White Flame is a Finnish rock band with elements of funk in their music. Some of the music sounded like AC/DC, Lenny Kravitz or even Stevie Wonder. The show was very artistic and energetic. There were some fans sitting next to the stage singing along to some of the tunes. When the band members noticed them, the guitar player walked up to these girls and played a solo personally to them. This concert was a mixture of all kinds of styles. They even did a Metallica cover, which seemed to comprehend the audience quite well. As usual, the audience really woke up only by the end of the concert so during a few tunes some of them danced in front of the stage. The band seemed to be living in their own world (as the singer stated) and the only one trying to break out of this world was the singer himself, who was literally bouncing off the walls and for a few minutes he even came to sing in the audience. He also established eye contact with many of the girls in the audience and seemed to be enjoying the concert (and the attention) at it's fullest.
http://www.whiteflamemusic.com
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Scandinavian Music Group @ Rytmikorjaamo 25.04.2009
Scandinavian Music Group is a Finnish folk rock band, which grew out of a previous band called Ultra Bra. Both of these names are quite known in the bohemian circles of Estonia. One of the reasons, why I attended this concert, was the title of the band. Since they call theirselves „Scandinavian“, I assumed it would mean something like a union of the Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish cultures. The name became a bit ironic, when I heard the music they played – most of it was actually based on country music from the USA. Usually this would be a complete turn-off for me, but this was one of the rare occasions when it actually was not unpleasant at all! The voices of the singers were clear as crystal and the music might’ve been happy and country-like, but the singing sounded quite melancholic. The singers created perfect harmonies („Osan laulaa kuin enkeli“ – true that!) and the expression on their faces was something I will probably think about every time I’m in a bad mood. I haven’t seen this kind of happiness on stage ever since the last Folk Music Festival in Viljandi. The atmosphere was quite magical. Most of the audience was formed out of true fans who danced, smiled, wrapped their arms each other and sang along to every song. The lyrics were quite easy to understand, since the singers had perfect pronounciations and the sounds were also perfectly in tune. This is quite rare, because usually at concerts the singers are drowned out by the rest of the band. I could relate to everything that they sang about and this made the experience even more special. Most of the lyrics were about the difficulties of being a woman in love („Mitä tahansa minusta odotat, sitä en ole. Mitä tahansa minusta haluat, et taida saada kuitenkaan...“) or very romantic descriptions of Finland (and about many other beautiful places as well). After the concert I felt like buying their CD and listening to it 24/7! This band is walking on the line of perfection and I feel like flying with them.
http://www.scandinavianmusicgroup.com
http://www.scandinavianmusicgroup.com
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Fourpointsix @ Karma 08.04.09
Fourpointsix is a metal band from Seinäjoki, formed by the young and crazy sons of the North – Riku, Jorma, Jussi, Ville and Teemu. People love dividing metal bands into categories, but I wouldn't want to start calling names, since I really don't know which category would describe them most adequately. When it comes to metal, I really love it when the singer actually sings (at least once in a while), instead of just growling into the microphone. So Fourpointsix is very much my kind of metal, because the singer did sing and it sounded really good. Out of all of the concerts that I've been to in Seinäjoki, this was the only one where the audience was really alive. I was able to feel the adrenaline in the air and the band itself was of course the most energetic. Jussi said something between the songs, but he always speaks really fast so unfortunately I didn't understand. For a while the guitarists stepped into the audience and played there. Since it was a metal concert, there was also a lot of moshing involved. And in the end of the concert, the whole crowd was cheering: „Vodka, tobacco, sex!“ All I can say is hell yeah, Heavypohjanmaa!
http://www.fourpointsix.org
http://heavypohjanmaa.com
http://www.fourpointsix.org
http://heavypohjanmaa.com
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Kauko Röyhkä @ Rytmikorjaamo 04.04.09
When I came to Seinäjoki, I had never heard about Kauko Röyhkä. I discovered his music a week before the concert and to me it was like love at first sight. I was very excited about going to this concert. Kauko Röyhkä has played with two different bands. The first one was Kauko Röyhkä & Narttu (which means a slut in English) and the second one was a project with his friend Riku Mattila. He has also had many side projects, e.g. 500 kg lihaa. Kauko Röyhkä is also a writer and a journalist. A man with many talents. He seems to be still popular in Finland after 30 years on stage, but he hasn't changed his style very much, simply because he just doesn't like the music that is played nowadays.
