Made in Finland

Studies in Popular Music

Toni-Matti Karjalainen, Kimi Kärki

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000204391
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

Made in Finland: Studies in Popular Music serves as a comprehensive and thorough introduction to the history, culture, and musicology of twentieth and twenty-first century popular music in Finland.

The volume consists of essays by leading scholars in the field, and covers the major figures, styles, and social contexts of popular music in Finland. Each essay provides adequate context so readers understand why the figure or genre under discussion is of lasting significance. The book is organized into five thematic sections: Emerging Foundations of Popular Music in Finland; Environments, Borderlines, Minorities; Transnationalisms; Sounds from the Underground; and Redefining Finnishness.

1

Introduction

Between East and West, Local and Global

Toni-Matti Karjalainen and Kimi Kärki

Finnish popular music is characterized as welling up from a rather unique cultural position and context. Finland is, geographically and culturally, part of the European North, a member of the collaborative family called Nordic countries, but it also has a long history of being a region and a “middleman” between East and West. The periods under Swedish and Russian power throughout Finland’s history have left their mark on Finnish culture, especially by strongly pushing to find and define a specific Finnish identity and heritage that was, for instance, highlighted by the quest for national romantic forms of art and culture pre- and post-Declaration of Independence in 1917 and the amplification of the Finnish narrative after World War II. Popular music has played a key role in these cultural negotiations, both leaning on the Slavic influences and Finno-Ugric roots of our language and, at the same time, being very open and receptive to influences from the West; Anglo-American directions in particular, as harsh as this kind of a simplification may seem.

This introductory chapter lays the foundation for what follows in the respective and more detailed chapters of the book. We first offer a general chronological look into Finnish popular music, mainly from the 1950s to the present, providing examples of various musical genres and the slow internationalization of Finnish popular music. In this limited overview, we aim to illustrate the richness of Finnish popular music and, indeed, to show how it has become an original and creative melting pot of international and local influences. Second, we map and showcase some of the research traditions within Finnish popular music.

Presenting a comprehensive review of Finnish popular music would be a big task for a book of its own, but here we aim to provide an overview of some of the main lines. However, our aim is not – by any means – to provide a complete view, either on the popular music or its research in Finland. Concerning specific details and themes, genres and scenes, as well as artists, much more in-depth analyses are found in the remaining chapters of the book.

In terms of bibliographical references within the popular literature, there is a notable lack of English language books, or even one single book, on Finnish popular music history. Even in the Finnish language, the list of comprehensive reviews is relatively short, even though Gronow and Bruun (1968) wrote about a “century of popular music” in their book Popmusiikin vuosisata (A century of popular music) over fifty years ago. More recently, a profound review is provided, for example, by Jalkanen and Kurkela (2003) who particularly focused on the history of Finnish popular music in their thick book Populaarimusiikki (popular music), which is part of a multi-volume book series on the history of Finnish music by the Finnish mainstream publisher WSOY. Lindfors et al. (2004a, 2004b, 2004c, and 2005), in turn, compiled a comprehensive four-book series for another major publisher, Tammi. Finnish views are also included in a book on the history of popular music by Janne Mäkelä (2011). Concerning different genres of popular music, specific books on Finnish rock history have been written in Finnish, for example, by Bruun et al. (1998) and Eerola (2016). Aho and Taskinen (2004) also published a book on the history of women in Finnish rock. Concerning different scenes, other works have covered partial Finnish histories of (Finnish slager) iskelmä (Rossi 2005), tango (Kärjä and Åberg 2012), punk and hardcore (Similä and Vuorela 2015), and metal (Nikula 2002). Some important local scenes have also been covered: for example, the cities of Tampere in Manserock (Rantanen 2012) and Turku in Toisen soinnun etsijät (the searchers of the second sound, Grönholm and Kärki 2017). The unique stories of record labels, Love Records (Rantanen 2005) and Poko Records (Kontiainen 2000), also document historically important chapters in Finnish pop music history. Muikku (2001) also reviewed the history of the Finnish record industry.

English-language publications, in terms of more comprehensive articles and historical overviews of Finnish popular music, are rare as well. Mäkelä (2008a) wrote about the history of Finland’s cultural policy and music export. The recent Oxford Handbook of Popular Music in the Nordic Countries (Holt and Kärjä 2017) includes some Finnish views. In particular, Kärjä (2017) discusses Finnish views in a Nordic context. There are also numerous shorter texts online. For example, Finnish Music Quarterly offers many brief, yet good, articles; history reviews have been written, for instance, by Knuuti (2004), Mattila (2005), Välimäki (2014), and Djupsjöbacka and Hiltunen (2014). Musiikkiarkisto (Music archive) Open Access, in turn, includes rather encompassing timelines by Mäkelä (2008b, 2017), and there are naturally many more casual reviews available, for instance, Wikipedia offers a pretty good (yet brief and selected) review on “Music of Finland” for English-language readers.

