Before she participates in the songs section of Sámi Grand Prix on Saturday, Daniel spoke with Sara Ajnnak, who is taking part with her song “Biäggålmaj“.
Check out our interview with Sara Ajnnak here!
Daniel spoke with Sara about singing in the Ume Sámi language, the story behind her song “Biäggålmaj” and her collaboration with David Lindgren Zacharias, and the growth of Sámi Grand Prix to wider audiences.
Who is Sara Ajnnak?
Sara Ajnnak is an Ume Sámi singer hailing from a reindeer herding family in the North of Sweden. She began creating music in her native tongue, the critically endangered Ume Sami language, just over 10 years ago, and has since released 4 albums, the third of which, “Gulldalit – Can You Hear Me” was nominated for the Swedish Grammis in the folk music category.
Sara previously competed in Sámi Grand Prix in 2017, and this year is competing with the song “Biäggålmaj”, which was written by Sara herself alongside David Lindgren Zacharias
What is Sámi Grand Prix?
Created in 1990 as part of the Sámi Easter Festival, Sámi Grand Prix is a music competition consisting of two parts, a modern song competition, comparable to Eurovision and its companion national selection shows, as well a joik competition, each with six competitors. That means we’ll have two winners, a winning song and a winning joik.
Both sections are decided on by a mix of an expert jury and a televote in a 50/50 split. All of the songs must be performed at least partially in one of the Sámi languages we went through earlier, and the usual rules you know and love of not releasing your song before the official release apply here too.
Are you excited for Sámi Grand Prix? As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads TikTok and Bluesky as we prepare for Eurovision 2025.
News Source: That Eurovision Site
Photo Credit: Carl-Johan Utsi / Sámi Music Festival / NRK
Rory Gannon
My niece is living in Denmark and she follows the Swedish Song Contest every year. She posted something on Facebook about that festival. That made me interested in learning more. That is how I stumbled upon the Sami Song festival of 2025. I watched it on my smartphone. It was a true eye-opener for me. I liked every part of it, the mix of joik and modern song.
Keep up the good work. Greetings from The Netherlands.
Martine