Rytmikorjaamo is an old warehouse which has been turned into a concert place. Hence the name – Rytmikorjaamo (Rhythm Garage). For this seminar and for the concert as well, Rytmikorjaamo was split into half, so the atmosphere was a bit cozier, with just a small stage and a few tables. It was almost like a regular pub. The concert started with my favourite song „Paha maa“, which is Kauko's personal favourite as well. He didn't bring his band so it was just him and his groovy guitar. Many of his fans were in the audience and once in a while someone requested a song. Kauko Röyhkä is a friendly man so he was happy to play them as well. Between the songs he made jokes or told some stories. The whole concert felt very personal, just like I imagined it would be. It was a great night out and a good concert as well. Those of you who didn't have the opportunity to be there, can type Kauko Röyhkä and „Paha maa“ into youtube, the first result might give you a basic idea what it was like :)
Rytmikorjaamo is an old warehouse which has been turned into a concert place. Hence the name – Rytmikorjaamo (Rhythm Garage). For this seminar and for the concert as well, Rytmikorjaamo was split into half, so the atmosphere was a bit cozier, with just a small stage and a few tables. It was almost like a regular pub. The concert started with my favourite song „Paha maa“, which is Kauko's personal favourite as well. He didn't bring his band so it was just him and his groovy guitar. Many of his fans were in the audience and once in a while someone requested a song. Kauko Röyhkä is a friendly man so he was happy to play them as well. Between the songs he made jokes or told some stories. The whole concert felt very personal, just like I imagined it would be. It was a great night out and a good concert as well. Those of you who didn't have the opportunity to be there, can type Kauko Röyhkä and „Paha maa“ into youtube, the first result might give you a basic idea what it was like :)
Rocklyrics seminar & competition @ Rytmikorjaamo 04.04.09
In the year 1991 the rock music association Ämyri organised a competition in order to add fresh blood to the world of rock music. The idea of this competition was to find and promote new writers of rock lyrics. This competition has been held in the county of Etelä-Pohjanmaa (Southern Ostrobothnia) annually. Nowadays the organising has moved to the hands of Rytmi-instituutti, Selmu and Vilkuna. This year the finals took place in Rytmikorjaamo and before the finals there was also a seminar about the Finnish rock lyrics. The performers at the seminar were the judges of the competition. To me this was a great experience, because during the seminar I heard many different insights about the Finnish mentality and of course about the local rock scene as well.
The first speaker was Pekka Ruuska and the subject was „The lyrics as the promoters of the song“.
Pekka Ruuska is a well known singer, songwriter and promoter. He has promoted famous artists such as The Rasmus, Zen Cafe, Maija Vilkkumaa and The Crash.
The main idea of his presentation was that a song becomes popular when the lyrics are in the public domain. The public domain is a subject, that most of the people can relate to such as love, money, nature, sorrow or even death. The song has to be timeless as well. To fit into the public domain, the song should have many aspects, so that everyone can find something of their own out of it. I really liked the way Pekka Ruuska explained the psychology of a song. It was quite clear that he knew what he was talking about. One of the most interesting points was when he said, that a song should only describe what's happening, it should never speak about actual feelings, because the feelings should be added by the one who listens to the song. When that opportunity is taken away from the listeners, then they probably won't listen at all.
The second speaker was Kauko Röyhkä. He became famous in the 80's during the rockabilly scene and by now he has released more than 20 albums. To me it seems like he has always stood out of the crowd because of his unique (and a bit melancholic) style and being unique (or alone) is something that the Finnish people can relate to very easily. He has always written his own lyrics and his presentation was about how and why he writes them. He explained that he usually writes the song first and then listens to what the notes have to say. Many of the lyrics are of course about the girls, because that's always a fun subject. His first song was Dora (a girl's name). He started learning the guitar when his friend fixed an old broken guitar for him, but he didn't like to be taught so he just started experimenting with the chords all on his own. The song Dora just came to him and after that he thought that the tune just sounded like laying on the grass with a girl, so he wrote it down. And after that, it's all history :)
The third speaker was Matti „Sere“ Huhta, a Finnish rap musician. His subject was „Why do we love the cliche's“.
Even though his subject cleary stated, that people love the cliche's, everything he spoke about proved the opposite. According to him the Finnish people have created their own cliche's. About 80% of the Finnish song lyrics are about misery, which is not that common in the rest of the world. To the Finns, happiness is too shallow and love usually just hurts. According to Sere, this can be one of the reasons why Finland has never really succeeded in the Eurovision competition – the whole Eurovision scene is based on one cliche after another, but the Finns could not imagine sending a happy cliche to represent their culture. Instead, they like to stand alone and write songs about loneliness.
