Author: Antonio Díaz

Categories
Albums Music

Kent – Tillbaka Till Samtiden

{mosimage}The most famous Swedish-Finnish band is back and stronger than ever with a new album!

Kent is probably the most popular Swedish band in Finland (with permission of The Hellacopters or The Ark), and good proof of it is the massive amount of followers that attract in every visit here, with venue after venue sold out.

The band is back from studio and in excellent shape with this Tillbaka Till Samtiden. The opening track, Elefanter, starts slowly and languid, but step by step grows with glittering guitars on top of the electronic beats and bass. That could be a perfect metaphor for the whole album: the first time you listen to it seems to be another one more in a million, but you need to taste it step by step to appreciate all the connotations. And once that the sensuality of the Swedish language gets inside you, turns impossible to escape from the spell; Joakim´s intriguing voice just conquers your ears even if you cannot understand more than 5 words in Swedish (as it is my case).

Touches of instrumental dance music like in the catchy Våga vara rädd that counts with a hypnotic trumpet, mixed with darker atmospheres that remind their beloved Depeche Mode like in Berlin or especially in Columbus which sounds like a slower Swedish version of I feel You. No wonder that these guys cram people together whenever they come to play to Finland. With excellent release after release they show why they continue on the top of the charts after more than one decade of existence.

Rating 4/5

Categories
Albums Music

Kotiteollisuus – Murheen mailla

{mosimage}A  triple CD with 47 songs that go all around the history of one of the hardest rock bands in Finland: Kotiteollisuus.


Luxury design for this triple CD that features songs extracted from all the periods and stages through where these guys from Lappeenranta have gone. Leaded by the charismatic vocalist Jouni Hynynen (who happens to be a public celebrity in Finland, exploding his image of tough guy in TV series like Äijät together with Jone Nikula, or just writing about love and sex in his recent and widely promoted book Rakkaudella, Hynynen, the band launches what could have been perfectly a normal double CD, with all the singles and radio hits condensed in the second one, plus the special gift of a third one that collects the B-sides.

Maybe, at the end, it turns to be a bit overcooked and the compilation could have been just put into two discs, but undoubtedly there will be many fans that will feel more than pleased with all the amount of rare material poured inside the black covers of the album. If you have gone to parties or rock bars in Finland (and we bet you have…), or just listened to rock channels on the radio, it is impossible that you cannot recognize any of the hits of the band; a huge collection that includes titles like Helvetista Itään, Minä olen, Kaihola, Jos Sanon, Vieraan Sanomaa, Tuonelan Koivut or Arkunnaula, for putting some examples of the most successful ones. Songs that are able to dig deep inside your brain with strong but catchy choruses that will turn you soon or later into a(nother) believer of Kotiteollisuus´faith, based on spreading a good doses of raw punk-rock music all over Finland.

If you are tired of heavy singers who look like dolls and want some real men with hair on the chest, Kotiteollisuus is your Finnish band (and if you prefer the glamour of angelical looks and evil voices, remember that Sebastian Bach has just released his new album too…). I personally love the second CD of the compilation, and surely the list of songs will bring good memories to more than one listener.

Rating 4/5 

Categories
Albums Music

Halo 3 – Original Sountrack

{mosimage}More than just a game! The saga of Halo has totally broken boundaries in the videogames world since the launching of the first part in 2001.

Not so often times a single game is able to back up the purchase of a whole video console, but Bungie, the company that gave birth to Halo, did it possible. Amazing graphics, a great plot and tones of action available for the games lovers, especially if you wanted to play online.

The release of Halo 3 has become not less than worldwide phenomena, and obviously such an awaited game deserved a very special soundtrack. The guys of Bungie, Microsoft and Sumthing Else Music have done an excellent work this time, after facing some critics with the previous Halo 2 soundtrack, and counted with the outstanding collaboration of the award-winning composer Martin O´Donnell and Michael Salvatori for recording an amazing orchestrated score that would be worthy to be listened in any Hollywood super-production. A twenty-four voice choir and sixty piece orchestra that really make the difference with almost any videogame soundtrack you had listened before.

