The Ume Sámi artist Katarina Barruk is one of the clearest and most compelling voices to emerge from Sábmie in today’s music landscape. With great confidence and a magnetic stage presence, she brings together joik, pop and art music in an expression that is at once raw, refined and deeply personal.

Joik as a contemporary language

Barruk is renowned as an exceptional live performer, where the free, improvisational nature of joik and the critically endangered Ume Sámi language are central. Through her music, she carries her mother tongue to international audiences, with language forming a vital and inseparable part of her artistic identity.

Groundbreaking – and historic

In recent years, she has appeared on some of the world’s most prestigious stages and festivals, including Roskilde, Øyafestivalen, Iceland Airwaves, Reeperbahn and WOMEX. She has performed with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 2020 became the first artist to receive SKAP’s Kulturbärarpris. She was also nominated for the Best New Talent Award 2025.

With the album Ruhttuo (Boreal Forest), Barruk has firmly established her position as an innovative and uncompromising artist. In 2025, she made history as the first Sámi artist to perform at the BBC Proms, with a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

This is a rare opportunity to experience an artist who brings together tradition, the contemporary moment and a powerful stage presence — and who carries Sábmie with her out into the wider world.

This concert is for you if you:

• are curious about Sámi culture and want to experience joik in a modern, living form
• appreciate powerful vocalists and concerts marked by presence and intensity
• are open to genre-blending – where tradition, pop and art music meet