18/05/2012

Helsinki/HKI





An earlier column looked at Finland, where the song Finland  by the Redwoods seemed to me to capture the feeling of the country that I had experienced, the sense of dark forests and lakes and of space and melancholy. I am also aware, however, that this is a partial view. It is partly a town/country difference. In my first visit there, going from Karjaa, a largely Swedish-speaking settlement on the south coast, to Helsinki seemed like going to another country: Helsinki has its own character - as capitals always do – with its modernist architecture and a feel of a Russian city at times. Yet it is more than that. Out in the sticks you might fondly imagine coming across a group of villagers dancing the  Humppa to the sound of an accordion but are as likely to see a death metal group playing Inside the Labyrinth of Depression or something like that.

I recently spent  some days at a conference  in Suonenjoki, a  small town in eastern Finland most noted for a summer strawberry festival. The seasons were on the cusp between winter and spring, with lakes still frozen enough to walk –and in some cases drive – on but starting to thaw at the edges and there was a sense that  everything would suddenly burst into life. In many ways it was the Finland of the song mentioned above. Standing looking across the frozen lake a short walk from the accommodation, the forest circling round like a besieging army , there was  a silence and stillness rarely experienced in England.

This side of Finland  seemed present too at a formal dinner given by the Finnish hosts, at which the musical accompaniment was by two men playing an accordion and a musical saw. (The musical saw came up previously in the Wonderful Land column, which prompted a comment from the wonderfully named Saw Lady of New York.) I had never seen the musical saw used as a lead instrument before and it was pretty impressive, though it did get a bit difficult distinguishing the British, Czech, Irish, Polish and Finnish national anthems when played on a saw end to end. The Finns there had also come in national costume, which actually seemed quite natural but raised an interesting question –what would English national costume be? Morris dancing garb? Pearlie King and Queen? Bowler hat and pinstripes? Shorts, sandals and socks and a carrier bag of crisps and cheese sandwiches?  It seems the same problem as the issue of English  nationalism and song  discussed in the  Waverley Steps column.

Yet even out here the accordion/national costume stuff  is only one side of it. Travelling there the landscape often looked like what I imagine the Mid-West of America to look like – long straight roads lined by woods, giant billboards advertising Coca Cola and McDonalds, small settlements strung along the route with a pizza place and one bar where a couple of locals sat silent and morose with their beers. Karaoke seemed big, though taken seriously. In the nearest big town, Kuopio, there were concert ads for the outfit Before the Dawn, described as “Dark Metal with a bit of an early Gothenburg air”.

This odd dichotomy can also be seen in another institution that has  cropped up before, the Eurovision Song Contest. Finland have been a contest regular since 1961 but have seen more than their fair share of nul points, no doubt handicapped in those decades when contestants had to sing in their own language: Finnish seems to have particularly long words in it. Still, who can forget such entries as Tipi-tii (1962), Pump-Pump (1976) or, indeed, Reggae OK (1981): Reggae like it used to be, with a Rod Stewart haircut and – yahoo - an accordion solo. The point in this digression is that the sole time in 52 years that Finland won was not with some sort of country folk song but with Hard Rock Hallelujah by heavy metal group Lordi dressed as monsters.

The two songs here reflect in their ways these different aspects.  They are both called Helsinki (or HKI), though the first  - Helsinki by American duo Damon and Naomi from 2011 -  sounds more like the Finland of lakes and dark forests than Helsinki. There is a dreamlike quality to it, with a melancholic touch,  that conveys the stillness of the landscape and there is an instrument near the start that sounds rather like a musical saw, though I don’t think it is. The second one is HKI by Gracias from 2010 (thanks to Inkeri  for pointing me to this) : a reminder that Helsinki is a multi-cultural city with a  hip hop and rap scene .Gracias came to Finland from then Zaire at the age of 4 and still remembers the shock of seeing snow for the first time. Yet the track is a homage to the capital :”Helsinki doesn’t get much shouted out…wish you could see that, nice place to be at”. The Helsinki in the video  is a different side to the one usually seen in brochures but at 3.18  the leaves fall just as they do in the woods by the lakes.

