From July 12th to 16th, the prestigious Riddu Ri Aboriginal Festival takes placedou Back from the stack in Kåfjord. Big international names like Ana Tijoux and the band Go_a are on the bill, as well as a seminar program aimed at challenging. In the wake of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report, festival director Sage Solbak wants to create a space for difficult conversations during this year’s festival.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission encourages the cultural industry to promote reconciliation in society. Riddu Riđđu has taken on this social mission from the start, but it hasn’t become any less important in a year like this. For this year’s program, we set out to create a space for the most painful conversations, so we can get closer to each other than we’ve ever done before, Solbak says.
This year, the festival is therefore launching a new concept, as a complement to the symposium programme: a conversation series they have chosen to call Lavvosahkaeasily translated into Conversation in Lavvuen in norwegian. Through this concept, the Festival Director will present an alternative to Western models of discussion, by returning to the roots of their own culture. The stage must disappear, and the distinction between the audience and the interlocutors must not be equally defined. In this way, the festival hopes to lower the threshold for feelings and thoughts that might spontaneously pop up in a room.
I think many people have experienced that the best conversations happen when we sit together in a circle, preferably around a fire or inside a lávvu. It’s the familiar feeling of security that we want to take with us Lavvosahka– Conversations, when we get into hot topics like sexual abuse in Sapmi, concealment and cultural loss, the festival director continues.
In addition, some members of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will meet for a “Is that right?” , and a Men’s Committee had been invited to facilitate a conversation on the challenges of equality for Sami men, and a large delegation of indigenous people from Russia would come to talk about the consequences of the war for them personally.
Everything is arranged to be a festival full of great experiences. And even if we dare to face evil, of course we will dance and have a lot of fun on the way!
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