Among the popular literature, tens of music books on various Finnish artists and bands, and other music contents, are published every year. Some of the Finnish-language books on internationalized artists have also been translated and published in English. There have been a large number of documentaries, feature films, and television programs made over the years, too. It is not possible to list this vast body of popular contents here, but it provides researchers with an extensive material basis for further analyses. The latter part of this introduction also lists some research on popular music conducted by Finnish researchers.

Brief Overview of Finnish Popular Music History

Preceding modern times and popular music, as we nowadays comprehend the genre, various kinds of folk music, dance music, and music in the military and other special contexts – let alone the personal and family spheres – have naturally been presented and consumed in Finland. Classical music and art music do not have as deep roots as elsewhere in Europe. However, the early 20th century and later success of Jean Sibelius and numerous other names more recently have put Finland on the world map of classical and art music. These genres are outside the scope of this book, including this brief overview. There are also genres of popular music that are left out of this introduction, including electronic music and underground movements that are, however, covered in their respective chapters. We also do not cover jazz or folk music in this review, despite their strong foothold in Finland, too.

The Early Years and Rise of Iskelmä in the 1950s

Let us fast-forward to the period after World War II, which marked the birth of Finnish popular music as a wider phenomenon. A culturally and commercially significant movement – like in many other parts of the world, as a matter of fact – the roots of iskelmä (the domestic Finnish form of schlager) can be traced to the 1930s, but the scene grew notably more active after the war. Finnish tango, first appearing mainly as an imported genre, also found its “Finnish” forms in terms of specific cultural contents wrapped around a particular melancholic, we could say Slavic, core and themes. These early forms often presented a type of mash-up of Eastern and Western influences. Iskelmä-incorporated melodies and harmonies – often written in minor key like Finnish music in general, as we see in the chapters of the book – had close connections to Russian and Italian counterparts in addition to several Scandinavian and Anglo-American influences. The new dance music appealed to large domestic audiences, particularly the mixtures of tango and iskelmä. Artists like Olavi Virta, the “King of Tango,” and Tapio Rautavaara became extremely popular all over the country. A new tanssilava (dance hall) culture also began to spread widely across the country. Quite early, female stars like Laila Kinnunen, Annikki Tähti, and Carola started to reach notable success. Finnish women artists are specifically reviewed in Chapter 13. In addition to these and other singers, Reino Helismaa and Toivo Kärki became influential as songwriters with new Finnish contents.

Rock Foundations of the 1960s and 1970s

The first rock ’n’ roll concert was held in Turku in 1956, arousing quite a bit of controversial commentary¹ but it first entered the mainstream in the 1960s, particularly through imports. The 1964 Beatlemania peak was also experienced in Finland, followed by hysteria created by British beat group The Renegades. Some international guests also visited the country, like Jimi Hendrix in 1967. Alongside iskelmä, rock music also came into the picture in the repertoire of many popular Finnish artists. For example, Irwin Goodman represented a new hybrid form between these styles, providing the public with particularly humorous protest songs written by Vexi Salmi, who also wrote material for many other artists.

In rock as such, there was still less original songwriting involved; artists generally presented lots of cover songs, translated into Finnish, an approach that was also very typical for iskelmä. A special trade of influences occurred especially from the West in the early forms of Finnish rock (as shown in Chapters 3 and 7). Roughly speaking, up until the early 1970s, Finnish rock was very much dominated by foreign influences. Rock music got a foothold in Finland in the late 1950s, just like everywhere else, but most Finnish rock was basically copied from the United States. The biggest hits were generally translated into Finnish, and these then became hits in Finland. Local “rock stars” also performed tangos and other kinds of music that were popular in Finland for a longer period. The 1960s also brought along some new supporting activities within the popular music industry in Finland. Love Records started in 1966 and became a remarkable player for smaller and independent local artists. Domestic music literature began to emerge as well, as for example the already mentioned Gronow and Bruun’s Popmusiikin vuosisata (1968) was published.

