” I belong to a people that wanders between worlds. A people following the wind, the water, the reindeer. “
Maxida Märak has entered the public space with thunder and bangs. There are few who may have avoided her frequent presence on playlists and live scenes, as well as in our television sets and daily newspapers. She produces hip-hop in a unique and innovative way where Sápmi is always the norm. She mixes hard rap, hooked choruses and heavy electronic beats with her magical joke. Something that very few in the world have experimented with before.
It is not more than a few years since Maxida Märak decided to start producing her own songs. She was then an established artist in the joik world. But one evening when she performed one of her songs that is heart-warming to her, a protest song against the mining industry, she made a decision. She would invest wholeheartedly on the proprietary hip hop and decided to save money and buy her own recording equipment. As a complete beginner, she spent many hours in front of tutorials on youtube. She learned quickly and soon managed to produce her own songs, just as she wanted them to sound.
Maxida is a very multi-faceted artist and in recent years has been impressively productive. We have seen her in the movie Happy Greetings from Missångerträsk whose member motif, Feel That Gold, she both wrote and performed. In SVT’s big success venture Midnight Sun, by the creators of the Bron, we saw her in one of the main roles and it is Maxida who joys in the vignette of the series. Not least, she has traveled around Sweden, Norway and Greenland to deliver the self-produced hip hop live. The music is of course also released, so far in the form of a number of singles and two EPs and she is always running and working with new material. Although the message in her songs is clear, it is not politics that drives her as an artist. It is the quest to create bold music. On stage, Maxida is cocky and takes care of herself. She is rather too much than too little. By being honest and transparent with who she is, she hopes to inspire others that you can become what you want, regardless of background.Maxida has also come up with a whole bunch of honored assignments. She spoke in summer on the Swedish Radio’s flagship Summer in P1 2015 and has appeared in the Globe twice, during the Sports Gala and the whole of Sweden Skramlar. In the fall of 2015, a documentary series, Sapmi Sisters, was broadcast in four parts about her and her sister Mimie Märak, at the best broadcast time in SVT and in the fall Maxida was guest in the premiere episode for the third season of SVT’s immensely acclaimed Jills Veranda.
” I belong to a people that wanders between worlds. A people following the wind, the water, the reindeer. I come from a culture totally dependent on a functional, natural cycle. But our way of life, in harmony with the forests and the mountains, no longer has a place in this society. For centuries the Sami have been subjected to violations by the Swedish state. Not only because they’ve stolen our lands and exploited our territories. They have also forcibly converted us to Christianity, placed us in so-called nomadic schools, forcibly removed us, measured our skulls, burned our sacred drums. The list of violations is long. To me, the violations now are the same as they were 400 years ago, only that they’ve been modernized. We, the Sami, don’t count. Our way of life, doesn’t count. Today, over a 1000 mining explorations are taking place in Sweden, the majority of which on traditional Sami land. Our appeals are rejected. Our protests ignored. Our voices are not heard…
But now, winds will turn.”
For more information:
http://www.maxida.se/
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