Vajas

Welcome to Vajas



Experience the musical universe of Vajas – a world of mysterious beauty and peculiar impressions. And there is rhythm! Powerful deep rhythms, sparkling electronica and enchanting yoik (saami chanting) All of this mixed with wild and beautiful violin playing.



These days Vajas debut album Sacred Stone is being released in Norway and Europe. The reviews have been outmost praising: This music is original, emotional and exceptional.



Vajas represents a captivating synergy of arctic voices and sounds. Sacred Stone gives us powerful music. Conjuring tones, undiscovered landscapes, peacefulness and joy. Listen to the powerful Saami yoiks of Ánde Somby emanating from the distant tundra. Dive into the entrancing violin stylings and melodic voice of Kristin Mellem. Experience the adventurous synthesizer voyages of Nils Johansen.



Vajasmusic originates from the traditional Saami people, the indigenous people of Northern Europe: The Laplanders, the Reindeer People, the Shamans. Sacred Stone brings us beyond our borders. The magic aurora carpet drizzles chilly snowflakes. Waves of arctic electronica take us far away. Bringing deep blue drops of winter. Providing you the midnight sun. This is shamanistic yoik. This is woman string wildcraft.



Vajas is presented on the internet on two special home pages featuring no less than 14 different languages. We urge you to use the (pop-up) link, visit www.vajas.info or www.vajas.no and select your prefered language for a deeper presentation.



Vajas' album "Sacred stone"



The first full length album is called "Sacred stone" and is now available



Vajas' on iTunes



Yes, Now the songs are available on iTunes: If you use a direct link and click here you can purchase the songs right away.



Vajas: Three individuals



* VAJAS MEMBER ÁNDE SOMBY: Ánde Somby is the front man, lead singer and "chant'er". His vocals are partly traditional Sami (Sapmi) "joik" or "yoik", but it is perhaps right to say only partly. The reason is that Ánde is constantly developing his use of the voice and he is always open to try out new ways of writing and performing vocal music, based on the arctic Samii tradition.



* VAJAS MEMBER KRISTIN MELLEM: Kristin Mellem is a trained and educated professional violinist, equally at home with classical music, traditional folk music and a lot of different musical genres. Like with Ánde, Kristin is constantly open to new ways of writing, composing and performing.



* VAJAS MEMBER NILS JOHANSEN: While Ánde Somby comes from the Sami tradition and Kristin Mellem from the classical tradition, Nils Johansen is a senior musician and artist who has been a member of the Norwegian pop/indie duo Bel Canto for more than twenty years. He has written music for albums, for smaller groups and for full orchestras. As with Ánde Somby and Kristin Mellem, Nils prefers to see a membership in a band as a means to artistic development.



This is why Vajas would like to be seen and heard as a band and as musicians/composers with a link to "arctic tradition" or "Samii tradition" and a strong link to their own ideas as individual artists. Vajas is much more than just one thing. The intention behind Vajas is to be a musical melting pot with traditional roots and lots of originality.



Vajas on the internet



We just need to sayecho, echo; You should really use the (pop-up) link and visit www.vajas.info OR www.vajas.no and select your prefered language for a deeper presentation of the group.



Vajas on YouTube



But before you do, you are invited to see a video clip with the song "Sparrow of the wind" from one of the performances. The gig for "Sparrow" was at the Park Theatre (Parkteatret) in Oslo, Norway, and it really is a "video on a shoestring", because the band were filming and doing the sound check at the same time ;-)



But regardless of the low-cost profile in the video you'll nevertheless get to see the band on a stage. So if you stay on MySpace and use the video and the four tracks in the MySpace player above this text, you should get a pretty good idea of what Vajas is.



These songs is from the album "Sacred stone" which is easily available in all the online stores and on iTunes as separate songs. Click HERE to read a standard text file with information about the concert clip.



Sparrow of the wind: