Frigg

"Twenty years, ten albums, tours around the world, awards and nominations at home and rave reviews abroad: Frigg can justly be described as one of the greatest success stories in Finnish folk music."

”During the turning points of my life, music has helped me so that when faced with difficulties, I have been able to direct my thoughts elsewhere through playing. It is not so much about the musical genre or instrument, but about concentrating on the activity”, says violinist and educator Alina Järvelä who specialises in folk and early music.

A small country must learn how to adapt, cooperate and innovate. Agility is key. Finland has a high degree of social equality, and in music this means that basically anyone can do anything. Creativity and curiosity are the wellspring of the vitality of contemporary Finnish folk music.

Once a year the Folklandia cruise gathers Finnish folk music and dance lovers together for a 24-hour journey on the Baltic Sea. In January 2019 Simon Broughton got on the board.

When violins first reached the shores of Finland via Sweden sometime during the 17th and 18th centuries, it seems that they jumped straight into the Perho River and swam upstream to the Central Ostrobothnian village of Kaustinen. The local playing tradition has remained unbroken ever since, with each village boasting its own unique playing style. Now the Kaustinen fiddle tradition has been nominated for inclusion in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

"In some ways Frost on Fiddles is a test of Frigg’s musical strength and spirit and it questions whether a band can survive changes in personnel and the pressures of the brilliant up-and-coming younger generation of Finnish musicians."

According to the festival programme, Frigg, a band from Finland that made their first Dutch appearance at the Celtic & Balfolk Night in Rotterdam on 18 February, “sometimes sound like a polka band, sometimes like a Riverdance troupe and sometimes even like a rock band”. And they did, even though they didn’t show their rough and edgy side right from the start.

In the heart of folk music is an idea of equality: professionals and amateurs playing the same repertoire, each at their own skill level, as valued members of the community. There is a natural curiosity about different cultures and any form of exclusion is discouraged. However, gender equality is an issue that still seems to need some fine tuning. What is the status of female folk musicians in the Finland of 2016?

"This is a disc of delightfully pompous acoustic stadium folk that without any doubt will have people dancing. Described as all-natural ethno-disco, the repertoire consists of repetitive kantele and jouhikko tunes and fiddle melodies from both Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking regions of Finland."

The world music market has seen a boom in Celtic, African and Latin American music. Many people believe that it is the turn of the Nordic countries next.