O´Donnell re-recorded some old themes from the previous soundtracks that sound fresh and better than ever with. A double CD with 27 tracks plus 4 bonus tracks that will get addicted to fans or not fans of Halo Saga. Quiet melodies in a perfect combination with others more electronic themes. You will love every second of it.

Rating 4/5 

Categories
Albums Music

Guitar Heroes

{mosimage}Eleven of the most recognized and skilled Finnish metal guitar players burning together the strings of their guitars!


Those of you who like guitar solos and Finnish metal must feel totally delighted with this new release of Sony: Guitar Heroes. No, this is not a video game but a cool double CD featuring some of the most enraged musicians that you can find around the world (and around the corner) The list of guitar players appearing in the album is as follows:

Timo Tolkki (STRATOVARIUS)
Alexi Laiho (CHILDREN OF BODOM)
Roope Latvala (CHILDREN OF BODOM)
Emppu Vuorinen (NIGHTWISH)
Esa Holopainen (AMORPHIS)
Nino Laurenne (THUNDERSTONE)
Mr Crab (BLEAK)
Mikko Salovaara (KIUAS)
Tuomo Louhio (IMPALED NAZARENE)
Sakari Hietala (TAROT)
Euge Valovirta (GODSPLAGUE)

The musicians have composed new themes for this album, and there is an authentic battle of guitars in the first track, 12 Monkeys, where all of them participate.

Apart from that impressive guitar players list, the album counts with the collaboration of other talented Finnish musicians such as Lauri Porra, Mirka Rantanen or Janne Parviainen.

If you like electric and fast guitar riffs and good heavy metal, this is your album. Personally, I find a special weakness for the magic fingers of Timo Tolkki, the guitar player of Stratovarius, who features the last track: If God Will Send Her Angels.

On the other hand, if you get easily bored of listening instrumental songs, this album was not made for you.

Rating 4/5.

Categories
Concerts Music

Nyman’s piano

{mosimage}The
legendary English composer Michael Nyman visited Estonia in order to
give two memorable concerts in the capital, Tallinn. The first one
took place in an outstanding scenario: Kaarli Church, which was
literally overcrowded by the fans.

 

 

Born
in London in 1944, Michael Nyman has gained, not without reason, the
fame of being one of the best films music composers of the last
decades. He has collaborated with directors such as Neil
Jordan, Michael
Winterbottom, Jane
Campion or Laurence
Dunmore and other well known musicians
as Damon Albarn
(the ex member of Blur),
having composed together the music for Ravenouz (1999). Nyman has
scored soundtracks for many other films like Wonderland
(1999), Gattaca (1997),
The Libertine
(2005), The End of the Affair
(1999) and the one that launched him to a worldwide fame status: the
extremely beautiful compositions of The
Piano (1993).

 

The
composer and musician visited Tallinn
invited by the Black Nights Film
Festival to perform in the opening
ceremony, but before, there was a special present: together with his
band, he offered a concert in Kaarli Church, one of the biggest and
most beautiful churches of the many that you can find spread around
the Estonian capital. Nyman did not show the exquisite punctuality
that you could look forward in an English gentleman, but even though,
it was worthy to wait a few minutes for the concert to get started.

 

Surrounded by high class professional musicians that form part of The
Michael Nyman Band, Nyman seemed to be
happy with the close contact with the fans in the Estonian church,
and the band accomplished a musical tour around the best film
compositions scored by the Englishman during the past years. A
selection of themes from the Draughtsman’s
Contract were the first to be featured,
followed by others from Wonderland
(special mention to the beautiful song
Molly),
Prospero’s Books
with another marvellous song: Miranda,
and the most awaited moment of the night: Nyman’s solo performances
of The Piano; only three songs of the soundtrack, but enough to get
goose pimples while listening to the notes of The
Heart Asks Pleasure First; a romantic
and emotive moment that was followed by the final themes from
Drowning by Numbers.

