She performs traditional joik music with Western arrangements of contemporary instruments.

She then started performing in public with a group of young girls who called themselves Angelin Tytöt.

In 1996, she wrote a music book called Hoŋkoŋ dohkká, which won the cultural prize given by the Saami Council,[2] and composed and produced an accompanying album full of songs aimed at children to teach them the Sami language and the Sami world experience.

Pirttijärvi lives with her daughter Hilda and her son Nilla-Ande in Utsjoki.

In 2014, Ulla and her daughter Hildá Länsman created the band Solju and in 2015 they participated in Finland's Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu with the song "Hold Your Colours".