The cultural trade between the local and global also emerged early in terms of a division of bands singing in Finnish and those in English; concerning cultural trade-offs, often for commercial reasons, Finnish-sung contents have generally been domestically popular throughout history. The Finnish language dominated early on, following the decision by most artists to stay domestic instead of trying to reach for any international following. In domestic markets, with only a few exceptions, artists had to sing in Finnish to succeed. Many became extremely popular domestically, and top Finnish popular music artists were highly visible in local media as well. Overall, the Finnish language played a prominent role in terms of the emergence of unique local expressions and the modification and adaptation of global musical trends, contributing to rather distinctive and original scenes.

The idea of Finnish music export was basically not at all realistic due to the domination of Anglo-American content in global popular music and the sheer lack of export knowhow and networks in Finland. More international possibilities started to emerge only decades later. In the late 1960s, however, there was some minor recognition, particularly within progressive rock. Interestingly, the birth of more original Finnish rock music almost coincided with the international progressive rock movement. Finland witnessed the foundation of several ambitious groups, most notably Tasavallan Presidentti (President of the Rebublic) and Wigwam. The latter (established in 1968), with their English singer Jim Pembroke, particularly managed to gain a small but firm reputation abroad. In the 1970s, Wigwam and Tasavallan Presidentti also appeared in good reviews in the United Kingdom, but a more notable breakthrough did not happen. Hurriganes, with their own kind of hard rock, gained some small success in Sweden in addition to their huge visibility in Finland.

The 1970s, in general, witnessed a fast-growing assortment of different rock activities. The first Finnish rock festival Ruisrock (Rye rock) took place in Turku in 1970, becoming a very big event on the Finnish scale in the following years. In that same year, the first stadium rock concert in Finland was organized when The Rolling Stones played at Olympic Stadium in Helsinki. The Tavastia Club also started in Helsinki and soon became a major venue for Finnish and foreign rock acts; as of this writing, it is still a central hub for rock music in the city.

The 1970s also brought a new lineup of domestically successful rock artists like Juice Leskinen, Hector, Dave Lindholm, and Kirka, to name a few, all of whom were very Finnish in terms of their appearance, narratives, and lyrics. The era also engendered a lot of long-term successful artists like Katri Helena and Danny. Iskelmä was still evolving and going strong, including the hugely successful Finnhits compilation cassette tape (compilations number 1–10 in the 1970s, and 1–4 in the 1980s) by the Finnlevy recording label, presenting a variety of Finnish popular music. Humppa, a kind of a variation of iskelmä, was also experiencing its peak in Finland in the 1970s.

The late 1970s punk movement also entered Finland in a rather influential manner, generating many domestic punk artists and manifestations like Pelle Miljoona and Hassisen Kone (Hassinen’s machine). Soon one such band, the 1980-established hardcore punk group Terveet Kädet (Healthy hands), also managed to create some substantial underground influence abroad, especially in Brazil, during their almost 40-year-long career. Overall, the end of the 1970s and the early 1980s brought along a stronger youth culture and genre divisions, and new forms of subcultures. Diverse phenomena like disco, rockabilly, and punk started to divide some Finnish youth with new moral and societal discussions entering these scenes. For example, Britain’s Sex Pistols were banned from playing in Finland because of rumors of their outrageous behavior. To further strengthen these new youth movements, branches of the Elävän musiikin yhdistys (Association for live music, ELMU) were established around the country.

Suomirock and International Influences in the 1980s

In the 1980s, popular music supply and demand rose to a new level in Finland, marking new directions taken in terms of our local–global continuum. On one hand, strong winds from major international pop and rock markets were blowing into Finland, facilitated by domestic and international media as well as internationally powerful record labels. On the other hand, the decade further fortified the domestic popular music scene with new forms and artists getting significant domestic attention. The big decade of (particularly American and British) pop music, hard rock, and heavy music was surely noticed in Finland, too. For example, as discussed in Chapter 4, the import of hard rock and metal music – simply called hevi in Finnish – made it a big, even mainstream, genre in music magazines and mainstream media, the biggest youth magazine, Suosikki, in particular.

At the same time, a specific form of rock, suomirock (Finland rock) with its 1970s foundations, became particularly strong (see Chapters 2 and 3 for more discussions). The name refers to rock music with Finnish lyrics, incorporating many influences from pop, iskelmä, punk, and other styles. Suomirock remained characteristically local, not even trying to directly imitate or be influenced by international styles, which...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of illustrations
• Preface
• Series Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Introduction: Between East and West,Local and Global
• Part I: Emerging Foundations of Popular Music in Finland
• Part II: Environments, Borderlines, Minorities
• Part III: Transnationalisms
• Part IV: Sounds from the Underground
• Part V: Redefining Finnishness
• Coda
• Afterword – From a Campfire to the Global Stage: A Conversation with Tuomas Holopainen of Nightwish
• Notes on Contributors
• Index