Pile o´ Sápmi Tribute
with Matti Aikio, Ken Are Bongo, Mai-Lis Eira, Elle Márjá Eira, and Morten Hyld Pettersen

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Concert with video visuals
11 pm–1 am
Goldgrube, Eisenschmiede 85, Kassel

Photo: Morten Hyld Pettersen 



Free entry
Doors open at 10 pm

Young reindeer herder, Jovsset Ánte Sara, stands alone in court against the Norwegian state. The state’s regulations are forcing him to slaughter his reindeer herd down to seventy-five, which, in practice, means an end to his livelihood. At the same time, Máret Ánne Sara, his sister and an artist, raises challenging questions aimed at the Norwegian state about the reindeer herders’ legal protection and society at large through her work Pile o´ Sápmi.

Máret Ánne Sara has invited artists from Sápmi to Kassel to further her installation Pile o´ Sápmi with movies and music. This is the second tribute to Pile o´ Sápmi—the first took place in January 2017 in Tromsø during the second hearing of proceedings against the Norwegian government for their practice of forced reindeer culling.

Part of the Pile o´ Sápmi project, Elle Márjá Eira’s musical expression is at the intersection of joik (a traditional style of Sámi singing), electronic, and Indigenous music. Performing a variety of songs with Morten Hyld Pettersen, the concert will be accompanied by visual material from the documentary currently being filmed by Mai-Lis Eira and Matti Aikio focusing on the Norwegian Reindeer Herding Act, proceedings against the forced culls of Sámi reindeer herds, and Pile o´ Sápmi.


Mai-Lis Eira is a Sámi filmmaker. She started following Jovsset Ánte Sara’s court case when it was still in district court and where she became familiar with Máret Ánne Sara’s project, Pile o´ Sápmi. She has been following the siblings since then and documenting the work as it evolves.

Elle Márjá Eira is a multimedia artist and one of Sápmi’s most renowned performers. She’s also a film producer visualizing lyrics through music, film, and soundscapes. She grew up in a reindeer herding family in Kautokeino, Norway and retrieves inspiration from her childhood, life in the North, and reindeer herding. In addition to playing with her own band and performing internationally, including concerts in Brazil, Guatemala, Germany, Canada, Switzerland, the USA, Russia, and Finland, Eira collaborates musically with John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) and Lucy Parnell in the newly formed band, Snoweye.

Morten Hyld Pettersen is a musician and music producer from Alta, Northern Norway.

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