 

The
audience wanted more and more, and not only obliged the band to
perform the compulsory encore, but even Nyman alone had to appear for
second time to dedicate a short piano solo
to the fans that were feeling reluctant to leave such a magical
venue. An excellent gift for the ears.

 

Categories
Albums Music

Juanes – La vida es un ratico

{mosimage}Juanes’ follow up album to the great success that he achieved with the previous Mi Sangre and his hit La Camisa Negra.


The Colombian artists comes back with new look, but the same good
quality and catchy rhythms of the previous album. Teaming up again with
famous producer Gustavo Santaolalla, Juanes shows a great maturity and
a global vision of the problems of the world. Without the God status by
other American stars, but just step by step, he has been able to pour
some good songs in the ears of an increasing worldwide audience.

Juanes
can be very intimate in No creo en el Jamas or Me Enamora, but it also
shows the side of a person down to earth with his particular relaxed
view of life in La vida…es un ratico. The artist can be also committed
with the problems of the world  like in Bandera de Manos, sung in two
versions, alone and with Campino, the leader of the German band Die Toten
Hosen. A duet that is, in my opinion, the best track of the album. But
Juanes really knows how to show some class when choosing the
collaborators, since he also features Andrés Calamaro, the ex member of
the legendary band Los Rodriguez in the song Minas Piedras.

Detail
after detail, from the people surrounding him to the lovely design of
the dove that decorates the compact disc, Juanes makes the difference
to be at the top of the Latin music once more.

Rating 4/5

Categories
Albums Music

Carlos Santana – Ultimate Santana

{mosimage}Christmas time is getting closer and compilation albums start to
flourish in the music shops. One good example is the latest of Mexican
guitarist Carlos Santana.

The magician Carlos Santana has some surprises reserved for those of you who decide to pursue this Ultimate Santana album.  Among the big collection of duets with renamed artists, here you will find for first time three unreleased ones: This boy´s fire with Jennifer Lopez and The Game of Love with Tina Turner, plus a very powerful beginning of the compilation with Chad Kroeger, the singer of Nickelback, in Into the Night.

Revered almost as an ancient Aztec king in his native Mexico, Santana has also received critics (me included) of being too monotonous and repetitive with his guitar riffs. In any case, it is undeniable that he has achieved a personal style and it is undeniable that when you listen to one of his songs in the radio, you know when Santana is playing there. Classics like Sampa Pa Ti, Black Magic Woman or Oye Como Va are already classics of music history.

If you add to this excellent songs like Smooth featuring the great voice of Rob Thomas, the singer of Matchbox 20, Corazón Espinado with Mana or Just Feel Better with Steven Tyler (my favourite one, cannot deny my weakness for Aerosmith…) you have in front of you an excellent album for good music lovers (and who is not one of them?) to enjoy 100% Santana at his best.

Rating 4/5 

Categories
Antonio's blog Blogs

The pick and the stick

{mosimage}




Foreigner gave an excellent show, although I thought that they could
have chosen a better repertoire, taking into account that it was their first
visit to Estonia. In any case, every time I go to a
rock concert and wander around the first rows, the idea of catching a guitar
pick crosses my mind. It must be my collector’s side, but I find these small
rewards almost as good as interviewing bands face to face. I was surprised
about the huge amount of young girls in the first rows; I was kind of expecting
older heavy metal guys in leather jackets, but that made easier the movements
to reach the precious pick. To catch a guitar pick in a concert is a bit of an
art: you have to analyze the situation and the artists´atittudes. There are the
kinds of musicians who throw one hundred guitar picks in every show (like Malmsteem or the members of Whitesnake). In that case, the strategy
is just to reach first rows, be alert, and soon or later a pick will be in your
hand. But there is nothing so rewarding like getting one pick where only a few
chosen ones can have the good luck. That was the case with Foreigner. I waited
until the end of the show, gazed at the roadie giving a handful of 3-4 picks to
the guitar player located in front of me, advanced using my elbows a bit in
front of him…and Bingo! The pick is mine! A taste of rock glory in my pocket!