The fourth speaker was Heikki Salo, the singer of a very famous Finnish rock band called Miljoonasade. He is also a songwriter and he has written lyrics to dozens of Finnish musicians. The subject of his presentation was „The song is free, the song is tied“.
He started his presentation by explaining how the music industry is changing because of the fast paced development of technology. This has turned a song into a product. At the same time it's still music combined with poetry, a language that speaks with the inner world of a person. Music explains and gives shape to things, that can not be described simply with words. So a song is free in this sense, but then again it is tied to the music industry. A song is also tied by syllables, since the lyrics just have to match the tune, otherwise it would sound ridiculous. So making music can actually be a mathematical assignment. He also explained that writing catchy lyrics in Finnish is a bit hard. There are 21 million words in the Finnish language, but many of them have too strong syllables. Like the word love - „Rakkaus“, it's hard to make the syllable „RAK“ sound as soft as love can be.
After the seminar a band played all of the songs, that were competing in the finals and the lyrics were displayed on the wall as well. Unfortunately the letters were too small so I didn't understand almost anything. Most of it sounded like mainstream rock music so I was a bit disappointed. One of the judges also said that none of the winners from the previous competitions have ever succeeded in the Finnish rock music scene. Maybe this is one of the reasons – the lyrics can be good, but the music is just too simple and boring. I did like the winner though (Rasmus Mäntymaa - Maali). The song was about football, but true meaning of the lyrics was actually about a boy trying to make it in this world as a hero and achieving his goals. The song sounded edgy enough to actually make it in the music industry, so hopefully it will.
http://www.rytmi-instituutti.fi
The first speaker was Pekka Ruuska and the subject was „The lyrics as the promoters of the song“.
Pekka Ruuska is a well known singer, songwriter and promoter. He has promoted famous artists such as The Rasmus, Zen Cafe, Maija Vilkkumaa and The Crash.
The main idea of his presentation was that a song becomes popular when the lyrics are in the public domain. The public domain is a subject, that most of the people can relate to such as love, money, nature, sorrow or even death. The song has to be timeless as well. To fit into the public domain, the song should have many aspects, so that everyone can find something of their own out of it. I really liked the way Pekka Ruuska explained the psychology of a song. It was quite clear that he knew what he was talking about. One of the most interesting points was when he said, that a song should only describe what's happening, it should never speak about actual feelings, because the feelings should be added by the one who listens to the song. When that opportunity is taken away from the listeners, then they probably won't listen at all.
The second speaker was Kauko Röyhkä. He became famous in the 80's during the rockabilly scene and by now he has released more than 20 albums. To me it seems like he has always stood out of the crowd because of his unique (and a bit melancholic) style and being unique (or alone) is something that the Finnish people can relate to very easily. He has always written his own lyrics and his presentation was about how and why he writes them. He explained that he usually writes the song first and then listens to what the notes have to say. Many of the lyrics are of course about the girls, because that's always a fun subject. His first song was Dora (a girl's name). He started learning the guitar when his friend fixed an old broken guitar for him, but he didn't like to be taught so he just started experimenting with the chords all on his own. The song Dora just came to him and after that he thought that the tune just sounded like laying on the grass with a girl, so he wrote it down. And after that, it's all history :)
The third speaker was Matti „Sere“ Huhta, a Finnish rap musician. His subject was „Why do we love the cliche's“.
Even though his subject cleary stated, that people love the cliche's, everything he spoke about proved the opposite. According to him the Finnish people have created their own cliche's. About 80% of the Finnish song lyrics are about misery, which is not that common in the rest of the world. To the Finns, happiness is too shallow and love usually just hurts. According to Sere, this can be one of the reasons why Finland has never really succeeded in the Eurovision competition – the whole Eurovision scene is based on one cliche after another, but the Finns could not imagine sending a happy cliche to represent their culture. Instead, they like to stand alone and write songs about loneliness.
The fourth speaker was Heikki Salo, the singer of a very famous Finnish rock band called Miljoonasade. He is also a songwriter and he has written lyrics to dozens of Finnish musicians. The subject of his presentation was „The song is free, the song is tied“.
He started his presentation by explaining how the music industry is changing because of the fast paced development of technology. This has turned a song into a product. At the same time it's still music combined with poetry, a language that speaks with the inner world of a person. Music explains and gives shape to things, that can not be described simply with words. So a song is free in this sense, but then again it is tied to the music industry. A song is also tied by syllables, since the lyrics just have to match the tune, otherwise it would sound ridiculous. So making music can actually be a mathematical assignment. He also explained that writing catchy lyrics in Finnish is a bit hard. There are 21 million words in the Finnish language, but many of them have too strong syllables. Like the word love - „Rakkaus“, it's hard to make the syllable „RAK“ sound as soft as love can be.
