Author: Dennis Bruitzman
Radio Helsinki, owned by Finland’s biggest daily newspaper
Helsingin Sanomat, also managed to close a deal to broadcast Van
Zandt’s syndicated weekly radio show Little Steven’s Underground Garage. The show can be heard starting from August 10th on Sundays at 2 p.m. and will be repeated on Tuesdays.
Radio Helsinki can be heard locally on the air on 88.6 Mhz and worldwide via www.radiohelsinki.fi. The website also offers recordings of this week's shows and interviews with Van Zandt.
Markus Nordenstreng's interview with Little Steven can be heard from 1 p.m. local time on Sunday (13.7) on Radio Helsinki’s Rakkaudesta show.
Radio Helsinki (in Finnish, with several live streams)
Interview with Van Zandt on Helsingin Henki
Little Steven's Underground Garage
Iglesias earlier already cancelled a concert that was scheduled to take place in Tampere in 2003.
Refunds
Ticket holders for the Björk concert can return their tickets to Lippupalvelu or Tiketti ticket outlets.
People who have purchased tickets for the Julio Iglesias concert can
get their money back at Lippupalvelu or Menolippu or trade their
tickets for tickets for the Juanes concert at Helsinki’s Ice Hall on
September 14th.
Björk last performed in Finland during the Ruisrock festival in 1998,
her (then) third concert in the country. Iglesias fans have had to wait
since 1992 for their idol to perform in Finland again.
At an extensive free event, there will be music by among others afro-beat/soul singer Mad Ice (UGA) and soothe-voiced Brazilian singer-songwriter Thais Morell.
The evening programme will also showcase dances from Britain to Tahiti
and from Indonesia and China to the Balkans and the Middle East.
The taste buds can be pampered with the ethnic food available at the
market outside, which will also offer lots of non-Finnish handicrafts.
The cultural event at Rastis is free of charge and starts at 15.00 (music and dance from 17.30).
More information at www.rastis.fi
During his time as Editor, Kivekäs innovated the magazine drastically,
among other things by developing it with more varied use of the Finnish
language (with lots of wordplays, references and synonyms). He also
started printing the names of the illustrators that worked on the
stories, which had been taboo until then.
During his life time, Kivekäs met both Walt Disney (1901-1966) and legendary Donald Duck illustrator Carl Barks (1901-2000). The latter he brought to Finland for a visit in 1994.
Aku Ankka, first published in 1951, is one of Finland’s most
popular magazines, both among children and adults. It is currently read
by over one million people a week, a huge number considering the
country's population of just 5.2 million.
Aku Ankka (in Finnish)
During the first semi-final, held on Tuesday night (21.5), frontman J. Ahola
and the other members of the warrior-style metal group brought
explosions, flames, leather, muscles and warrior weaponry to the
Belgrade Arena.
Their song
in Finnish, with lots of “huh hahs“, will be among the 25 entries
participating to win this year‘s pan-European contest. The other
countries that managed to get through the first semi-final are Greece,
Romania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Russia, Israel, Azerbaijan, Armenia,
Poland and Norway.
Big financial contributors Spain, Germany, Britain and France and host
country Serbia are already certain of a place in the final, which will
be held on Saturday (24.5). The live broadcast will start at 10 p.m.
Finnish time (9 p.m. Central European Time).
UPDATE: The countries that got through the second semi-final on
Thursday (23.5) are: the Ukraine, Croatia, Albania, Iceland, Georgia,
Denmark, Sweden, Latvia, Turkey and Portugal. Finland's Teräsbetoni
will be the 8th to perform in Saturday's final.
This year, it’s 30 years since the release of the band’s classic album Parallel Lines. A new special edition of the long player will be released during the tour.
Blondie was formed in 1974, initially billed as Angel and the Snake. Renamed to Blondie in 1975, the band was successful in the New York underground scene until the release of Parallel Lines, which brought the group international fame. Blondie disbanded in 1982 after core band member Chris Stein
had been diagnosed with a serious illness and the band’s latest album
had flopped. The band reformed in 1997 and scored another world hit
with ‘Maria‘ in 1999. Blondie was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.
Tickets for the band’s Helsinki concert cost 50 euros and will go on sale on Monday the 19th of May via Lippupalvelu.
During the tour that started mid-February, the band played 39 gigs in
18 countries in front of a combined audience of over 175,000. The
entire tour entourage consisted of 55 people. For the transport of all
the tour gear and personnel four trucks and four buses were needed.
The group originating from Kitee, Eastern Finland, is currently on tour
in North America for the second tour to promote their latest album Dark Passion Play.
The next time Nightwish will perform in their home country is on June
26th in Kaisaniemi Park in Helsinki. The band is also part of the
line-up of Ruisrock (4.7, Turku), Ilosaarirock (13.7, Joensuu) and
Miljoonarock (9.8, Tuuri) as well as a number of festivals elsewhere in
Europe, including Rock am Ring, Rock Werchter and Wacken Open Air.
MUSIC Iolanta Savva from Moldova has won the second edition of Ourvision, the song contest for people with non-Finnish roots organised by International Cultural Centre Caisa.
During the final held on Saturday night (26.4) at Finlandia Hall in Helsinki, she managed to impress the jury with her versions of Céline Dion’s ‘Just Walk Away’ and Beyoncé’s ‘Listen’. The 18-year-old student won a cheque worth 2,500 euros, a record deal with Edel Records and her first music video.
Kadi Vija (22) from Estonia was the runner up. Third place went to Cuban reggaeton artist Norlan Leygonier Santana (31) and his group.
The jury was made up of Humane singer Kim Herold, Tidjan Ba (Kwan), rap artist Mariska and Edel Records product manager Ilkka Vainio.
In addition to her winning the final with her overall performance, Savva was awarded for Best Voice of the entire Ourvision competition. As the winner of Ourvision, she will be scheduled to perform at the World Village festival at the end of May and the Night of the Arts in August.