Lisa Lestander

Lisa Lestander came from Kiruna in Swedish Lapland, where she grew up with the traditional music of the Sami people. Her debut single "Gudejoik" came out in 1980, a song built around the vocal style called joik that's central to that tradition. The recording found listeners who responded to its particular sound.

She kept working with that material, putting out songs like "Hjärtans Ljuva Rara Vän" and "John Blund" that drew from the same source. The music didn't follow pop formulas, and sometimes that meant it met with some resistance from people who saw joik as strictly ceremonial. But she kept singing it her way.

Her recordings have a direct, unadorned quality that comes through in pieces like "Kom Låtom Oss På Jorden" and the medley "Lill Pelle / Brämsungarna / Småjänten." They're not trying to sound like anything else happening at the time. They're just there, a voice from up north doing this very old thing.