After the seminar a band played all of the songs, that were competing in the finals and the lyrics were displayed on the wall as well. Unfortunately the letters were too small so I didn't understand almost anything. Most of it sounded like mainstream rock music so I was a bit disappointed. One of the judges also said that none of the winners from the previous competitions have ever succeeded in the Finnish rock music scene. Maybe this is one of the reasons – the lyrics can be good, but the music is just too simple and boring. I did like the winner though (Rasmus Mäntymaa - Maali). The song was about football, but true meaning of the lyrics was actually about a boy trying to make it in this world as a hero and achieving his goals. The song sounded edgy enough to actually make it in the music industry, so hopefully it will.
http://www.rytmi-instituutti.fi
Friday, April 3, 2009
Funkin' Trouble @ Palaveri 02.04.09
Once again, this is not a rock concert, but it was still a cool experience so I will describe it anyway. The name „Palaveri“ is also a Finnish phrase, in English it would be „a meeting“. This doesn't describe only the bar, but the concert of Funkin' Trouble as well. The band consists of seven members from two different generations. The drummer (Ville Kivimäki), bass player (Jussi Ala-Karvia) and guitarist (Riku Metsä-Ketälä) are young guys from the metalband Fourpointsix, the singers are girls who are also from my generation. One of them, Annika Mustonen, also sings in Black Ander. The other singer, Marianne Vaalimaa is a culture management student. The saxophone player is the father of the drummer and the trumpet player is his friend, probably from the same generation. This was the happiest concert that I've been to here in Seinäjoki, since funk is generally a very happy style of music. Most of the songs were instrumental and very enthralling. My favourite part of the concert was when they played the song „Mykkäkoulu“, originally by Aki Sirkesalo. I understood most of the lyrics and it sounded very groovy :) This time Palaveri was not so packed with people, but I guess it was enough for a funky evening like this. There was even enough room for a dancefloor, but unfortunately everyone felt (once again) very Finnish. Some of my friends were just jamming on their own. Maybe next time I'll be the crazy foreigner who starts jumping around and after that everyone else will follow as well. At least that's the way it works in Estonia.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Tuvalu @ Wartti 28.03.09
My favourite place in Seinäjoki is Wartti (or Bar15). The name is derived from the Finnish phrase „Vartti“, which means „quarter“ in English. Wartti is a rock bar with a groovy dark atmosphere. During the week it's a regular bar where heavy music is played 24/7 and most of the guests wear black clothes. On the weekends it is usually turned into a concert place. The next concert that I'm about to describe took place on Wartti's birthday weekend. Unfortunately I was late so I missed the first half of the evening (and the whole performance of a band called Duo Trebbio). I'm really glad that I made it to the other half though. The band Tuvalu is described on the internet as an indie rock group. The roots of their music do lie in indie and a fun fact that I found from wikipedia makes them actually a true indie cliche. „The band has stated that Tuvalu's music will not be played in radios in an act against Finnish music business.“
But since the concert took place in Wartti, it had more of a space-metal vibe to it. The singer looked like a woman from one of the planets discovered by Captain Kirk and the Enterprise. One of the instruments that the singer used added an even more space-like vibe to the whole performance. Her voice also has a cold tone and all of the songs were in Finnish. When I was standing there in the audience, I imagined small drops of pure crystal snowing around me. After the concert I was so thrilled that I even bought one of their CD's. Most of the audience seemed to enjoy the concert as much as I did. Some girls were even dancing in front of the stage. This was my first good and true rock experience in Seinäjoki. Pure awesome. Thank you, Wartti and Tuvalu!
http://www.tuvalu.ws
But since the concert took place in Wartti, it had more of a space-metal vibe to it. The singer looked like a woman from one of the planets discovered by Captain Kirk and the Enterprise. One of the instruments that the singer used added an even more space-like vibe to the whole performance. Her voice also has a cold tone and all of the songs were in Finnish. When I was standing there in the audience, I imagined small drops of pure crystal snowing around me. After the concert I was so thrilled that I even bought one of their CD's. Most of the audience seemed to enjoy the concert as much as I did. Some girls were even dancing in front of the stage. This was my first good and true rock experience in Seinäjoki. Pure awesome. Thank you, Wartti and Tuvalu!
