J. Karjalainen-Missä se Väinö on? (Where is that Väinö?)

     When I was two years old I listened this song over and over again. I have always loved Karjalainen's music and it has become important to me. This song is one of the best known songs from J. Karjalainen and it tells about his son Väinö. A free translation of lyrics: Väinö, Väinö where is that Väinö. I can  see the eyes and the mouth. It can not be anyone else. There is that Väinö.
     I love the song's melody, delighted atmosphere and the African hue. I wanted to introduce his music because for me and many others he is one of the innovators in Finnish pop and rock culture.
     The song's style is pop with an African influence. There is a part in this song where an African man Mouhamadai L. Malang Cissokho sings in Madingo, plays the percussion instruments and an African instrument called kora. It is in a way a kid's song. J. Karjalainen has written the lyrics and the melody.
     J. Karjalainen was born in 1957. He is a prominent Finnish musician, songwriter and singer. His main instruments are vocals, the guitar and the banjo. Karjalainen has recorded since 1980s with many different assemblies. He started to do music with blues, folk and country flavour but ended up with a more pop and rock style. He has recorded 21 records, 5 compilations and a live DVD.
     Karjalainen has done really versatile music. One of his best known qualities is his personal voice . He has brought American country pop to Finland. I dare say that every Finn knows his name.


Aino Askolin


The song:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayyz8peyssc

Amorphis - Sampo

Amorphis is a Finnish metal band whose music combines beautiful melodies, clean- and growling vocals, some really heavy guitar riffs and lyrics from Finland's national epic Kalevala. The Kalevala was written by Elias Lönnrot. The Kalevala begins with the creation of the world and it ends when Christianity arrives. It's a poetic story about events between the characters and there are basically three heroic characters: Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen and Lemminkäinen.
     The band was founded by the drummer Jon Rechberger and the guitarist Esa Holopainen. Besides them, the band includes the singer Tomi Joutsen, another guitarist Tomi Koivusaari, the keyboardist Santeri Kallio and the bassist Niclas Etelävuori. The band's name comes from the word amorphous which means something unnatural or formless.
     Now I'll introduce their song Sampo to you. Sampo is a forged, machine-like object which can produce tou endless amounts of money and flour. I finally ended up with this song because it gives you a great picture of their music. It has some beautiful melodies, a great piano intro, heavy metal riffs, growling vocals and very beautiful clean vocals. So in fact this song summarises all the genres of Amorphis. The song Sampo was released in their Skyforger album in the year 2009. Skyforger album tells many stories about different parts of the Kalevala but all stories are from the Ilmarinens point of view. Ilmarinen is the blacksmith in the stories.
     Amorphis is one of the most popular Finnish metal bands outside Finland and a couple of their albums have reached the first place on the top ten list around the world.

Here's the link to the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXvf2UMk4AA

Joni Ahokas

Frigg - Fast

Five fiddles, double-bass, guitar, cittem, mandolin and Estonian bagpipes. Seven guys and one girl. Music that is based on Finnish folk music, but is influenced by pop and other countries' folk music. That's what Frigg is about.

Frigg was formed in Sibelius-Academy where the band members were studying. Two of the members were exchange students from Norway, brothers Gjermund and Einar-Olav Larsen. Only Einar-Olav plays still in Frigg. Tommi Asplund and Tero Hyväluomi have taken the place of Gjermund. Other members are the Järvelä's siblings (Alina, Antti and Esko), Petri Prauda and Tuomas Logren.

Frigg is one of the leading bands on Finnish fiddling and folk music. It has been chosen as a band of the year of Kaustinen's Folk Music Festival 2003. Frigg has also played in foreign countries for example, in Middle-Europe and the USA.

Frigg's Fast represents new folk music and fiddle music. Reason for picking Fast is that it's a cheerful and fast-packed song. You can hear the influence of old Finnish folk music, but in a modern way because it's played with modern instrumenst. Fast, like other Frigg songs, is instrumental and the fiddles are in the lead. The song is played with three fiddles. Other instuments on the background are double-bass and guitar. Sometimes Frigg plays the song with four fiddles, double-bass, guitar, and mandolin.

