Niillas Holmberg & Pauli Lyytinen : Naarattu laulu
Concert on Thursday, 24 September 2026 at 8 pm
Sámi poet and musician Niillas Holmberg and Finnish saxophonist and composer Pauli Lyytinen share a complicity that seems to stem from shamanic trance. Their shared trance draws both on the ancestral mythology of the Sámi people and on the modernity of improvised music, at the far reaches of jazz and Arctic soundscapes. Together, they co-wrote the album Naarattu laulu (literally: ‘the fished out song’), which came out in 2025 on the Finnish independent label Eclipse Music. Niillas Holmberg and Pauli Lyytinen will perform together for the first time in France on 24 September 2026 at Institut finlandais.
Created around the poetic writing of Niillas Holmberg, Naarattu laulu is a deeply evocative and dreamlike work. It blends yoik (ancestral a cappella chant), spoken word, saxophone, percussion and “organic electronics” – as the performers like to call their blend of sounds captured in nature. Water flows as a recurring motif in this poetic mise en abyme tinged with surrealism; like the water of the nourishing river at the mouth of which the elders once glimpsed whales. How water carries the voice!
The poet and the saxophonist fish the song out from the depths of the water and set it down on the riverbank. They take the time to live out their waking dream in harmony with the natural elements, without ever rushing needlessly. Rather than a finished product, they define this work as an act. Naarattu laulu has received an enthusiastic reception from the critic and has been nominated for the prestigious Teosto Prize 2026.
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Jalvvi Niillas Holmberg: vocals, recitation, songwriting
Jalvvi Niillas Holmberg, a poet, novelist, screenwriter, musician and activist, was born in 1990 and lives in Ohcejohka, Sápmi (Utsjoki in Finnish). He has published two novels and six collections of poetry, and his works have been translated into more than ten languages. In 2023, he was awarded the Finnish Eino Leino Prize for his entire body of work and has been nominated twice for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. Halla Helle, his first novel published in 2021 (published in French in 2024 by Éditions du Seuil), has been hailed by critics as “the Sámi people’s Magic Mountain”.
Niillas has been practising yoik since early childhood. This unique vocal tradition does not simply describe a person, an animal or a landscape, but aims to embody their spiritual essence through melody. He performs as a solo artist, as a guest with various Nordic ensembles, and in duo with Pauli Lyytinen since 2021. His poem Luovuus formed the basis for the first symphony composed by Roope Mäenpää, with Niillas performing as soloist at its premiere by the Lapland Chamber Orchestra in 2022, conducted by John Storgårds. Niillas is known as a fervent advocate for the rights of the Sámi and indigenous peoples to self-determination. He has been involved in several movements against extractivism in Sámi regions.
Learn more: Niillas Holmberg
Pauli Lyytinen: saxophone, kalimba, percussion, electronics
Pauli Lyytinen (1983) has established himself as one of the most distinctive musicians on the new Finnish jazz scene. Throughout a professional career that began in Brazil in his late teens, the saxophonist has built a reputation as an uncompromising and daring artist who pays little heed to stylistic boundaries and dogmas. The tenor and soprano saxophones are his instruments of choice, but he also enjoys playing the alto saxophone, the Mellotron, keyboards and percussion. He currently performs as a solo artist, in duo with poet and musician Niillas Holmberg, with his trio Rabbit Hole, with indie-pop trio Elifantree led by singer Annie-Elif, trio Sole Azul and Equally Stupid, to name but a few of his most active groups. He performs regularly in Europe and around the world at numerous festivals, in clubs and on prestigious stages across the globe.
Lyytinen has released around thirty albums with his bands. His second solo album, Lehto/Korpi (We Jazz label), was named Jazz Album of the Year 2024 in Finland. He was artist-in-residence at the Südtirol Jazz Festival in 2018, and was named Artist of the Year 2017 by the Pori Jazz Festival. He performed at Institut finlandais in 2014 as part of guitarist Raoul Björkenheim’s eCsTaSy quartet, a group that is still active today.
Learn more: Pauli Lyytinen
