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Move your peppu!
{mosimage}Helsinki has lived once
more the magic of the Carnival. Brazilian flavour with a touch of Finnish
national identity: Saaaaamba!!! Who said that Finnish are cold? During the weekend
of 8-9 June, Helsinki
citizens turned their minds (and feet) back to faraway Brazil and
everybody went out to enjoy once more the parade of the Helsinki Samba Carnival.
FREE! Magazine did not want to miss the chance to talk to some members of G.R.E.S.
Império do Papagaio, the biggest Samba School in Finland, located in the
heart of Helsinki (literally… the dancers rehearse inside an old bomb shelter).
Henna
Seljänperä, one of the Passistas (the only girls
who dance in bikini during the parade from every Samba School)
of Papagaio Samba School,
who has even danced some years ago in the Sambódromo of Rio de Janeiro, the temple of Samba dancers, explained more about the
secrets of this passionate dance:
Henna, when did
you start dancing Samba in Papagaio?
It was in 1997,
and then I danced in my first parade one year later, in 1998.
Your Samba school
is the most awarded one in the whole Finland, isn’t it?
Yes, we have won the
Finnish Samba Championship seven times in total. We won once five times in a
row, but then two years ago Tampere
Samba School
won, and we got so much energy out of it that we got top store last year, when
we were the champions again.
That was kind of a
sweet revenge…
Yeah, it was the
first time that any Samba school in Finland got the top points.
{mosimage}Which are the
requisites you have to fulfill to be given the points by the judges?
We have the same
scale as they do have in Rio de
Janeiro. We have several judges, and they are judging
conjunction, the song and the “Enredo”, which is the theme of the song. They
also judge the costumes and the overall performance.
Do you have good
relation with the other Samba schools in Finland?
Well, it is not as
tough as in Rio. We don’t go and shoot other
people from other Samba schools… Sometimes after the carnival, some of them
have had this attitude like “oh…they won again”, but in general we are one big
Samba family in Finland
and we to partying together.
This is going to
be the 17th edition of the carnival in Helsinki. Who started with the idea?
There were only four Samba schools at the beginning in Finland: Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and Lahti. The first carnival was in Turku. Basically it was started by some crazy
Finnish people went to Rio and fell in love
with Samba.
So has it been a
thing started more by Finnish than by Brazilians living in Finland?
Yes, it has always
been very “Finnish Samba”, because we do not have so many Brazilians living
here, and those who do live here do not necessarily attend the Samba schools.
How is the general
Samba level in Finland?
Well, if you
compare to Brazilian Samba, we are far away from them. If we are thinking from
a global perspective, as far as I know, Finnish Samba carnival and Finnish “Sambistas”
are pretty well known around the world among the Samba fans. It is quite unique
in a country like Finland
that has no carnival culture itself, except for Vappu…that it is not exactly
the same…
This year you are
having a guest Samba group, Maravilha from Sweden. Is it normal that foreign
Samba groups come to dance to Helsinki
for the Carnival?
They were here
also last year. With Sweden,
we have had quite a long relation, going there for their carnival. At the
beginning they had not only carnival, but other parades there, and Finns
normally always won the competition, because we had a better level in Samba
parades. Some years some foreign groups contact us about participating in Helsinki carnival, but
usually we do not have the financial power to bring other groups from other
parts of Europe. From Sweden, is much
cheaper just to take the boat and come here.
{mosimage}
"Here is very different from Río, where many men dance Samba apart from playing"
How many members
do you have in Papagaio
Samba School?
Around 250 members.
Do men feel
attracted to come and learn Samba? Is it difficult to get men to dance Samba?
Well, Samba is not
only about dancing. Samba is originated from the music itself that is why
“Bateria” and music is the most important part of Samba school and then dancers
change it into movement. About dancing, it is not very common for Finnish men
(they have only three men who dance samba at the school). It is very different from
Rio, where many men dance apart from playing.
