Over an eerie drone, there’s a gasping for breath and then a faint voice – perhaps a spirit or the girl of the forest who is the subject of the subsequent song. It builds to a climax and then swiftly dies away with a few more gasps. This is ‘Aamu’ (The Morning), the opening of Maa palaa (The Earth is Burning), the striking solo album by singer and fiddler Päivi Hirvonen. It’s a kind of instrumental introduction and it creates a tense and uncomfortable feeling of suffocation.
“Every day we live with this reality that the Earth is burning. Nature is crying, needing air, and this girl in the forest is a mythological person realising it all,” Hirvonen explains. It’s an uneasy realisation. “It concerns me a lot, what’s happening in the world – all over the world. Even in Finland, we have a government that, in my opinion, is hardly concerned with the wellbeing of the planet. Their concerns are economic and not for conservation or nature. The people who have the power to change things – politicians and companies – don’t seem to care. That’s why I wanted to write about these topics. We only have one planet.”
Päivi Hirvonen: Aamu
One of the things that is typical of Hirvonen’s performances is the way she plays the fiddle and sings at the same time. Performing like that creates a sense of releasing pent-up energy – although she records the parts seperately. She didn’t create the style, people like Hanni Autere and Minni Ilmonen pioneered it. But she’s gathered two other musicians, Mirva Ormin and Tero Pajunen, her partner, who also do it and with three of them it’s become something of a signature sound.
This drives ‘Metsän tyttö’ (Girl of the Forest). It’s much faster than the introduction and the fiddles create an urgent scraping background over which a counter melody is added. And then Hirvonen’s vocal describes the scene: The blades of axes strike, felling tree trunks / Lungs gasp for air / The girl of the forest stands, her eyes blazing with fire / She draws in air and screams into the wind. All three voices join for the chorus, first in unison and then suddenly in harmony as if going into 3D on the words ‘ice’, ‘disappear’, ‘Earth’ and ‘sinks’. A drumkit cracks. The refrain has an anthemic quality and returns powerfully three times. And then as the fiddles are scraping it all suddenly stops. Quite frankly, it’s a shock. “It’s to give the idea of what happens when everything is gone,” she explains. “There’s silence and nothing. Everything is ended.”
The title track ‘Maa palaa’ (The Earth is Burning) has a similar driving energy - from the trio of fiddles with scratchy offbeats and angular melodies. Hirvonen’s vocals describe what we’re doing to the planet – while her band mates represent presidents, politicians and big business muttering: Money, power, more stuff / Everything has to grow, grow, grow.
The urgency of the song reminds me of Vimma’s ‘Antrasiitille’ (To Anthracite), a song on a similar theme with similar repeated words ‘vuosii palaa’ (the years burn). Hirvonen says she knows and likes the song, but it wasn’t on her mind when writing this one. “But we all need to try and do something about this issue,” says Hirvonen. “Some can write songs, others can be activists [and Vimma are both]. But it’s a big issue in our world at the moment and I think we all need to do something.”
This is followed by ‘Rukous’ (Prayer), which is asking forgiveness for what we’re doing: We do not deserve your land / we do not deserve your protection. Some of Hirvonen’s songs draw on Finland’s western traditions of fiddle and pelimanni dance melodies like two of the tunes later on in the album, but this prayer addressed to the Earth Mother uses the word ‘Emoiseni’ (My mother) which is inspired by the eastern tradition of runo song and the archaic Finno-Ugric style of singing. There’s also rather beautiful violin solo at the centre of the song.
This is Päivi Hirvonen’s third solo album following Alku (The Beginning) in 2018 and Kallio (Rock) in 2022. And her other main project is with the six strong band Okra Playground. On their last album, Itku (Cry), they have a song ‘Veri’ (The Blood) about the end of humans on Earth, which then heals once we’ve gone. And ‘Ukkonen’ (Thunder) about the power of nature good and bad, but powerful as they are, with a lot of that same sawing fiddle style, neither has the direct focus of the songs on this solo Maa Palaa album.
Although protection of the planet is the main topic here, this album has some more personal songs. ‘Älä tuu’ (Don’t Come) is a slightly hesitant love song which is probably the most catchy on the album – there are overtones of a super-popular Swedish band, although with fiddles rather than piano, keyboards and guitars. “It’s about the feeling that you want love – we all do. But there are some things in your past that is the reason you can’t be in love again. And although these terrible things are happening to the planet everyday, we continue our lives.”
The tunes most closely linked to the western pelimanni tradition are ‘Sinulle’ (For You) and ‘Eksyneelle’ (To the Lost One), an instrumental. The former is in a waltz rhythm and accompanied by interlocking plucked strings on two fiddles and jouhikko lyre. The melody is lyrical and soothing. “I’m singing of one person who we all should have,” says Hirvonen. “I would go to the moon for you, take a bullet for you. It can be romantic love or family or a friend. That someone is important for you and you are important to someone. ”The idea continues into ‘Eksyneelle’ (Tothe Lost One), also in triple time, with cross rhythms, which really exploits the Finnish fiddle tradition.
Hirvonen also writes songs which are drawn from her own personal life. On her first album Alku she wrote ‘Tuuti Tuuti, Tuomenmarja’, a lullaby sung to a non-existent child – she has been unable to have children – and also ‘Viinanpiru’ (Booze Devil) about the demon and genie in a bottle. That, she says, was “from the point of view of the alcoholic, but this new one, ‘Humala’ (The Drinking Spirit) is from the point of view of the person who is trying to support this person and the pain and sorrow they suffer as a result.”
A former partner was an alcoholic and “I lived with him for many years and I kept hoping things would change.” Eventually they separated but stayed friendly. But in the end the drinking killed him about a decade ago. “After that I realised how much it affected me. You want to love that person, but you realise it’s impossible when there’s nothing else but the booze.”
In the song the drinking spirit seems to have a voice, and it is always calling like a seductive siren. I endured living and breathing by your side for a long time / Even though you drowned your love in a bottle stronger than water.
Hirvonen admits that composing and performing these pieces is a sort of therapy. “Writing these songs also helps me deal with these issues. It really helps.”
Päivi Hirvonen: Toivo
The final song is ‘Toivo’ (Hope) offering some sort of consolation. “I couldn't end the album without some sense of hope,” she says. “I really want to believe in people, that we can do good things and that there is a future. So it’s a song for all those people who feel a little bit lost now. It’s a lullaby for adults. We will rise from this sadness and find a way.”
Musically it is a soft solo voice singing over pizzicato strings – but they are open strings, so much more resonant when plucked (and also played with soft beaters) on violins laid on the floor. Towards the end other voices enter so it’s not a lone voice, but a sense of community.
There’s a real coherence about Maa Palaa, both in the music dominated by the solo voice, vocal harmony and fiddles, and, of course, in the message. “Even though all these terrible things are happening, we really need to love and feel empathy towards people. And we need to take care of the planet as much as we want to take care of the people we love.”
Feature photo: Maarit Kytöharju
Lyrics translated by Päivi Hirvonen and Bridgette Hall-Smith