Later, it was the turn of Alice Cooper. I seem to be doomed when it is
about Alice Cooper’s concerts. 3 years ago I missed them in Tampere when I already had bought my
ticket, and this time I could see only half of the show, since we had to catch
a bus at night. The point is that there I am, in fourth or fifth row, preparing
my girlfriend’s camera to take an excellent picture, concentrated that no arms
are in the middle between Alice and me…and, bang! I noticed something hitting my
head. He had thrown his stick directly to the zone where I was, and I did not
notice. So no picture and no stick… It must be that burnt witches do not like
much to be captured in photographies. Behind me, a total war was taking place,
with people fighting, pushing, almost punching, beers flying around… so it
was totally impossible to take the stick. Well, fortunately no big damage in my
forehead, but I had the glory so close…

It was time to leave, and all in all, 2 excellent rock shows and one
more guitar pick to add to my small but cosy collection. If you have the chance
to go and see Foreigner next Thursday in Helsinki, just go ahead!

Categories
Features Music

From the remote island

{mosimage}Iceland: a country of no more than three hundred thousand inhabitants that live in an island with amazingly beautiful landscapes. A nation that was able to achieve independence from Denmark without any bloodshed, and that counts with and excellent sports tradition; as an example their handball national team has played and achieved awards and medals at the highest international level.

In the music scene, Iceland is not only about Björk. Other artists like Valgeir Sigurðsson or Mum are showing that this island is not isolated at all, and it can give birth to a very modern sound. Not mentioning the band featured in the present article: Sigur Rós (that means literally “Rose of Victory” in Icelandic. One of the most beautiful names that you can hear from a rock band nowadays, don’t you think…?).

The taste for poetry, minimalism and an aesthetically balance goes far beyond the name of the band. Sigur Rós pays great attention to every one of their melodies, but at the same time are able to use a carefully studied sloppy approach. For example, in the year 2002 they released a work whose title says everything (and almost nothing); the album in question was called “( )”, with all the tracks untitled and sung in an invented language that takes as reference their native Icelandic. The intention was that every person listening to the music could give their own interpretation to the feelings provoked. So if you do not master Icelandic language, do not worry, because what Sigur Rós wanted to achieve is to aim directly at your heart and feelings.

The band has gone through different changes in their formation. It was founded in 1994, and nowadays is formed by Jón "Jónsi" Birgisson in the vocals and guitar, Kjartan "Kjarri" Sveinsson in the keyboards, Orri Páll Dýrason as the drummer and bass player Georg "Goggi" Holm.

For those of you who are already fans, there is not much left to discover about their talent. For the others believing that they don’t know anything about Sigur Rós, it can maybe ring a bell if you listen to their famous and delightful melody Starálful, or if you are followers of the German band Rammstein, that used their homonymous composition Sigur Rós for opening the gigs during their Reise Reise tour. You can check out that in the DVD released by the Germans Völkerball.

The band also collaborated in the soundtrack of Vanilla Sky, the Hollywood adaptation of the Spanish film Abre los Ojos. It seems that they members of the band were not satisfied at all with the experience of scoring music for a mainstream film, and got pretty annoyed with the experience of working with super star Tom Cruise and director Cameron Crowe.The style of Sigur Rós can be found closer to others like Radiohead. It is not by chance that both bands made collaboration together in 2003 for composing music for a dance called Split Sides. The Icelandic collaborated with three songs called Ba Ba, Ti Ki and Di Do. Those titles look like extracted directly from Marinetti´s head!