46 comments:

  1. That's a beautiful photo, of the boat, Geoff - did you take that?

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  2. I totally agree about Helsinki having a feel of a Russian city at times - that was absolutely the feeling I got when I visited once about 4 years ago.

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  3. What a beautiful column Geoff! " the forest circling round like a besieging army" - lovely!

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  4. It is fascinating that the anthems played were British, Czech, Irish, Polish and Finnish! What an eclectic mix - was there any particular reason these were the ones chosen??

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  5. I would like to hear some “Dark Metal with a bit of an early Gothenburg air” - sounds pretty cool (if hard to imagine)!

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  6. Steve - you don't need to imagine it; they have their music videos online here! (Before the Dawn): http://www.beforethedawn.com/video/

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  7. Here's Hard Rock Hallelujah by heavy metal group Lordi dressed as monsters, that Geoff mentioned - the sole time in 52 years that Finland won the Eurovision song contest!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh3hj9-J76Y

    I still can't believe it won!

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  8. I totally agree with you about parts of Finland looking like the American West - although maybe not the Mid-West of Kansas and the flat, open prairies, more the North-West of Montana and Washington State (forests along long routes that have the occasional billboard and bar).

    Here's an experiment! Two photos, one is Finland, the other is Montana. Which one is which??

    1.
    http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/images/uploads/WRhghwy93A.jpg

    2.
    http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3291/3022107107_4f172114df_z.jpg?zz=1

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  9. I would guess the 2nd one is Finland.
    Yes,I took the photo at Vanhamaki near Suonenjoki, Desiree.

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  10. During my trip to Finland, I tried to be as Finnish as possible. I went snowshoeing on the Baltic Sea and dog sledding in Iso-Syöte. I traveled like a local, heck I even went ice fishing and ate reindeer meat in Oulu! So naturally my research wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t also try karaoke there, which you're totally right about, Geoff, it's huge in Finland! Perhaps all those Finnish drinks give many Finns the liquid courage to become performers, because karaoke bars are thriving in Finland. They even do outdoor karaoke - here's a video I took of one of them! - http://www.flickr.com/photos/mellydoll/5789660957/

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  11. You're right! Hmmmm. But still, the resemblance is there, isn't it?

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  12. Yes, they are very similar in the landscape

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  13. There even a Karaoke World Cup hosted by Finland! Atte Hujanen, the CEO of the company, has been organizing Karaoke World Championships since 2003 with over 35 countries participating yearly.

    http://karaokeworldcup.com/

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  14. This made me very curious about what the Finnish national costume looks like - and after some Google research, I think it looks like this......... http://www.teara.govt.nz/files/p289pc.jpg - is that what they looked like, Geoff?

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  15. I'm still here! Still read your blog, still playing the saw in New York. Come see me busking next time you are in NYC!

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  16. The saw is a wonderful instrument. Myself I'm a singer, accordionista, sawista, pianista, yodeler. A Kentucky girl now living in Edinburgh. I liked your Edinburgh column too.

    Check out my music if you have a chance!: http://www.brigidkaelin.com/Site/Music.html

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  17. I'd really like to see this:)

    "coming across a group of villagers dancing the Humppa to the sound of an accordion"

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  18. Franco M (from Disgrace)27 May 2012 at 06:25

    We did an album called Inside The Labyrinth Of Depression in 1990! Well, it was a demo. And it was Finnish death metal. After that we did some punk rock albums though.

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  19. Thank you for mentioning our festival Geoff! Please, tell your readers to mention your blog if they attend this year July 13th-15th) at the main information desk for some complimentary strawberries!

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  20. Yes, thats just what I saw re the national costume, Chris

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  21. Isn't the Beefeater costume a traditional English national dress? - This outfit: http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/07_01/beefeaterPA0607_468x338.jpg

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  22. These people are trying to make a Medieval style outfit into the English national costume!
    http://www.englandandenglishhistory.com/traditional-english-national-dress. Or maybe it's some kind of Anglo-Saxon thing. The group seems to be an English National Costume group who are trying to make England's national dress be the clothes worn by the Anglo Saxons during the 7th century.

