Garaman Hall Christmas Concert features music of northern Europe

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Marja Helena Fjellheim Mortensson from Hedmark, Norway, will sing Lapland folk songs called ‘yoiku’ at Garaman Hall on Friday.

Two young ladies from Northern Europe are performing winter songs at a Chritmas Concert at Ginoza Culture Center Garaman Hall tomorrow, Dec. 2.

Young yoiku singer Marja Helena Fjellheim Mortensson was born in the Hedmark County in Norway, in 1995. Her family herded reindeers to make a living, so most of her songs tell about the life with reindeers. She also dedicates her songs to saving the Southern Sami language.

In 2013, she earned the Culture Award of Hedmark, and a year after, she found herself performing as the “Young Artist of the Year” at the Riddu Riddu Festival, an annual festival in Norway dedicated to preserving the Sami culture and language. She also performed at festivals in Taiwan, Siberia, and the Republic of Congo that year.

The second guest at the Christmas concert is Laima Jansone from Latvia, who is a good a master at playing Latvian traditional instrument called Kokle. Kokle is string instrument similar to Kantele in Finland and koto in Japan. After she graduated the Latvian Music Academy, she learned playing kantele in Finland.

In 2011, she released her music on a CD called “Sidrabs.” In the same year, she perfumed as the Latvian guest at the WOMEX (World Music EXPO) event. The performance earned her a nomination for the Latvian Music and Latvian Annual Theatre Awards.

The concert takes place at the Garaman Hall at Ginoza Culture Center. Doors to the venue open at 18:30 and the concert starts at 19:30

Admission is ¥2,500yen in advance and ¥3,000yen in door. Children up to student age get in for free but need a numbered reservation ticket. Preschool and younger children are not allowed to enter.

Advance tickets are available at Garaman Hall website (Japanese), by calling 098-983-2613 (24 hours a day) of by email.

Please don’t forget write your name, phone number, name of the concert, and how many tickets you need when making a reservation. Advance tickets are available until midnight on the day before the concert.