popular music

"If you are interested in the 'progressive' varieties of Finnish popular music and do not read Finnish, this is the book for you."

"Finnish actress Irina Björklund, now based in France, has been translating songs Finns love into French. Some songs on her second such album, La vie est une fête, are from the 1950s, but there are newer classics too."

Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät is an unlikely international cult hit. A punk band consisting of four adult men with learning disabilities, singing in Finnish, it is also the subject of an award-winning documentary, The Punk Syndrome.

Understanding the music of Kaija Saariaho, rock-club audience profiles, and a government minister’s alleged contempt for high culture. The ‘arts elite’ is once again a topic for debate, but the coordinates have shifted, just as in the world outside the arts.

Avanti! was formed – with an exclamation mark – in April 1983. At that time, Finland was ruled by Urho Kekkonen and Finnish music by Joonas Kokkonen. Consensus was the name of the game, and any deviation was regarded as childish provocation.

Finland can do nothing about its geographical location and its short summers and long winters. But can it still be a fun and exciting country, full of dancing and singing?

The pop-music Finland of 2004 is no longer just “the land of a thousand sad and sorry songs”, as the classic Eppu Normaali quipped some twenty years ago. The former backwoods have become a baking oven for every conceivable subgenre of popular music, turning out appetizing fare to suit all tastes, from fancies for the cake-shop window to savoury nibbles for the basement bash.

In the course of the year 2000 Finnish popular music has made a dream come true: it has at last achieved a breakthrough on the international market. Bomfunk MC's, HIM and Darude are names that have this year crept to the top of the charts in a number of European countries.

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?

"Satellite Stories have already gained notable international attention for some years. Their merits include sold-out clubs in London, tracks with millions of listens on Spotify, and their third album, Vagabonds, produced by internationally renowned producer Barny Barnicott, who has collaborated with Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian, among others."

"He’s more pop than ever, bringing to mind especially Finnish singer-songwriters from past decades. But he has not forgotten who he is: a modern runo singer, a storyteller knowing well the musical tradition of his country and playing his bowed lyre, jouhikko, brilliantly."

America had Bing Crosby, Britain Al Bowlly, France Maurice Chevalier. In the pre-war years, every country had a charming gentleman singer who entertained us on records, radio and the screen. But lucky Finland had everything twofold. We had the Malmstén brothers, Georg and Eugen, the bright singing stars of the thirties.