Sumé: Greenland’s first rock band and a soundtrack for cultural independence
Greenland, a vast, barren island wedged in the Arctic between Europe and North America, is best known for its hostile yet breathtaking landscapes, polar bears, and icy fjords. However, beneath its pristine exterior, the island harbours a vibrant culture that often slips beneath the radar of global consciousness. One of Greenland’s true cultural gems is Sumé, broadly considered to be the nation’s very first rock band.
In the early 1970s, Greenland was still a colony of the Danish Empire where locals had grappled with the cultural suppression typical of such occupations for two and a half centuries. Against this backdrop, a group of young Greenlandic musicians gathered under the name Sumé, Greenlandic for “Where?” Greenlandic. As an elusive question, the name posed a challenge to the establishment and indicated the band’s revolutionist standpoint.
Sumé’s founding members, Malik Høegh, Per Berthelsen, and Jesper Berthelsen, proudly adorned their vibrations with themes of identity, resistance, and, of course, the jaw-dropping beauty of the Greenlandic landscape. As proud nationalists seeking independence, the band sang in Greenlandic, a language that had long been suppressed in favour of Danish.
As a band of their time, Sumé tapped into contemporary American rock styles with a globally resonant blend of rock, folk and psychedelia. As the voice of an unsettled and ambitious youth, the band began to force an effective oar into Greenland’s concurrent mire of political upheaval.
With American and British rock music as a template, Sumé wrote pertinent messages of freedom in their national tongue. After securing a deal with the label Danish Demos, the band released their debut album, Sumut, which translates to “Where to?” The record was purchased by 20% of the Greenlandic population, corralling impetus for the cultural independence movement.
The debut album’s cover art recreated a 19th-century woodcut by Aron of Kangeq depicting an Inuit hunter killing a Norseman by tearing him limb from limb. The band remained active until 1977, releasing two additional albums, 1974’s Inuit Nunaat and 1977’s Sume. ‘Nunaqarfiit’, a popular song from Sume, boasted one of the band’s most overtly persuasive lyrics, which translates as: “It is time to live again as Inuit and not as Westerners”.
Two years after Sumé’s initial disbandment, Greenland was granted independence as the Danish government green-lit home rule. The population, comprised of indigenous Inuits, who descended from the Thule people of prehistoric North America and later Norse settlers, had obtained more power, but Denmark retained control in several major factions, including foreign relations, defence, currency matters and the legal system.
Since 1977, Sumé have periodically reunited for live performances and released a fourth album, Persersume, in 1994. Meanwhile, a majority of the Greenlandic population strove for a higher degree of autonomy, even at the cost of economically beneficial trade links.
In 2008, the Greenlandic self-government referendum turned out a 75% vote in favour of independence. The vote allowed the local population to assume complete control of law enforcement, the coast guard, and the legal system. At the time, independence campaigners presaged 2021, the 300th anniversary of Danish colonial rule, as a date for potential independence; however, as of 2023, the pursuit of all-out independence remains unsated.
A 2019 poll found that 67.8% of Greenlanders still support independence from Denmark. While it’s uncertain whether this majority will attain their wish for full autonomy, Sumé’s role in redefining Greenlandic culture and soundtracking several essential steps in the challenge to Danish rule will never be forgotten.
Watch the trailer for Sumé: The Sound of a Revolution, a documentary by Inuk Silis Høegh, below.
