guatemalans who were killed or disappeared during that country’s devastating civil war that ran through the 1980s and 1990s.
Sadly, we don’t have space in this article to cover all the 71 A-list concerts at this truly remarkable festival. The overwhelming majority of artists played acoustically in performing arts centres.
Some of my favourites included Mali’s Trio Da Kali, who performed Mandé music of southern Mali. They are part of a centuries-old griot tradition of musicians and oral historians. The group features vocalist Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté (daughter of legendary musician Kassé Mady Diabaté), Lassana Diabaté, a virtuoso of the balofon (a traditional weWest African wooden xylophone) and master of the ngoni (a West African lute), Mamadou Kouyaté.
Trio da Kali performing at the 2025 Førdefestivalen. Photo by Knut Utler
Another highlight was the late night concert from the Berlin-based Japanese group Mitsune, whose show combined Marx Brothers inspired humour and music centred around the tsugaru-shamisen, a traditional three-stringed lute once popularised by blind, travelling musicians.
Mitsune performing at the 2025 Førdefestivalen. Photo by Lena Sme
Another of the most memorable moments of the festival was the haunting Norwegian vocal trio Hekate, who did an extra show after midnight at the Sogn og Fjordane Art Museum. They perform a modern version of Norwegian a capella dance music where two singers regularly did long vocal hums to create an instrument layer that managed to get the crowd at the city’s modern art museum dancing in the gallery well after midnight.
Hekate performing at the 2025 Førdefestivalen. Photo by Knut Utler
There’s a reason the Førdefestivalen is on so many global music fans’ “bucket lists,” between it’s stellar lineups and stunning natural setting in the Norwegian fjords. Its biggest problem is, after the festival is over, rather than crossing off something from your “dream list,” you’re left counting the days until next July when it starts again.
Dan Rosenberg
Dan Rosenberg is a journalist, radio producer (Cafe International, Afropop Worldwide) and music producer based in Toronto, Canada
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I Luoghi della Musica