{mosimage}So dancing or
playing, there are also quite many Finnish men who love Samba. We collected the
opinion of one male member of Papagaio
Samba School,
Lauri “Laurido” Tanner, who performs as “Diretor de Tamborines”
(Director of Tambourine section) in Papagaio´s “Ala de Bateria”.
Lauri, how long
have you been playing Samba?
I have been
playing Samba since 2001.
Where did you start
it?
I started it in Tampere, in Uniäo da
Roseira Samba School, and I also sang there. After that I moved back to Helsinki and here I
started training tambourine. Then I became the official director of the
tambourine section.
Do you dance
Samba?
I like dancing,
but usually I am in the other side, so I rarely have the chance to dance. But I
do dance. For example if I am in Rio in a good
party.
Have you been
there?
Yeah, I was two
times. I was playing in rehearsals and in a small school. Last year I was focused
on recording the carnival. I recorded a lot of material.
So how many people
are there in the "Ala de Bateria" in Papagaio?
Around 25 this
year. Not too much. In Brazil
you could have 250-300 people. The power is magnificent! In Finland we could go with all the
people from all the Samba Schools to 100 people.
So sometimes you
play all together?
Yes. This is one
of my ambitions. To have this "gatherings" organized again and go up to 100
again.
We came back to
Henna who told us some more details and anecdotes about the incoming
performance around the streets of Helsinki:
What is the theme
for the song of Papagaio
Samba School
this year?
It is "surprisingly" about Eurovision Song Contest. We tell about the history of the
contest from the beginning until nowadays.
Some years ago in Helsinki was raining cats
and dogs during the festival. How do you find motivation to dance with that
weather?
It was in 2004. I
remember it very well. Before we went to the parade that year, it was 12
degrees and pouring rain really heavily. We were feeling so down, talking to
other Passistas telling “we are not going there…” but of course we had to go
there. But then when we arrived and the music started playing, then you even
did not notice that it is raining or that it was cold weather, because you do
not feel cold dancing Samba. It is so inspiring music that you get only good
feelings. I was feeling sad for the viewers with the jackets on!
XVII Helsinki Samba Carnival. 8-9 June, 2007.
More information
about the schedule in www.samba.fi
G.R.E.S. Império do Papagaio: www.papagaio.fi
Tickets
will stay valid. Those who want their money back, can return their
tickets at Lippupalvelu offices.
Concert organizer Speed Promotion has
issued an apology, but has given no reason for the 5-week delay.
Official website kanYe West: kanyewest.com
The tour will start on 6 October (2007) in Tel Aviv, Israel, and
end on New Year’s Day at Helsinki‘s Jäähalli. It will span four
continents.
On the U.S. leg of the tour, which so far includes 23 dates, the
band will be joined by legendary British metal group Paradise Lost.
In Finland, Nightwish will perform eight times, starting with two concerts in Levi, Finnish Lapland, on December 8 and 9 (2007).
After a carefully orchestrated hype, the group last week (24 May,
2007) revealed the name of their new singer and released their new
single "Eva".
35-year-old Anette Olzon, formerly known as Anette Blyckert, used
to be the singer of successful Swedish melodic / adult-oriented rock
group Alyson Avenue. She replaces Tarja Turunen, who was publicly fired
from the band in the autumn of 2005.
Dark Floors – The Lordi Motion Picture, based on a joint idea by Lordi singer Tomi Putaansuu and the film’s Finnish director Pete Riski, will be shot in its entirety in an old industrial hall in the Finnish city.
While Putaansuu (”Mr. Lordi”) will of course play an important role, all main actors in the English language film are British.
The script was written by Pekka Lehtosaari.
The total budget of the film is 4 million euros, which makes it the most expensive Finnish horror production to date.
Filming will continue well into July. Dark Floors is scheduled to premiere in February, 2008.
Categories
The monsters are back in town!
