Wimme Saari, born in 1959 in Kelottijarvi in the northwestern part of Finnish Samiland, is a modern yoik singer. Yoik is traditional Sami music - an archaic mode of unaccompanied solo singing which is uncannily similar to certain Native American music. It is found all over the vast Samiland from the northern to central regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and to the eastern tip of the Kola Peninsula in Russia. There are three musical dialects in yoik. Wimme represents the North Sami Luohti tradition, which is the most widely known genre of Sami music. Luohti has two unique musical features: it makes use of a pentatonic scale with no half tones and it always has a specific subject, a person or an animal, which it describes in music. Wimme creates sweeping vocal soundscapes that can be inspired by a boiling spring, the state of Texas, or the full moon.

Wimme is a modern interpreter of the Sami yoik, combining colorful grittiness of traditional yoiking elements with original improvisations. In the last few decades yoik in general has undergone some changes; in fact Wimme's yoiking could be called "free yoik." In his yoik, he constructs intense, clear melodic arches and stretches his voice from a sweet falsetto to a grave baritone. But the old yoik is still there: Wimme has recaptured the essence of the ancient yoik, and even the clever voice technique of the animal yoiks.

"My yoiking has some elements of the old style yoiking, such as the voice technique and the throat technique. I can also do some traditional yoiks, but accompaniment doesn't quite suit them. When I yoik and the boys play I have to do something new. Colors and patterns are emerging in my mind - I have to let them guide me. In my home area people say that I have created a new style. Young people, of course, like it most, but even people in their 50s have come to me to thank me."

The art of yoiking has traditionally been transferred through generations of oral tradition, but Wimme learned the tradition in a more modern way:

"I started working at the Finnish Broadcasting Company in '86. There I found some tapes including tapes of my uncle's yoiking. With the help of those tapes I learned some of the old tradition. Although my mother comes from an old yoiking family, the direct connection from one generation to another had already been broken. Due to religious fundamentalism there was no yoiking at home. In border areas like ours, where there are a lot of people other than Sami folks, yoiking has had a tendency to vanish, but in Sami areas like Kautokeino, naturally it has been able to survive better."

RinneRadio Collaborations
The deeply emotional yoik vocals are the center around which the ambient music floats. The vocals are recorded true to the real spirit of the yoik: every vocal part is reproduced "as is" unaltered, strictly not edited or sampled. The yoik comes first and the musical instruments provide the coloring and underlining of the themes. Tapani Rinne and Jari Kokkonen, two main musicians from Finnish techno jazz band RinneRadio, and Matti Wallenius on acoustic string instruments, give shape and depth to Wimme's yoiks. Fuzzy synthesizers, strings, alto sax, keyboards and animal samples swirl in and around Wimme's yoiks creating an eerie, spiritual and atmospheric effect. RinneRadio also have their own records on Finland's Rockadillo Records and Tapani Rinne of the band produced both Wimme and Gierran. All Music Guide on RinneRadio: "RinneRadio incorporate the improvisation and intelligence of jazz while maintaining the energy and futuristic vision of electronic music."

Wimme's profile has steadily become higher and his fame wider. In addition to his solo work, he contributed his unique voice to albums by artists like Hector Zazou (Songs from the Cold Seas), Hedningarna (Tra and Hippjokk - both on NorthSide), Finnish techno-jazz band RinneRadio and the BMG-released compilation Finnish-Ambient Techno Chant.