Royals in Helsinki

Even if you don’t know what’s going on, an empty marketplace in Helsinki is a sure sign that something is going on, because the marketplace is “never” empty, unless of course, the place is needed for spectators who want to get a glimpse of the nordic heads of state: the three Nordic royals, the president…

Elections / Wahlen

On Sunday we will elect the new “Eduskunta”, parliament. Yle News, which is the English branch of Finnish broadcasting YLE, has interviewed all party leaders on the most pressing questions. Am Sonntag wird in Finnland das neue Parlament gewählt. 200 Abgeordnete in direkter Wahl. Yle News, die englische Ausgabe des Finnischen Senders YLE, hat alle…

Finnish Voices

It’s dark again. This means: you need inner power. I found this video of a concert of Naiskuoro Timotei, a Finnish Women’s choir. They sing  traditional music and wear traditional costumes of their area. I think the power they present is very impressive. The quality of the recording is not so great, but I hope…

Melancholic and fierce

Finnish traditional music also mirrors the quietness of nature. This song has accompanied me for many years: Olin sairas …kun luokseni saapuit. Singer is Anna-Kaisa Liedes, now head of folk music department at Sibelius Academy. From the area of Karelia, which now lies mostly in Russia, this somewhat more lively piece: Lannen Lokari , performed…

What is Jopo?

Jopo is a Finnish bicycle brand that was launched in 1965 and is going strong still today. The name is the abbreviation for “jokainen polkupyörä”, basically saying “a bicycle for everybody”. Eero Helkamalla had the dream of designing a bike that everybody could drive, irrespective of age, size, sex or dimension of wallet. And irrespective…

Itsenäisyyspäivä

Okay, this is too late. Unfortunately I was travelling on 6.12. when Finland celebrates independence day. But as independence doesn’t end on that day, I’ll post this music piece today. Composer is, of course, Jean Sibelius, it’s called, of course, Finlandia. During the last years of Finland being a part of Russia, this music was…

Ei

Dieses Lied hat mich die ersten Jahre in Finnland oft begleitet und ich höre es immer noch gerne. Maija Vilkkumaa gehört zum musikalischen Urgestein in Finnland. Es gibt verschiedene Versionen dieses Stückes, hier eine eher rockige Variante. “Vilkku” heißt  so etwas wie “Lichtsignal” oder “Leuchtfeuer” und “maa” heißt Land. Zufall?