{mosimage}And not, this time we are not talking about Lordi… Lovers of big cars, roaring engines and spectacular open air shows can feel happy, since Monster Mania, Monster Truck Racing European Championships, arrives near the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki the 16 June to offer tones of entertainment for adults and children.
Just only hearing the names of the trucks is enough to imagine the chain of destruction that they will release in the Finnish capital: Bigfoot 17, Lil Devil, Red Dragon, Swamp Thing, Monstrous and Slingshot 2004 are ready to smash all pieces of metal around them. Experienced drivers from United Kingdom will be the ones on charge to keep the “beasts” on four wheels under control inside the stadium.
{mosimage}
But Monster Mania show offers much more: for starters, the Free Style MX Czech and Finnish best riders will compete to show who is the most skillful one in a show that includes 22 meters long back flips! Among the participants there are big names as Jussi Seljas, considered as maybe the best practitioner of FMX in Finland. As well, the fans can have the chance to experience almost like in real life how is to drive a real monster truck; the organization has built a special one that looks almost the same like real Monster Truck, but the engine runs on diesel fuel and the seats (10) for the passengers are located on the back of the truck. Resuming, the perfect event to spend a Saturday evening with the whole family.
Monster Mania: Monster Truck Racing European Championships and Freestyle MX shows will take place the 16 June near the Olympic Stadium, at Mäntymäen kenttä, Helsinki.
Monster Mania 2007
16 June, Mäntymäen kenttä, Helsinki
Tickets from 40 to 12 euro.
More information:
www.monstermania.fi
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Remember
in one of my first columns I warned you to enjoy each day at a time and try not
to look too far into the glittering future? Well, here is another wake-up call
for those still snoozing on an airbed floating along the river of Time.
WAKE-UP! It is June, the longest day has you frozen in its headlights and after
that we are back down into the store to get the bag of winter clothes.
After
the half-time whistle is blown in a game of football and the manager has given
his stirring motivational team talk, the players (hopefully) return to the
pitch with a sense of urgency and fight for the remaining 45-minutes before
conceding a last-minute goal like my team usually does. I am your manager
giving you the dressing room talk and am reminding you that the sand in the
hourglass is vanishing one grain at a time – how philosophical.
There
are very few events in life that actually remind you that you are halfway, even
films no longer have an interval. You would probably take – here comes my
favourite subject – sex far more seriously if a buzzer went off when you were
halfway, although for some the buzz would come very, very early…prematurely
early. Ok, the buzzer would get on your nerves, but it would encourage you to
savour each of the remaining seconds with your partner.
Take
a moment to think about what has happened in your life since January. Have you
maintained your resolutions? Have you lost that excess weight? Have you taken
that dream holiday? Have you decorated the kitchen? Have you told the girl at
the local R-Kioski that you love her? Have you even defrosted the freezer or
turned the mattresses this year? Stop procrastinating!
“I’ll
do it tomorrow!” is the scourge reply of mankind and should be consigned to the
language bin of history along with “How old do you think I am, darling?”,
“Trust me, I know what I am doing!” and “Do you love me?” A bit cynical, but
how much good has ever resulted from any of those, plus we don’t have enough
time left in 2007 to have pointless arguments.
I
must hold my hands up and admit that this column was going to be written
yesterday, but I never said that I actually practice what I preach. Anyway,
please try to live each day to the full and satisfy those dreams before it is
too late – at least defrost the freezer because it will save you electricity.
Now I have to go, the buzzer just went off and my wife wants me to concentrate
for the remaining time we have left…
For an
English thespian, the so-called graveyard
contracts still in use in many Finnish theatres are simply beyond their
comprehension. An increasing number work as freelancers, but many theatres
still employ people on a lifetime contract: till death do us part. Sounds very
cushy, yet the reality is often far from it: a very tight schedule of
rehearsals and shows, which would squeeze the juice out of any artist.