But most important thing is that Sigur Rós are totally alive and ready to rock in this end of 2007! Their fans can be happy, since they have released a double album called Hvarf-Heim with plenty of unreleased material and new acoustic versions of old songs. Added to this, they offer the nice surprise of releasing a documentary called Heima: a beautiful portrait of their native country with an amazing photography that shows accurately the breath taking beauty of the landscapes. All that naturally spiced up with the music of Sigur Rós. If you like experimental rock in combination with landscapes that look extracted from a marvelous dream, you cannot miss it! Sigur Rós have found the most effective therapy against the darkness of the winter: outstanding releases that can help to understand not only their music, but also the culture and nature of Iceland.


Heima will be screened in Tallinn, Estonia as part of the Tallinn Black Nights film festival on the 2nd and 8th of December.
Festival's site: www.poff.ee

www.sigur-ros.co.uk

Categories
Antonio's blog Blogs

The cigarette of Anna Abreu

The evening was promising at the
beginning. Lots of free drinks and food and a warm reception at the pub close
to the venue. But organization turned into a chaos due to the tight schedule
and I was really afraid that I would leave the place without my desired
interview. We were move in a rush to the zone close to the dressing rooms. Artists
were coming from the backstage for a short photo session and back to the
restricted area. There I could see Jenni
Vartiainen (who was looking astonishing and taller than I imagined)
together with Tidjan, the male
member of Kwan, and some other
popular people like Antti Tuisku (who
was looking shorter than I imagined) or the guys from The Giant Leap. Tarja
Turunen was a prey for the photographers, very elegant in a Marimekko black
dress, while I was not able to contact the person from her record company. The
interview seemed lost, so we went to take a look at the rehearsals. And there
was the little Anna Abreu: splendid
and sensual, with a vitality that should not surprise since she is only 17.

Being half Portuguese, it was clear that she could understand some Spanish, and
there we went with a surrealistic conversation where four different languages
were mixed in 5 minutes. As she explained, no time for after party for our
young lady; she had to come back home early after her performance to study for
an exam. But she still had time to break the rules and smoke a cigarette inside
Jäähälli under the passive supervision of the security man before the crowd
started to arrive to enjoy the show. Anna Abreu gave us good luck, since just
when we came back inside we got a short but fruitful interview with a very
friendly Tarja Turunen. The show had good and bad moments, and Anna and Tarja
were undoubtedly the most awaited ones by the audience. Time to go, and there
on the floor of Jäähälli lies the cigarette that Anna Abreu smoked some minutes
before. Even the tight rules in Finland get a bit more flexible with the
charming personality of this little volcano. There will be always some
privileged ones. Our dear Anna shone on and off stage like a little flame
coming from a languid cigarette breaking the cold darkness of an empty sport
hall.

 

Categories
Interviews Music

Bitchin’ all over Europe

{mosimage}The Donnas may not be the correct daughters that every papa
dreams about, but surely they would be excellent partners for some wild
fiesta! They are at these moments touring around Europe with their new
album Bitchin’, and dedicated some time to answer the questions that
FREE! Magazine shot at them.

 

 

Power to the girls! Lately our website seems to have been overwhelmed with female rock bands (a dream comes true!!!). From the young new Finnish talents of Stalingrad Cowgirls or Pintandwefall, to the raw power of the British McQueen or the older generation still able to attract a big mass of fans in Sweden Rock like the American Vixen. But if we would have to talk about an American female rock band that is able nowadays to remove the foundations of the venues where they play, that would be undoubtedly The Donnas. We were lucky to contact the girls from Palo Alto while being on tour, and Allison (guitar player) and Brett (vocals) kindly openly chated about everything related to their past and present.

Was it difficult during your first years to study at high school and play at the same time? Could you have a normal attitude in the classrooms just after touring Japan, or the rock and roll lifestyle affects?

(Allison) No, we mostly focused on school the whole time we were in high school, we practiced a lot after school and played shows here and there, but mostly just high school shows with other bands from the school. We didn’t go on a full on tour until after high school, and our first trip overseas as a band was to Japan near the end of our final year, so at that point we were pretty much nearing the final days of school anyway!


How is the present tour going? Do you have time and energy to party between the gigs?

