Niillas Holmberg chant

An exceptional concert brings together Sámi poet-musician Niillas Holmberg and Finnish saxophonist-composer Pauli Lyytinen for a French premiere on 24 September at the Inst

Niillas Holmberg & Pauli Lyytinen: Naarattu laulu Concert on Thursday 24 September 2026 at 8 PM Sámi poet-musician Niillas Holmberg and Finnish saxophonist-composer Pauli Lyytinen cultivate a deep connection that seems to emanate from shamanic trance.

Their sympathetic trance draws both from the ancestral mythology of the Sámi people and the modernity of improvised music, on the borders of jazz and Arctic soundscapes.

Together, they co-signed the album Naarattu laulu (literally: the retrieved song), released in 2025 on the independent Finnish label Eclipse Music.

Niillas Holmberg and Pauli Lyytinen will perform together for the first time in France on 24 September 2026 at the Institut finlandais. Conceived around Niillas Holmberg's poetic writing, 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 protagonists like to call their blend of sounds captured from nature.

Water flows recurrently in this poetic mise en abyme tinged with surrealism; like the water of the nourishing river at whose mouth the ancients once glimpsed whales. As water carries the voice!

The poet and the saxophonist retrieve the song from the aquatic depths and deposit it on the bank. They take the time to live their waking dream in osmosis with natural elements, never rushing unnecessarily. They define this work as an act and not as a finished product.

Naarattu laulu has received an enthusiastic critical reception and was nominated for the prestigious Teosto Prize 2026. → Book your tickets here.