The
philosopher Pekka Himanen talks about the Finns being suspicious about anything
new. We Finns say a definite no to anything we are not sure about – just in
case. Everything in Finland grows slowly: potatoes, blueberries, friendships,
and tolerance for anything new and different. That seems to be true of theatre
as well.
Theatre
here tends to be quite traditional: it’s good and well made, as it should be in
the land of Nokia. And it’s reliable, like the granite we stand on. Most of the
time when you go to the theatre you know exactly what you will get.
The
repertory theatres have a simple formula: they must get bums on seats. So the
shows must be accessible. They are custom made to serve busloads of middle-aged
women. There’s nothing wrong with that I suppose, it’s just a bit…blah.
There are
certainly people pushing the boundaries as well. There are companies making
theatre in odd places and others starting international groups: ambitious
enterprises with fierce artistic drive.
Helsingin
Sanomat has been criticised for the limited publicity they give to small-scale
productions. Artists are frustrated with a lack of resources. The system seems
to be stuck in the mud, like in the popular theatre game of the same name. In
the game you need someone to rescue you, so you can carry on playing.
In London,
the National Theatre rescued a financially struggling company that was doing
very experimental shows in the unused tunnels
of the London underground. The shows still take place in this rough and
exciting location, but now the funding, and the much needed publicity, come
from the National. That way, both the experimental company and the National
reach new audiences. The two divided worlds meet: the margin and the
mainstream. And the benefits are plentiful.
The
National also hosts an outdoor festival every year, where they bring in an
array of international street theatre. Again, the old institution opens up to
the new possibilities.
I yearn for
a time when this kind of open-mindedness will rule in Finland: when the rusty
structures are crushed, and forward-looking theatre practitioners get the
opportunities they deserve. Then I’ll be excited about going to the theatre
again.
Why, why,
why? Tell me why! Why do we have to go through this torture every time we call
a customer service number of a big company or institution? If they do not have
enough personnel to attend the incoming calls, why do they not hire more staff?
Is this a worldwide Machiavellian plan to get on our nerves?
My second
favourite experience is when I call customer service numbers and they throw
recorded messages into your ears with a wide range of possibilities in three
different languages (I have to wait to for the English, which follows the
Finnish and Swedish explanations since I still do not have a mastery of this
beautiful Mikael Agricola language. So again, time to prepare coffee…).
“If you want to consult your account
movements, press 1”. (this doesn’t make sense) “If you want to listen to the
last hockey match, press 2” etc. Most times you have to choose the last option
(“For other Inquiries”) since there is nothing that suits the simple question
you want to make. These are only the first steps of a tortuous ascent that,
usually, leads to the operator not understanding your enquiry, and you end up
being transferred from one department to another like a ping-pong ball.
Meanwhile, you pray that somebody with some common sense will attend to you.
So, my dear
friends, it cannot exactly be said that customer service culture in Finland is
highly developed. I still consider it a huge abuse to pay 2,5 euro in whatever
cafeteria of a city when I have to grab my cup, fill it with coffee, be careful
not to drop the milk jug and hunt for the sugar at the counter, while the
waiter/waitress’s only task is to hand you your bank card receipt to be signed.
Shouldn’t they be paying me for serving myself?
It is the
same when you try to purchase a train ticket at the station. Basically, the
customer service is there to make it more complicated when you want your money
back because you missed the train by a couple of minutes, or you buy a wrong
ticket because you do not understand the instructions in Finnish in the ticket
machine. Is it a part of the same worldwide Machiavellian plot that, with no
variation, half of the staff at the counters of railway stations cannot speak
proper English? No matter if it is in Helsinki, Beijing or Rome, the staff is
carefully selected and placed in customer service positions to make
communication more complicated. It is really a mysterious thing. Maybe Osama
Bin Laden is behind the recruitment processes for customer service positions
all over the world in order to create chaos and destruction.
Maybe, it is
just that I am getting old when I start to miss so many things from the good
old times: simple things such as making a phone call to ask a simple question,
and be greeted on the other end of the line by a real human being!
