Today I happened to search in Myspace for any connections to Norway and Sami culture.  The reason being, I am 100% norweigian, and I've always wanted to feel that connection to my heritage, and know where I come from, even feel good about where I've come from.  My personal difficulty has been from the fact that I come from a very alcoholic family.  And, I guess I've been jaded about finding positive role models of the my same heritage.  I do believe they're out there, I guess I haven't been all that successful.

In searching Myspace, I came across Mari Boine, who I've actually seen in performance, and love her music.  Mari is actually Sami, the indigenous culture in scandinavia.  The Sami are very similar to the Native American (Indians) here in the US, having been, what's the word, 'conquered', run down and abused.  Their musical form or song style is called 'joiking' (and no, that's not joking) it's pronouced yo-eek, or yo-eeking, and starts at a low pitch and jumps up, and then back down, very similar to the Native Americans, but with a greater pitch difference.  There are some awesome joik performers, traditional and contemporary.

Right now I'm listening to Annebjorg Lien, a hardanger fiddler from Norway, very fun stuff, I really like it.  At the same time I'm realizing that at any given time I can get into very differant music, and am surprised at the variation, sometimes. 

I've spent so much time and energy getting into the music and dance of Louisiana that I'm actually surprised at how I've limited myself from so much.  Don't get me wrong, the fact that I love the music and dance from Louisiana, especially zydeco, will always be true.  It's just that I've missed out on some very big areas of my own self.

Gotta go, more later.