(Brett) The American leg of the Feather Nation tour was amazing and so fun and so far the European leg is proving to live up to the first half. We love the bands we’re touring with so that gives us something to look forward to watching every day, and the audiences are great so we look forward to playing too! Having a bus is the best because we have time to see some sights for once and have some great food and even… shop!

It seems like one of you had a not very nice incident with the police, because of drinking whiskey in the street, in Canada during your last American tour. Can you tell us a bit more about it?

(Allison) Yeah, our bass player was drinking on the bus and ran outside to sign something for a fan, unfortunately not realizing that it’s illegal to have alcohol on thestreets in Canada (and the US as well). The police rolled up and she resisted which enraged the officer, but luckily our smooth talking friend was able to get her out of trouble nicely!

In November, you were visiting some Scandinavian countries, but not Finland. Why? Didn´t anybody show interest in booking a gig?

(Brett) We actually LOVE Finland but there is a lot that goes into booking a tour besides where you’d like to play. The length of the tour, money, and the route the bus takes and whether the opening band can keep up in a van are all factors that a booking agent and tour manager has to consider.

I saw you a couple of years ago playing in Provinssirock here in Finland. Do you remember that concert? As far as I remembered, the feeling with the audience was great.

(Allison) Yes, it wasn’t so long ago! I enjoyed the show, it was rocking and sweaty!

There is a young Finnish female rock band called Stalingrad Cowgirls that is getting quite a big success lately. Have you heard anything about them?

(Brett) That’s a little off my radar, but I’d be interested to check them out! Maybe we could come and play in Finland with them!

{mosimage}Male rock bands usually have a lot of female "groupies" around. How is it among your fans, the Donnaholics, are there many male fans following you? Is there any special anecdote you can tell about this, male underwear thrown onto the stage or something like that?

(Allison) Haha yes, we do get male underwear thrown up on stage sometimes, boxers and briefs galore, even female underwear and bras! In Belgium and Germany we had two different flashers jumping onstage, and just recently in North Carolina a boy jumped onstage and started unzipping his pants. Our guitar tech clobbered him!

How does it feel that you can play Take it off in the Guitar Hero videogame? Have any of you played the videogame?

(Brett) It’s surreal! It’s really fun to play along and look at the characters and hear the funny fake track!

Tell us about your new album, Bitchin’. In what way is it different (or similar) to previous ones? Do you feel  different from that teenager band that was rehearsing in a garage a decade ago?

(Allison) The funny thing is that this album is like a return to that feeling of being teenagers in our garage, because we had all the time in the world to work on it, just like back then. Once we graduated and signed onto Lookout! records and then Atlantic, we were just touring, recording, touring, non stop—no time for anything in between. Now is the first time we could just chill out with our ideas and bat them around like we used to when we were kids, and it greatly affected the outcome! It is much more fun because of that extra thought we put into it and we had a killer time making it!

Do you consider the 4 of you friends on and off the stage?

(Brett) We’re definitely friends first before we’re a band, that’s how we started and that’s always what’s most important. I feel sad for bands that aren’t really friends off stage, what do they do for the other 23 hours of the day? How do they handle sharing hotel rooms and sitting next to each other for 11 hours straight on international flights? How do they write fun songs with inside jokes that make them laugh every night? It seems like a bad life to me, but hey, I guess that’s not my problem! And I’m thankful for that!

Why that title:  Bitchin´? Do you consider yourselves to have sometimes a "bad girl’s attitude"?

(Allison) Well we of course called it "bitchin’" cos that means "awesome" or "radical" and it’s very Californian. I think we prefer "bad ass attitude" to "bad girl’s attitude"!

Categories
Cinema Features

Tempting dark power

{mosimage}Stan Lee (who makes a cameo again in this third part) and Steve Ditko created in 1962 a new superhero that after the past of decades has been even able to steal the love of many fans from other untouchable legendary characters like Batman or Superman. The name was Spider-man, and Sam Raimi took the responsibility to take his adventures into big screen.