Fast might not be so improtant song for Finns and Finnish culture, but it definitely shows that Finnish music doesn't always have to be so melancholic and dark. It also shows that Finns haven't forgot their musical roots.

You can listen Fast from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7x2QvA0KjQ


Jasmiina Hirvonen

Konsta Jylhä – Konstan parempi valssi (”Konsta’s Major Waltz”)

 

Konstan parempi valssi is one of the best known Finnish traditional folk songs. It was composed in summer 1964. It was the composer Konsta Jylhä’s second composition and it is an instrumental waltz. The song is usually played with violins, double bass and organ. This kind of folk music was already played in the 1800s but Konsta Jylhä recreated Finnish Pelimanni-style folk music. Pelimanni means a musician (usually a fiddler) who is an excellent improviser and does not play straight from notes. Finnish people got interested in Jylhä’s playing style and it became famous. This song is a good example of this style of traditional music.

                      Konsta Jylhä was born 14 August in 1910 and he was one of the most famous Finnish musicians at that time. He is the symbol of Finnish folk music and Kaustinen folk music festival. Konsta was a very modest and humble man who didn’t want to be famous. However, the hall was always full when Konsta played with his orchestra Kaustisen Purpuripelimannit. Konsta Jylhä has won numerous Finnish awards, such as Pro Finlandia –medal, director musicaes –title, master pelimanni -title and Finland’s president invited him to the Independence Day party. Konsta said that he does not deserve them but the truth was different. He had created a piece of Finnish tradition. His most famous works were Vaiennut Viulu (“Silent Violin”) and this Konstan parempi valssi. He played the violin all his life and his final performance was in 1978. He had suffered some heart attacks and died in September 1984. He got a state funeral, which was held only for a composer Jean Sibelius before that.

                      Konstan parempi valssi shows Jylhä’s virtuoso playing. It is a basic Finnish waltz but there is an interesting change between major and minor chords in the song. This is normal for Finnish folk music. The main melody of the song is happy but there are also really sad moments in the middle of the song. The song is less than 4 minutes long but it tells a story even though it is an instrumental. I decided to choose this song because Konstan parempi valssi is a very good example of Finnish Pelimanni-music and Konsta Jylhä is one of the Finland’s most known compositors and musicians in folk genre.

Listen to the song: Konsta Jylhä - Konstan parempi valssi

Konsta Kauppinen

Angelit – Ruojain Ruotot

Angelit is a Finnish Sami folk music group which consists of two sisters, Ursula and Tuuni Länsman, who sing in Sami language. Sami people are a minority group and culture in Lapland in Finland and other Nordic countries. Actually, Angelit has brought that culture better in people’s awareness in Finland. Angelit come from the village of Angeli in the municipality of Inari, in Northern Finland, Lapland. At the beginning there were other girls from Angeli as singers in the band, too. Angelit has recorded nine studio albums between the years 1992 and 2003. The band is one of the best known developer of Sami music and the most famous Sami band in the 1990s and in the first decade of the 21^st century in Finland. They have also been performing overseas.

Angelit’s music genre is 'yoik' (joiku in Finnish) which is a traditional Sami form of song. Sami people's own music differs a lot from, for instance, popular music. The most famous type of yoik is ‘luohti’ among the Nordic Sami. Angelit combines the yoik with a modern electric tone. The yoik tells often about animals, nature or a person who is described verbally, melodically and rhythmically with gestures and facial expressions. There is usually a pentatonic scale in the yoik. The yoik has changed over the years but the essential features of yoik have remained. Modern yoik is more melodic and its vocal is primmer. The vocal in the yoik is very different in comparison with the basic ones. It is typical of yoik that the vocal has rapid variations between natural sound and falsetto.


I chose the song Ruojain Ruotot to introduce because I think it’s a clear and cheerful yoik. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the words of the song and translation of the name. The song Ruojain Ruotot represents yoik with many different percussion instruments in the background so it’s very rhythmical and absorbing. Its ambiance is quite happy. The melody has large intervals in vocal but the song is pretty monotonous in its entirety. Ruojain Ruotot includes one verse between two choruses.

