Aninia on Melodifestivalen 2017: "Jon Henrik and I have a shared heart in music"

She’s the dreadlocked yogi joining Jon Henrik Fjällgren on stage tonight for his return to Melodifestivalen. But Aninia is an artist in her own right. She’s deeply spiritual, serves up mother of the earth realness and isn’t afraid to wear a healing stone on stage. Together they’ll perform “En värld full av strider (Eatneme gusnie jeenh dåaroeh” (“A World Full Of Struggles”) in mixed Swedish-Sami, opening the last semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2017.

Between rehearsals Aninia took time out for a quick interview with wiwibloggs about her participation.

ANINIA MELODIFESTIVALEN 2017 INTERVIEW

How did you come to work with Jon Henrik?

He and his team wanted to do something new this year. They found me and when we met for the first time I just felt like he and I have some kind of shared heart in music, and what we want to deliver as performers. It’s very important to me that the song has heart and comes from a true core. For me that’s what all of Jon Henrik’s music is about so it’s an honor to be working with him on this song.

What’s the message of your song?

I believe there is good in everyone. Truly. In every person I meet I see a sparkling little being of the purest most beautiful sort. A lot of times, this little person gets lost. We live in a world where conflict and struggle a lot of the time seems inevitable, but we want to tell you that in this world there is so much good! There is an ocean of amazing people working to make a change and make it better. I hope the song can inspire you to join the good, both in yourself and around the world and be a part of the good that’s happening in the world! Try to live from our heart and not from our fears.

Obviously Jon Henrik is known for singing joik – do you understand it and Sami?

No, I don’t know Sami. Me and Jon Henrik talked a lot about joik because, when you meet a passionate person that knows so much about something so beautiful and so mysterious in a sense you want to know more. As I understand it, the most important thing about it is that it comes straight from the heart. That is something I really feel. Vocals for me have to be the same exact thing — it has to come from the heart or it has no meaning. So in that sense I feel that I understand it totally. It’s a language from the heart.

Will you keep true to the Sami heritage and keep the song in its original language if you get to Eurovision?

Oh hehe, I don’t know — I haven’t been thinking so far ahead. But I think that Jon Henrik’s part should absolutely be in Sami! It’s so beautiful! Maybe it would be nice to do my part in English because the whole point of having me there is to translate his message in a way.

Can you tell us a little bit about the staging for the song?

Mm yes, I would love to! Both me and Jon Henrik have a special love for the forest so the number is set in a fantasy forest environment that grows to become a new world.