http://www.tuvalu.ws
Friday, March 20, 2009
AC/DC Tribute @ Rytmikorjaamo 19.03.09
I haven't been to many tribute concerts so I'm not sure if I should compare the band to the original or just describe the concert. Anyway, the concert took place on the same night as Black Ander's concert so I already had a certain state of mind when I stepped through the doors of Rytmikorjaamo. The atmosphere was completely different from the one that I had previously experienced. I can't say that the place was packed with people, but there actually were quite many of them, so I guess AC/DC is still popular here in Seinäjoki. I don't know anything about the band that was performing and unfortunately I can't seem to find anything about them from the internet as well. There were at least five men on stage. One of the singers looked like a young Johnny Rotten, but he actually sounded a lot like Brian Johnson. The other singer had a typical 80's rocker look and so did most of the other band members. I think the bass player was the only one who just looked like a regular Finnish guy (or was it the lead guitar?). The whole band was seemingly filled with pride and energy, so they spent a great amount of time posing on stage, as a typical 80's rock band would. I haven't listened to AC/DC very much so I can't really comment on the setlist. Some of the songs sounded familiar, so maybe they played the most popular ones. The performance was quite alright and some old guys in front of the stage really rocked out, but most of the audience just sat behind their tables or stood quietly in one place. This seems to be very common here in Finland. I always feel a bit sorry for all of the bands who give out so much energy and recieve many times less from the audience. But maybe that's just the Finnish way. So even if you can't see moving hips, you still see the eyes of the audience on you and this way you know, that somewhere deep below the surface their hearts secretly are moving together with the music. In the end of the concert the band gave out free tickets to an AC/DC concert in Paris and the lady who won them had the happiest face I had seen all night. So at least someone was moved on the inside and outside as well :)
I personally didn't like the concert very much though. I guess I'm just not that fond of AC/DC. But it did bring a smile to my face, when one of the singers shouted out „Seinäjoki – Rock City!“ from the stage.
I personally didn't like the concert very much though. I guess I'm just not that fond of AC/DC. But it did bring a smile to my face, when one of the singers shouted out „Seinäjoki – Rock City!“ from the stage.
Black Ander @ Palaveri 19.03.09
Black Ander is a Damien Rice cover band. Palaveri is a very small bar with about five or six tables and an interior which reminds me of my grandmother's home. When you combine all of these elements, you get a really cozy evening. The members of Black Ander are cultural management students from Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences. The lead singer Marko Nikula is also the lead singer of a band called Abysmalia and currently he is working on his solo album (which I can't wait to hear). Annika Mustonen has been a singer in some other groups (Funkin' Trouble) and smaller projects as well, but since this is about Damien Rice, she only supported Marko as a backup singer. Her voice is very strong and at some points it can literally send shivers down your spine. Usually I consider this a good thing, but as a backup I felt that she came on a bit too strong. It was still enjoyable though. The guitar player Pekko Mustonen (AllAround, Lost in Moments) played in a soft pace, which gave the atmosphere of the concert a mellow vibe. The concert was for free and Palaveri was filled with students, who all had a good time with a few beers, good friends and beautiful music. Black Ander is not a rock group, but this was a very special experience to me. A city can't rock out all the time, sometimes it has to rest and relax as well :)
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Kyky09 @ Rytmikorjaamo 14.03.09
Kyky was the first musical event that I visited in Seinäjoki. It is a talent competition for the youth of Etelä-Pohjanmaa (Southern Ostrobothnia). This isn't directly connected to the local rock scene, but some associations can still be made. One of the competitors was a rock band called Her Sweet Parable with four or five members, all of them girls, seemingly between the ages 14 and 16. They had written their own songs and during their performance I didn't hear anyone miss a single note. It seemed like they had started learning their instruments as soon as they grew out of their cradles. This isn't always the case when it comes to these kind of competitions, so I was positively surprised. Their style was of course poprock or radiorock, but for this I would blame their age. Most of the currently existing rockbands start out by copying their favourite artists and some of them never stop. Hopefully these girls will someday find their own unique style, since the world does need more female rockers!
The winner of this competition was a young girl called Viivi (accompanied by a boy with a guitar - Samuli) who had also written her own songs. She sang in a high voice and that's about all I can remember from her performance, so in my humble opinion – nothing remarkable there. I am supposed to write about rock here and she didn't rock out that much, so now I will just stop writing. The end.
http://www.kyky09.fi
The winner of this competition was a young girl called Viivi (accompanied by a boy with a guitar - Samuli) who had also written her own songs. She sang in a high voice and that's about all I can remember from her performance, so in my humble opinion – nothing remarkable there. I am supposed to write about rock here and she didn't rock out that much, so now I will just stop writing. The end.
http://www.kyky09.fi
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