{sidebar id=40}They usually say that third parts were never good, but Spider-Man 3 is a clear exception to the rule. Not only the best film of the trilogy, but in my opinion, the best comic adaptation from the last years. Raimi has caught all the spirit of the comic, the charming of a Peter Parker that can be very strong after his fragile appearance. But obviously one of the features that make Spider-Man 3 stand out is the new and visually shocking enemies: the raw power of Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) and overall the most awaited and probably beloved evil guy of the whole Marvel comics sagas: Venom. Tobey Maguire shows once more that he is perfect for the role; when Peter Parker behaves good, people like him, but when he is bad you just have to love him. Kirsten Dunst as the red-haired Mary Jane exhales sensuality every time she talks or sings, and the new incorporation of Topher Grace adds a new fresh value to a film full of dualities, from Spider-Man himself and all the characters surrounding him, where not everything is just black and white and there is not absolutely evil or innocent behaviour; a great example to take with us for the real everyday life.

If you have the chance, pursue the Special Edition with a very interesting 2-disc format, a great design on the cover and some good extras, being specially interesting the one that explains the creation proccess of the character of Venom. If you like comics, cinema and action that will make you be literally stitched to your seat for a bit more than 2 hours, do not miss Spider-Man 3. 

Participate in our competition and get the official Spider-Man 3 trolley bag. Click here! 

Categories
Cover story Misc

Bringing theatre people together

{mosimage}Theatre lovers do not often have many opportunities to enjoy good plays in other languages than Finnish. The 4th International Baltic Circle Theatre Festival will bring temporarily a solution to the problem.

Finnish and foreign audiences have an excellent opportunity to discover artists from different places in Europe in the International Baltic Circle Theatre Festival, since one of the goals of the festival is to build a bridge for theatre lovers, companies and actors all over Europe.

 The quality of the plays featured this year is really high. Latvian director Alvis Hermanis, who won the European Theatre Prize this year, will show his play Ice, an extraordinary tale focused on a sect that hunts for “living hearts”, a stage adaptation of the Russian author Vladimir Sorokin. Meanwhile, Belarusian group Free Theatre, that is also a European Theatre Prize winner, will perform three plays, one being a world premiere. The three performances are subtitled in English. Lithuania is also represented in the festival with the Theatre Laboratory Atviras Ratas, visiting with its play Open Circle, aimed at being an open forum for the young actors.

Not only Baltic groups come to the festival, but also many others with a great presence of Scandinavian ones. The Swedish Teater Terrier will perform its brand new performance Dallas, and the Norwegian Verk Produksjoner will bring on stage a work from the most famous Norwegian dramatist, Finn Iunker. All these plays are in English.

The Slovenian director Janez Janša will bring some polemic to the festival with his interactive movie DemoKino, dealing with topics like abortion, cloning, etc. The audience can vote in favour or against each topic and decide how the movie continues. This is a totally innovative concept, a “choose your own adventure” book idea  turned into a film.

Apart from plays, the festival offers much more for those interested in the world of theatre. Jeff Johnson, an American theater scholar, will give an international theatre seminar where the present situation of theatre in Baltic countries and Finland will be discussed.

Performances

Ice
Jaunais
Rīgas Teātris (Latvia)
Directed by European Theatre Prize
winner Alvis Hermanis.

18-19.11 – 7 pm

Being Harold
Pinter
Free theater (Belarus)
The play is based on the text of Nobel prized author Harold
Pinter. The plot lines are held together by one central theme: the
problem of violence in its many diverse forms.

18.11 – 5 pm

Legends of
Childhood
Free Theater (Belarus)
The play is based on the personal stories of the
actors.
16.11 – 8 pm, world premiere



Generation
Jeans
Free Theater (Belarus)
A monologue about jeans, rock music and freedom.

17.11 – 7 pm

Ifigeneia
Verk Produksjoner (Norway)
Norwegian
dramatist Finn Lunker ponders the reasons for war in his adaptation
of Euripides’ classic.