Within the
film or show business in general, actors are often considered a different
breed. They look like normal people but behave differently. Many of them seem
to fast-forward their lives, being greedy to consume marriages and ideologies.
They experiment with social masochism, seeming not to care about other people’s
reactions. The wild, eccentric and unpredictable actors. Drunk, filled with
lust, spontaneously jumping into anything that might provide a new dose of
emotions.
The
stereotype is unjustified, of course. I have friends who act. There is a vast
amount of actors I have worked with – good hard-working and reliable people.
There are intelligent actors. There are actors who live in balance with
themselves and people around them.
But still,
there is something in the profession. I think performing publicly strongly satisfies
one of the most basic human desires, the need to be seen and recognized. Many
actors consider themselves shy, and their choice of forces them towards the
greatest fear: fear of exposure.
The need
for exposure and feeling sick about too much attention is sometimes almost
bulimic.
Pamela
Tola, a very bright and talented young actress and photographer made a book
about acting (Miksi näyttelen – Why do I
act?). The book contains interviews with other actors and short comments on
the subject. It becomes obvious to the reader that especially for those new in
the profession, life can become really hard. Tearing themselves open publicly,
with the possibility of cruel criticism, can be sometimes too much for a fragile
soul. And we are all fragile souls.
An actor is
a professional who uses himself or herself as a tool – all the fears, hopes and
memories are material to work with. Building a fictitious character is not
(only) about pretending to be someone, one has to actually become someone else. Imagine becoming a serial killer, a victim of
gang rape or Adolf Hitler – starting to see the world through their eyes and
living their lives. It can be psychologically consuming.
This is
obviously true of any storyteller, even a writer, but nobody is as directly and
as completely in the game as an actor. A writer can write happy ends to all of
his life traumas (or kill the ones he loves most), but an actor follows the
lines drawn by the writer like faith itself – ending up in death or misery, or
glory, without being able to influence the course of events. (This is a cliché
but aren’t we all actors on the stage of life?)
Acting is a
challenging profession. I used to think that they were pussies, whining for
nothing and using cheap show tricks to get attention for themselves. Not
anymore. With great admiration I follow those who have the calling and talent
to change themselves – and come back.
Categories
No pain, no gain
Ink on your skin. Long ago, tattoos stopped being a taboo. They are no longer a sign of a criminal, a tough biker or a sailor. This body art went mainstream and nowadays it is common to see a pop teenage girl on the dance floor with a tribal tattoo in her lower back or a computer geek with the Linux penguin on his shoulder.
In Helsinki there are dozens of tattoo parlours and studios. Many of them are located in the areas of Punavuori, Kamppi and Kallio. The selection is diverse and vast, but so is the demand. It can take some weeks to get an appointment with the most popular tattooists, especially in summer. Anton, of Legacy Tattoo believes that “there are too many tattoo artists in Helsinki and that decreases the overall quality”. In his opinion, “some of the tattooists are world class, but people tend to go to the cheapest places, so there are too much mediocre work done”. However, Rosti and Juho of Vida Loca have a very different opinion. “It’s good to have competition”, they say, “it’s good for the business and it forces you to improve”.
Pin-up girls, skulls, flames, hearts… Many tattoo artists are fond of the traditional and colourful designs. Nevertheless, they will make any custom design: tribal, Chinese characters, the silhouette of your idol, the Finnish lion. Anything is possible. Jykä, of Spider’s Tattoo, says that a popular tattoo nowadays is HIM’s heartagram: “there are many girls visiting Helsinki, especially from Germany and Australia, that want to have it”. A peculiar souvenir, indeed.