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  23. English national dress? To Americans like me, that would be one of the following:
    1.) Mary Poppins & Bert
    2.) Terry-Thomas in bowler
    3.) The Queen in turquoise coat with matching hat and bag
    4.) Twit of the Year costume a la Monty Python troupe
    5.) Benny Hill in a little boy's school uniform

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  24. Anything is fine, as long as it comes with an umbrella. That's truly a British accessory.

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  25. It could be a Yorkshire costume.... the old cloth cap and tweed style jacket / trouser......

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  26. Anyone remember that notorious episode during the Miss World pageant when the English contestant came out wearing a Beefeater's costume, it was very embarrassing ...........

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  27. Everyone knows what the male English traditional dress is. Cloth cap, shirt with no collar attached, woolly muffler, jacket [doesn't have to fit--any dull colour ], grey-flannel trousers and boots. In summer, replace cloth cap with handkerchief and boots with old-fashioned sandals AND socks. This all seems to be disappearing nowadays. Have men no dress sense anymore?
    :)

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  28. Please god no, not the Morris dancers as national dress.

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  29. Geoff! I didn't know what the Pearly Kings and Queens were so I looked it up. For anyone else (i.e. Americans!) who doesn't know, they were the leaders of the Victorian street sellers. They got their name because they wore 'pearl' buttons on their hats as a sign of authority. Later they began to wear clothes covered all over in buttons. They look like this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0b/Pearlykingandqueen.jpg/220px-Pearlykingandqueen.jpg

    They seem awesome! Apparently they now spend their time collecting for charity. What a great history and tradition! That should definitely be your national dress!!

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  30. I think it should be wellies and a cardigan. For both genders.

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  31. Geoff, I don't think many European countries have national dress, either. It tends to be regional, doesn't it? Like Bavaria rather than Germany. Bretagne rather than France. The remarkable local costumes of Europe are connected with a type of regionalism and peasant culture which has had no equivalent in England because the English, by and large, followed the standard fashions of the cities after a lag in time, with some local variations. This is, of course, what happens throughout Europe nowadays. But wonderful regional European costumes are still brought on special occasions now, including the 'folkloric' costumes worn in Bavaria. These are from Föhr, one of the North Frisian Islands. The standards of taste and beauty in such traditional costumes are extraordinary.

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  32. This is how I picture the English!! (I'm from the West Coast of the U.S.): http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RBpP9ES9u0s/T1eH5t_vJRI/AAAAAAAAA98/wb-RjCIg2Qs/s1600/4538967920_c17009ea27_o.jpg - always thought this was some kind of national dress!

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  33. I think you'd have to go for industrial revolution - dark trousers, white shirt, dark waistcoat, bowler or flat cap. Ladies, dark skirt, print blouse, and the ubiquitous shawl. I don't believe that was too much different between town and country. You know, mill girl or fish-wives - those blouses that cross over and pin, with no buttons, and woven shawls. Also inspired by the musical theatre group I used to be in, that always did dark, miserable shows. If you weren't wearing a shawl over your head, it wasn't right.

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  34. I think that like most "national" things, national dresses aren't drawn from real history but are recent inventions generally derived from a regional tradition and then retrospectively applied to an imagined national community. It would seem that when people were inventing the English national identity they never successfully put forward a traditional form of dress!

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  35. You might enjoy this:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP3fZp4UM2E - make sure you watch after 0.40 because that's when it gets funny......

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  36. How about a kirtle and doublet and hose?

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  37. People did not tend to wear the same thing throughout England, it depended upon what people did for a living in your area. The traditional Southern Arable farmer would wear quite different clothes to a Yorskhire sheep farmer for purely practical reasons. In the early to mid 20th century, the English middle class may have worn something resembling a business suit: stokebrokers and others like them wore the architypical pin stripes and bowler hat. Northern working class wore wooden soled clogs or heavy boots, and strong, hard wearing clothes, and often a "flat cap". There was often little time for recreational dressing up, and so people wore clothes for purely practical reasons.

