A sense of place

Finding a Finnish composition in a Norwegian online archive raised a question: how do we discover the music around us? From Nordic recordings to Tampere’s jazz labels and Oulu’s concert audiences, this issue explores how places shape music, and how people find their way into it.

In his Helsinki studio, Juha Mäki-Patola crafts atmospheric, nature-infused music for a UK label that’s credited with ushering in the “post-classical” era.

“Over the past few years, site-specificity has become a central part of my compositional practice. I have been creating works in close dialogue with the acoustic characteristics of different spaces, from medieval churches to abandoned mines.” In this column, part of the series “On My Music and Beyond”, Heli Hartikainen describes the compositional processes behind their recent trilogy: CHRONOVARIATIONS, Light Cones and Interbody.

What is happening in a Finnish city that keeps producing jazz labels? We looked into how Tampere’s labels have learned not only to coexist, but to grow together.

The Tampere Biennale celebrates its fortieth anniversary with the theme Roots. As a showcase for contemporary music from Finland and the broader Nordic region, the festival reaches across genres and art forms while remaining firmly rooted in its hometown.

The city of Oulu in northern Finland is one of the European Capitals of Culture 2026. The theme chosen for the year is ‘cultural climate change’. FMQ sent an Oulu-based journalist to attend a music festival that was firmly outside her wheelhouse to find out what the theme is all about.