It is also interesting to see the areas where people want to have tattoos. They range from the traditional tattoo on the arm to the most intimate areas. But sometimes not every centimetre of skin is suitable: “some people have impossible ideas”, Anton explains, “like a tattoo on the sole of the foot. I have to say no then. It’s a stupid place because it will be very painful and the ink will wear off after some months.” Artists prefer to tattoo the usual places: arms, legs, and back. Rosti reckons that some areas are not very pleasant, like the “ribs and chest, which can be a very painful”.
A tattoo must hurt
Pain is a big part of the tattoo culture. Many will argue that there is no tattoo without pain. In the old days the artists would knock the costumer out if they would here some complaints. But nowadays, with tattoos being so popular, everyone wants to suffer as little as possible. Anaesthetic lotions are sold and accepted, which some artists are not so happy about. “I use to tease my costumers about it”, admits Anton, “I’d say that I don’t tattoo anyone who has used the lotion. However, I must say that when I got my tattoo on the back, after 30 hours, I started using the lotion myself.”
The learning process for a tattoo artist is a long and lasts several years. There is no tattoo school, so the artists are usually self-taught and complete their training as an apprentice with an experience tattooist. “I used to practice with pig’s skin”, Jykä recalls, “but that is a little bit different”. For Anton, however, there was no other guinea pig than himself: “the first tattoo I did it was on myself. It was really bad. Then Kristian took me on as an apprentice here at Legacy. It took three or four years of work until I was happy with my tattoos. Still I can improve some details”.
In spite of the bikes and the rock, the life of a tattoo artist is not as glamorous as it might look. Artists recognize that even though they love it, it can be a very demanding job. “I get very anxious before a big project, like sleeves (a tattoo, or a collection of smaller tattoos, that covers a person's entire arm), I can hardly sleep”, Anton says. “Some days, when I get home, my eyes hurt, my hands hurt and I have to start drawing the next design. Luckily this year I will have a one week holiday”.
Categories
An ecological performance
Relativity is a performance that combines three different art disciplines to create something new, unique, improvised and unexpected. Electronic music, video and dance are the ingredients. But Relativity is not just an art experiment: images, sound and movement reflect the relationship between nature and mankind.
Created and performed by Italians Egle Oddo (installation and video) and Giorgio Convertito (dance and choreography), and German Finnish Marko Timlin (sound and music), this show tries to bring the audience’s attention to environmental problems. “Without any political affiliations or intentions”, explains Egle, “we want to stress that the root of the problem is our attitude towards nature. Mankind wants to dominate nature, eliminate its annoyances, destroy it or save it as it pleases. This is an artificial idea. We are part of nature and with our current attitude we are just contaminating the conditions for life.” It is a dark concept that affirms the power of nature to regenerates itself, even mankind: “Nature recycles us perfectly when we are dead”, Egle reminds us.
{mosimage}This idea is the basis for the narrative of the piece. Each artist evolves into a character: Egle is The Reality, Marko is The Wind, and Giorgio, Nature. However, in Relativity there is no dialogue and improvisation is a big part of the show. The performance is presented as an unexplored path: “We know where we start and where we are going to finish. We throw some stones to guide our way, but we don’t know how we will go from one stone to the next”, states the Italian dancer. For Marko, improvisation is the reason why the performance is so exciting: “When everything is planned, one might achieve perfection, but with improvisation one can achieve magic and that is even better than perfection.”
Each discipline complements the others. The electronic music really adds to the live performance. “Sometimes it can be boring to see a guy on stage with a laptop like he would be writing emails”, admits Marko, “but with the addition of dance and video, the experience can be fascinating”. Some of the images that Egle will display have been shot in the junkyard of Ämmässuo in Espoo and show the power of nature to recycle itself.
The trio has worked on Relativity since January. There will be only four performances and the group hopes that the audience not only becomes aware of environmental problems, but that it also starts to be active, so a solution can be reached in the future.
Relativity
24.5 – 27.5
Universum, Perämiehenkatu 13, Helsinki
Photos by Ossi Kajas
Categories
Four decades of provocation
You were born in a small countryside town, Somero. How was it to grow up there?
