I will tell you about my mother`s earliest memory: She is a little girl, maybe three years old. Sitting on her father`s lap. And he teaches her to count, in Kveni language: Yksi, kaksi kolme, nelja…..And she repeats with her little voice: Yksi, kaksi, kolme, nelje….She repeats the words of her fore-fathers - and mothers. She repeats the words that came from Finland a long time ago: The Kveni language.

In the home of my mother, Norwegian was the main language. But the generation of my grand-parents commanded three languages: Norwegian, Kveni and Sami. Storfjord was a meeting-place of three tribes. The Kveni people brougt along old finnish songs, rhymes and tunes. The songs helped them remembering their old country and Kveni language. For more than a hundred years, the Kveni people were suppressed by the norwegian government. In this period the songs and hymns were very important. In many areas the Kveni language is almost gone. But some of the songs live on!

Among the Kveni music-repertoire we also find tunes that clearly come from the east: From Russia and maybe Moldavia. Sometimes we see that the lyrics are nearly the same in Norwegian and Finnish folk songs, even when the melodies are totally different.
So, melodies, stories and rhymes have been crossing the borders, following people from east to the west. And the borders are not old: Seventy years before my grand-father was born, the Norwegian border to the east was not yet finally set. And people in this area didn`t care about the borders. The borders were not important to them. People from three cultures lived side by side, using all three languages. The borders were artifical barriers made by the rulers in the capital.

For hundreds of years, the marked in Skibotn was a meeting-place for all kinds of people from Nordkalotten. Twice a year, they met to exchange fish, woll, furs, meat, clothes and all they needed for living. Also fiddlers and musicians gathered to play and celebrate, and maybe earn a bit for their living. They learned tunes from each other, and in this way the tradition was spread out.

Five hundred years ago, people from Kvenland had already settled in Ruija; the cost of North-Norway. This we know from written documents. The immigrants came from Tornedalen and Bottenviken in North-Finland: To work, or to fish. They were clever farmers.

During the 18. And 19. Century, the immigration increased, and around 1900, 25% of the Finnmark population was Kveni people.

The religious songs have always been a strong part of the Kveni culture. Every Sunday people from the fjord gathered in eachothers homes to congregate. The rooms were over-crowded with people dressed in dark clothes, the women with shawls covering their heads. The Læstadi-revival was strong and genuine. The congregation went on for hours. Grave faces. Consentration. Reflection. And the singing! Slowly. With no instrumental accompany: The melodies were slowly flowing like swells of the ocean: Norwegian songs. Finnish songs. Sami songs. The scriptures were always translated, so everybody got to hear their native tongue. The congregation was a refuge where all three languages were equal: Norwegian, Sami, Kveni.

From about 1850 the Kveni people started to feel the suppression from the Norwegian State. The Government was afraid of an invation from Russia/Finland, and they didn`t trust the Kveni people in Troms and Finnmark. This was also the national-romantic epoch. Norwegian viking heroes were gloryfied. Sami and Kveni people were called Mongoles, and declared second rate and inferior. At school, the children were not allowed to speak Kveni or Sami. They were not allowed to sing their own songs. Boardingschools were built to keep the children out of the influence of their parents. People who wanted to build a house were forced to change their names: Only people with Norwegian names were allowed to buy their own land.

The Kveni people have lived through hard times: Times of starvation and wars in Finland, times of Norwegification and suppression in Norway. Maybe this is why Kveni melodies have a colour of sadness? People have been mistrusted and expelled. Many felt shameful because of their Finnish origin. Many of them didn`t pass on the Kveni songs and language to their children, to spare them from shame and trouble. In some areas, the joyful dancing-tunes died out because of the pietistic revival. But luckily, in some areas, the old Kveni language is still alive and the music tradition is still going strong.

The Kveni people are waking up now, realizing that the shame should be on the Norwegian Government. Not on themselves. In Troms and Finnmark there are 50-60 000 persons who consider themselves Kveni decendants. At some schools, children can learn Finnish as a second language. Finnish is quite close to Kveni. At Tromsø Museum they have about 1000 Kveni melodies. There are still old people alive who can pass on the stories. We have a Kveni cultural heritage waiting for people to explore and enjoy it !

Thanks to:

• my mother, Reidun Mellem
• my aunt, Anne Dalheim
• Oddvar ørnebakk, Skibotn
• Ola Graff, Tromsø Museum
• Norske Kveners Forbund