17.11 – 7 pm
18.11
– 3 pm


Solesombra
Teatr
Akhe & Theatre Satire on Vasilyevsky Island (Russia)
A tender
and bitter story about the universal loneliness, the ideal of
happiness – and the impossibility of it.

21.11 – 7 pm


Open Circle
Atviras
Ratas (Lithuania)
The goal of the Open Circle’s young
Lithuanian actors is to talk straight theatre language abiding by the
rules of theatre.
21.11 – 7 pm
22.11 – 4 pm

Best of Dallas
Teater Terrier
(Sweden)
The greatest cliffhanger in television history will be
solved: Who Shot J.R.?

23-24.11 7 pm

I Do Not Speak of
Love Here
Teatr Cinema (Poland)
A visually formal and physical
study of loneliness.

16.11 – 6 pm

17.11 – 5 pm

Films

Demokino
Aksioma
/ Janez Janša (Slovenia)
DemoKino makes the audience interact giving answers to the questions of life.

21-23.11 – 7
pm
24.11 – 3 pm

Kinoteatr.doc (Russia)
Kinoteatr.doc presents five movies from its repertoire.

21-22.11 – 7 pm

Baltic Circle 2007: 16-24.11 IN HELSINKI
For more information and full schedule with the list of venues: 
www.Q-teatteri.fi/baltic_circle

www.q-teatteri.fi/baltic_circle/eng/index.html

Categories
Antonio's blog Blogs

Tell me why I DO like Mondays

Time ago, when I was working or
studying, Monday was (like i suppose for most of the people in the same
situation) the most hated day of the week.

Saturday was great and relaxed; on
Sunday I started to feel a particular stomach ache while assimilating the
connection again with the harsh reality and to feel the anxiety that the good
free time was over…and on Monday morning the same resignation to face a long
and monotonous week, until Thursday (…I am in Love), when the light at the end
of the tunnel was visible again.

But now, being unemployed in
Finland, I am looking forward Mondays with the same anxiety with which not a
long time ago I was waiting for Fridays. Monday is a great day: new job offers
in the recruiting websites, people answering emails and phonecalls at their
office, a new hope that the luck will be with me this time. And when Friday
comes…oh my god!, Finnish start not to answer emails, to leave early from their
jobs with their minds full of week end plans at the cottage or at the nearest
pub and my last hope of getting a job interview, a couple of lines that could make me feel like a worthy human being again, and not like a person whose profile is not suitable for the required position, fades away.

3 days of agony and desperation
until Monday comes and the cycle starts again. So I can only wait and pray to
get a job soon for starting to hate Mondays (like any other civilized human
being) again.

Categories
Albums Music

Noheva – Pikatie

{mosimage}Debut album by the band from Oulu leaded by Jarkko Somero.

Coming from northern Oulu, Noheva lets the coldness aside and introduce us a more than recommendable warm debut album. With Jarkko Somero in the vocals, Jarno Nyman in the guitar, Mika Heiskanen as bassist and Arto Ek as drummer, Pikatie offers a good dosis of rock and roll and good stories in Finnish languages for those eager to listen to honest music. As the good wines that must be tasted step by step. The beginning of the album is quite calm with Panttilainaamossa, but when advancing in the tracklist, the guitar riffs acquire a bigger dimension and Somero starts to unveil some good vocal skills in front of the micro in songs like Kaipaan Sua, the catchy Miksen mä mee or the track that puts an excellent end to the album, the homonymous  Pikatie.

Songwriting, as it is traditional with the Finnish bands, is of an excellent quality. Songs about problems and feelings that soon or later we all have passed through. The melancholic Finnish spirit mixed with a warm feeling, with some compositions that could transport you into past summer days and old missed friendships; Pikatie reminds us that there is always a path to follow and the one Noheva has chosen is the correct one. Great work from the Oululaiset!

Rating 4/5