    The Welsh woman's "national costume" was not particularly Welsh: English women wore the same at one time, but moved on to new styles, but the old style persisted in Wales and became associated with it. The archetypical Scots national costume was a 19th century invention, designed to impress the English: their original kilt was a one piece garment and the whole lot was considerable different.

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  38. I like Geoff's suggestion best: "Shorts, sandals and socks and a carrier bag of crisps and cheese sandwiches?" Except the carrier bag should have a pork pie or scotch egg in it too:)

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  39. I liked the timing of your column, Geoff! When I read it, it was the day of the Eurovision Song Contest, which I don't usually watch, but watched this year because you discussed it in your blog! Did you watch it?

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  40. I agree with you somewhat about Finland's problem in Eurovision being to do with those decades when contestants had to sing in their own language (and I agree that Finnish seems to have particularly long words in it). But all of Finland's entries were in English between 1973 and 1976 and again since 2000 (except in 2008 and 2010); both of these periods allowed submissions in any language. Also, in 1990 and in 2012, the songs were in Swedish. So I don't think that the language thing completely explains why, before the 2006 victory, Finland was the ultimate under-achiever of Eurovision (it has placed last total nine times and scored "nul points" three times, as well as only winning it once). Before 2006, it was to the point where the words "nul points" were burned into the national psyche. In early 2006, before the victory that year, Kimmo Valtanen, the managing director of Sony BMG Music Finland, said in an interview: "It's been a total failure, it is truly a national trauma to us." Anyway, I don't understand it, but I think it's more than the language issue.....

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  41. You might enjoy my site - http://www.nulpoints.net/halloffame.htm - which is a fond look back at each and every one of Eurovision's Nul Pointers!

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  42. Ha ha, here is Tipi-tii!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn3ufKi2PXw

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  43. Geoff I loved the song Helsinki by Damon & Naomi - it's majestic, brilliant psychedelic folk; thanks for posting that!

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  44. Last year I caught Damon and Naomi, with Michio Kurihawa, at Rough Trade East (in London). It wasn't packed but the crowd – partly indie fans, partly those with an artistic bent, a couple of Japanese people who could be either – seemed to sum up the cult status of Damon and Naomi. I’d ascribe that cult to the fierce intelligence of the pair, the introspection of the lyrics and the intimacy of their performance.

    They started with the wonderful 'Walking Backwards', which is unusually upbeat for them, and a single listen will velcro it to your brain. If there's a Damon & Naomi song you can hum on the way to the bus stop, that's the one. Damon was in bantering mood too, full of funny observations. He played acoustic guitar while Naomi plays keyboards. Kurihawa, as ever, stands impassive and allows his guitar to speak for him. One of joys of seeing this band in a live setting is in understanding how he makes the sounds that he does; I'm no muso but he's a spectacularly understated and underrated guitarist and creates the most haunting noises. The band acknowledged the Japanese earthquake/ tsunami by playing 'Ueno', named for the Tokyo station serving Northern Japan, and there was a plug for Michio's fund-raising efforts. To confound things again, they finished with the Stones' 'Shine a Light', a more acidic take on the song perhaps but still a buoyant way to end. A fine time was clearly had by band and crowd alike, and it was a good advert for the band, the excellent new album, and for the independent record sector which hosted the instore event....

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  45. I agree with you that the Damon & Naomi instrument near the start sounds like a musical saw, but I don't think they have ever used one, so it must be some kind of keyboard sound....

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  46. Thanks for the suggestions -and the nulpoints hall of fame! Fabulous...
    I did tune into Eurovision, Trish -after all, Englebert Humperdink did write in to a previous column!
    Re Finland's lack of success in Eurovision, a Finnish colleague has pointed out that it cant be to do with the language and songs because a)Though Finnish does have a lot of long words, Finnish songs and poems tend to build the rhythm with short words b)The stress is mainly on the first syllable, which suits the oompah beat beloved of Eurovision and c)There are a lot of vowels rather than consonants, which are better for singing. So the reasons for the nul points syndrome must be sought elsewhere...

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