Stories by

Heavy metal is nowadays divided into an endlessly growing number of subgenres. But how do they relate to the musical features of heavy metal music? And is there anything originally Finnish?

Young adults + mobile phones = constant readiness for picture updates, anytime and anywhere. Conductor Ville Matvejeff spotted an opportunity in today’s world of relentless image overload and set up the New Generation Opera for photogenic young singers and, of course, for young audiences.

Rap music has managed to conquer the world by being simultaneously both extremely local and quite universal. People use it to express themselves in a variety of languages and in places ranging from the Bronx to Gaza and Helsinki to Inari.

The story of the electric guitar is viewed through the inspiring work of three Finnish guitarists: Hasse Walli, Jukka Tolonen and Albert Järvinen.

Operas and other stage works to be performed by and for children have been written in Finland since the 1940s. A new boom began in the 1980s and is still going strong.

On September 26, 1972 the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) lifted the ban it had imposed over the years on individual records. It also decreed that the same principles as those for other material should be observed in choosing records for radio programmes.

Barely having finished Joy, the last part of his orchestral trilogy to which his earlier works Kinetics and Marea also belong, and also the Piano Concerto, which is a synthesis of the three, Magnus Lindberg is already planning an “opera spectacle” for Brussels. He is also in the process of writing a large scale orchestral work for the BBC which will be premièred in November.

Iiro Rantala led Finland’s most popular jazz combo for almost two decades. Trio Töykeät is history, but the pianist’s solo album Lost Heroes gave his career a new boost.

Artists choosing an art form outside the mainstream will find themselves frequently answering the question: Why? Kaari and Roni Martin have created many notable works of contemporary art using the language of flamenco.