During my first ten years I was often sick, and because of that my mother and I used to visit Helsinki very often. So I got a taste of the big city quite early. About my Somero years, I appreciate mostly my school time. Our headmaster was an exceptional person. He commanded fifteen languages, even though he claimed he could only speak Esperanto and Finnish. And that’s why Esperanto was compulsory in our school. Five years after the headmaster retired, the teaching Esperanto disappeared from Somero schools. It’s a pity because if Somero could have boasted of something, it would have been schoolboys speaking Esperanto. I have even written some songs in Esperanto, but I’m not an Esperantist: they’re so keen on their hobby, and that disturbs me a little bit.
At least two other very famous musicians have also come from Somero.
Right. Unto Mononen, the tango composer. I played in his orchestra. I got to know him when I was a student in Helsinki. I started to be interested in Finnish tango and in tangos by Mononen and he was so popular at the time. And the other one is Rauli “Badding” Somerjoki. We started collaborating and he sang on some of my albums. Then he asked me to produce his own rock single, which I did, and a rock album. Two weeks after releasing ‘Fiilaten ja höyläten’, it went to no.1 in the Finnish chart, where it stayed almost a year.
A year of turning point
It seems that 1966 was a very important year; a sort of turning point.
It was the important year of my provocations! At last I succeeded in provoking the whole of Finland by singing those sexual manuals at the Jyväskylä Summer Cultural Festival. This actually helped very much later when I wanted to do something else, and I started to sing classical music. I sang a song by Franz Schubert live on the Finnish TV: a shock. And it was exactly what I meant it to be.
Then I met the poet Markku Into and we started the Suomen Talvisota project. And in October that same year I was at the Turku Youth Festival, singing Wittgenstein’s “Tractatus”. The sixties are quite easy to remember but already the seventies are much more difficult: I was doing so many different things at the same time. Films, music, writing…
What was the common denominator?
The wish to provoke, of course.
So are you still into provoking the audience?
Of course. I provoke in a totally different way than earlier. I provoke my own friends and people my age. In the 60s I provoked old people and in the 21st century I still provoke old people. These are the same people who grew up with my provocations, and are themselves often quite good at provoking too. But then most of them are nowadays quite old fashioned and they think in an old fashioned, conservative way. I can provoke in many ways.
{mosimage}Stories of detectives and drunkards
You wrote two books whose titles sound quite curious: Etsivätoimisto Andrejev & Milton (Detective Agency Andreyev & Milton) and Baarien Mies (The Beer Bar Man).
The first is a detective story. I wrote it with Markku Into and it was ‘built’ in a very strange way: in the epistolary style. We were making fun of detective novels, and our own is very odd indeed. Suffice it to say that there’s no ending whatsoever.
Baarien mies has an interesting origin. In 1984 it was still forbidden to perform pop music during Easter time. I was in Sotkamo and could not perform. I stayed there some days and visited a bar several times. I became interested in this bar and the ‘way of life’ connected to it. I thought I would suggest the subject to a real sociologist. Then I thought he or she would never get enough money to travel around Finland and no scholarship would be available for such a drinking subject, so I chose myself to be the writer. My wife was with me: she was my driver but also my ‘memory’, as from time to time she had to remind me about the place and what had happened the evening before as I had drunk so much.
How are you planning to shock your audiences at the moment?
The first album in collaboration with DJ Sane will be released in May. It took three years as the material is so uncommercial: no dance, no pop, no rock. But it has very strong and heavy rhythms and sounds like it is from the rock and ambient world but not precisely from that. But I’ve other plans: the Swedish novel. And I’m composing a chamber music work about the Swedish domination that finished in 1909. It’s been commissioned for next year, 2008, so that it anticipates the centennial.
For a detailed biography of M.A. Numminen visit www.ma-numminen.net
M.A. Numminen will perform in Helsinki on 22 May at the Design Museum, Korkeavuorenkatu 23, Helsinki