Link to listen the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vyDQhTIicY&feature=related
                                                                                                                                  

Lauri Viljavuori

Jean Sibelius - Finlandia

Finlandia is a symphonic poet which is composed by Jean Sibelius. The first version of Finlandia was written in 1899 during the years when Finland was under the Russian régime and got oppressed by them. The next year the first version of Finlandia was revised. The Young Finnish Party was a nationalist political party in that time which arranged a revolutionary celebration against the increasing censorship from the Russian Empire which contained a Finnish nationalist tableau. Finlandia was composed just for this tableau.

Finlandia starts up with intensifying brass instruments which are leading the piece to a turbulent atmosphere containing other symphonic instruments like bowed string instruments, woodwind instruments, timbali and cymbals. Towards the end the music slows down to a part where a hymn-like section is played only with bowed string instruments and woodwind instruments. The mood of this symphonic poet is very dark and maybe a bit fierce at the beginning which describes the feelings of the oppressed Finns. As the composition hits the hymn-like section, the mood gets brighter and very patriotic telling about the time that Finland declared its independence and the Finns finally got out from the Russian oppression. Finlandia is played most often on the independence day of Finland on 6 December and it's also played in other various patriotic events.

Jean Sibelius was born on 8 December 1865 and died on 4 September 1957. He was worldwidely  the most known Finnish composer and his music was very important for the national identity of Finland. His most precious musical compositions are the set of seven symphonies, symphonic poets and the Violin Concerto in D minor.

In my opinion Finlandia is one of the most beautiful-sounding pieces of music in the world. Listening to it gives me chills almost all the way through it. Finlandia gives me the feeling of love and affection to my homeland.

Here's a link to the symphonic poet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgwr3wrenkQ


Ville Kataja

J. Karjalainen

Hello! My name is Aino Askolin. I am going to tell you about J. Karjalainen who is one of the most popular rock/pop musician in Finland. This is his song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6BIaLdd5sg

Frigg

Hallo! I'm Jasmiina and I will write about new Finnish national music. I'm going to tell about a band called Frigg. I'm very excited about it :))

White-Head

Hello! I am Lauri Viljavuori. I'm planning to tell you about the music of Niko Valkeapää or Nils-Aslak Valkeapää. Their music genre is 'yoik' (Joik) which is a traditional Sami form of song. Sami people's own music differs a lot from, for instance popular music.

Unto Mononen-Satumaa tango(Wonderland)

Unto Mononen has composed the Wonderland tango. When he was not yet 20-year-old, he lost his singing voice because his tonsil surgery failed. Then he started composing. In 1949 he composed and wrote lyrics to Wonderland when he was 19-years old. Henry Theel has performed Wonderland in 1955. His version never came well-known version.

Reijo Taipale has made the most famous version in 1962. The Wonderland tango is a very well-known tango because it's the most typical played tango in stage dances. Maybe all stage dance bands must be able to play this song. Typical Finnish tangos are clear and people can find a clear rhythm. We have tangofestival in Finland every summer. There people choose the best tango singer.

Reijo Taipale's version includes the basic popular song instruments: the drums, the bass, the guitar, the accordion, the violin and the vocal. The song's feeling is dreamy. Song's text tells about a wonderland and how people can go there. The rhythm is four quarters which is the most common in popular music.

I chose the Wonderland tango because I like finnish tangos.

Of course I have visited the tangofestival in Finland. Accordion is my favourite instrument. I also like Reijo Taipale's music. He is a good singer and he still sings in stage dances in Finland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYyI0BJkyNg

Jesse Kuusisto

Amorphis

Hello!
I'm Joni and I'm going to introduce you some great finnish rock/metal music by Amorphis.

The Churchbells of Konevitsa

Hello!

I'm Konsta and I will do an introduction to Finnish old folk music. The song will be Konevitsan kirkonkellot (The Churchbells of Konevitsa). Stay tuned...

Before that you can listen Piirpauke's version here: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9fxcFuPR5g&noredirect=1

Finlandia

Hi, my name is Ville Kataja and I'm going to write a text about Finlandia by Jean Sibelius because the song touches my heart and it is also a very important song for the history of Finland.

Kokeilu

Erkko-lukio ist die beste!