Majandash
Mjandasj is a Sami fairy tale, and the performance takes you into the world of this particular fairy tale. When this performance started, the actors began the whole thing by introducing themselves. Saying actors can almost be seen as offensive, because they are so much more than that, they are much closer to artists, possibly artistic and creative actors. They dance, joke, sing and play instruments. And they also have the empathy that makes this so comfortable and easy to like. They are a duo, Ola Stinnerbom who was born and raised Sami in Sweden, and Tanja Kortelainen who was also born and raised Sami in Finland. After introducing themselves, they asked the children if they knew how to joik, which all the little ones said no to. So they started a small joik course. The way they taught the little ones to understand joik was with hand movements. When Ola joiked "the worm's joik", he moved his index finger in the way that worms do. When both Ola and Tanja joiked "the hare's joik", they raised their hands behind their heads so that they looked like hare's ears. When they joked, they wrinkled their noses, which made them look even more like rabbits, and it also made the little ones laugh.
When they started the play itself it was all mysterious, they had figured out that now that we all understood joik we could go to Mjandasj. When Tanja said "Let's go to Mjandasj", the light effects gave the illusion that we were actually moving. The stage, which had previously only used normal LED lights, was now lit up in a beautiful blue color. The play was based on a Mjandasj woman having a son, but this son did not want to marry one of his kind - he wanted a human woman. His mother was opposed to this, but out of love for her son she travels to the human world like a reindeer to find a suitable wife for him. She finds three women, and they all travel to Mjandasj alone. Unfortunately for us viewers, Ola and Tanja declared that they would not perform the entire play, but that they would instead take and perform the pieces of music that the two human women who were left as candidates would sing and play for the Mjandasj boy. This spoiled the mood during the play a little, but it quickly returned. Throughout the play, or as much of it as we saw, there was always the sound of a kantele, the kind of stringed instrument you play standing up with your fingers. Tanja was responsible for this. When she had to show that she was a Mjandasj woman, and not one of the human girls of the Mjandasj boy, she bent her head, so that the mask gave the illusion that she was now inhuman. The mask showed a face and scared some of the children, while others laughed at the appearance of the mask. It ended with a beautiful melody where they mixed in joik and dance along with the almost heavenly tones of the kantele. All in all, what I got to see of this piece was beautiful and beautifully executed.
Sandra
Photo: Lars Opstad