Arja Saijonmaa Arja Saijonmaa
Nära (Kirkelig Kulturverksted)
Recently I came across a listing for Finnish vocalist Arja Saijonmaa in the
Kirkelig Kulturverksted catalog and her most recent
album Nara, a collection of peace songs recorded in a church in Assisi,
Italy piqued my curiosity since I am an admirer of Saint
Francesco (Francis) of Assisi. Standing barefoot (similar to the 12th Century
Franciscan monks) on the cover, did Arja, herself a
peacemaker feel the presence of the original Franciscan monks while visiting the
famed Italian community? The recording features
17 tracks comprised of medieval and contemporary songs of peace, including St.
Francesco's song, Song to the Creation (which acts as a bridge between historic and modern songs). Arja follows St.
Francesco's example of simplicity and all of the songs only feature piano and her expertly rendered alto vocals further highlighted by the
ambiance of an ancient church.
A handful of the tracks, Killen, Marina, Stranden, Balkongen, and Gator were
composed by her long-time collaborator, the Greek composer, Mikis Theodorakis.
Petri Somer handled arrangement and piano duties. The lyrics are sung in
Norwegian and Finnish and there are no English translations in the liner notes.
This sent me to do a search on the web where I only found one site, a United
Nations site with information on Arja written in English. Arja has played many
roles from peace activist, filmmaker,
producer, actress and vocalist. As a vocalist she has sold over 2 million
albums. She has also starred in musicals and movies written for her and interestingly enough, her career started in 1970 when she
gave voice to Greek composer and freedom fighter Mikis Theodorakis' world tour.
In 1987 she was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for the
United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)
and since that time she has visited over 40 refugee camps and even produced
documentary films on refugees. In 1994, she initiated and organized a major
televised peace concert that brought together Yassir Arafat (a Nobel Peace Prize
winner), Shimon Peres and 200 Norwegian, Israeli and Palestinian children onto a
stage where they sang, We Want Peace. The peace keeper, Arja spreads compassion
once again through her vocal talent on Nara. Now that we are on the brink of
choosing global peace or extinction of all life forms, it is time to embrace our
peacemakers.
World Music Central
http://worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/20040303110949798