Teenage sensation

{mosimage}

They
are young, they are pretty, they rock. Stalingrad
Cowgirls are the new teenage sensation. These three young ladies from Salla, a small town 60
km North of the Artic Circle
might not be allowed to enter the night clubs yet but they have already
released their first album, opened for Iggy Pop and The Stooges and
been on the cover of the most popular music magazines. Bassist Henna
tells FREE! about it.

Stalingrad Cowgirls practice some basic and fun music: Ramones oriented punk rock like other young girl groups like The Donnas or Swedish Sahara Hotnights. While still being in high school, they keep on touring across Finland and being rock stars.

How was opening for Iggy Pop? He could be your grandfather! 

As young rocker
girls we felt very humble! Iggy is very old but he has also an
amazing amount of energy. It makes you realize how long he had been
doing his thing and how well he can do it. We have very much respect
for him. Two of us met Iggy after the gig. Unfortunately our drummer
went already home by train. We got good comments and feedback from
him. He watched our performance. We put the advice behind the ear.

Why did you decide to start a band? 

We live in a small
village in the North. There are about 5000 inhabitants in Salla.
There the possibility to do things is very limited, you can do only
sports or music. We are not that sporty, and we have classical
background of music, so it felt natural to start a band.

How did you come up with such a name for the band? 

This is a long
story! We were going to one of our first gigs in the Youth Culture
Train event. There were performing people from Sweden, Norway, Russia
and Finland. One performance was in Russia, in Murmansk, and this was
the biggest reason for choosing the name Stalingrad Cowgirls. Indeed,
we didn’t invent the name, it was proposed by one friend of ours.

Two of you are not even twenty, isn't everything going very fast?

No. We could have
sit and wait in the training place for that for 10 years! But we
wanted to save the feeling of this moment and this huge energy what
comes out of us to the record, and it has nothing to do with the age.
We have so much time to do this for so long time!!

How was the recording of Somewhere High?

Making of our first
record was very interesting. Fortunately we had a very relaxed
producer with who we came along very well. It wasn’t anything about
“ok, now I press this red button and you play the bass”. We
learned so much all different kinds of thing and next time when we go
to the studio, we might not be so lost and stupid.

If you wouldn't have recorded an album already, would you dare to go to Idols?

Not at all, in any
point! In Idols, the people go there, who
want to sing, we want to play and be a band.

What are your favourite bands?

Everybody has their
own, but we also share some favourites. Like Sahara Hotnights,
Backyard Babies, Hardcore Superstar, The Donnas and also some older
bands like Rainbow, Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy.

 

 www.stalingradcowgirls.com
www.myspace.com/stalingradcowgirls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fox days in Andorra

In
total, the festival will show 154 different films, (chosen from the
316 sent to the competition), that will compete to get the classical
prize Hinku and Vinku,
consisting of a picture and flowers for the winners. The prizes are
given for those considered as the best in fiction and documentaries,
with the categories sub-divided between professionals and amateurs.
As well, short films of less than three minutes of duration are shown
for the FoxOff competition, being the subject of the present year
“temptation”. Kari Yli-Annala will be on charge also of
choosing the best experimental film during the festival.

During
Fox Days the visitors will have the chance also to see
a selection of the best music videos from the past Oulu festival, and
a review of the films made in other Nordic countries in the “Nordisk
Panorama” screenings. Other topics that acquire importance during
this year is the region of Karjala with Iris Olsson´s
film Kesän lapsi and KJ Kosken´s Unerlmana Karjala,
or the problems of the teenagers when growing up and facing adult’s
life in the films Heavy Metal by Zaida Bergrothin, Elää
by Reeta Aallon and Lilli by Oliwia Tonteri.

 

24th
Kettupäivät. 7.-10.11.2207
At
Andorra cultural centre (Eerikinkatu 11. Helsinki)
Ticket
for 1 screening: 3 euro.
Ticket
for 10 screenings: 20 euro.
For
more information visit: www.kettupaivat.fi

 

Fun on ice

{sidebar id=38}{mosimage}The new and hilarious comedy from Will Ferrell will not let his fans down. This time, he sets the ice rink on fire as the ultimate sex bomb on skates.

I must admit that I am getting more and more hooked with Will Ferrell’s movies. When it is about time to see comedies with not much farther aims than just spending a couple of hours relaxed and having some healthy good laughs, his movies are great. I liked a lot when I watched Talladega Nights for a second time and I enjoyed Anchorman too. In Blades of Glory, Ferrell, as the wild Chazz Michael Michaels (I really love that name!) is back together with Jon Heder (you may remember him from Napoleon Dynamite, one of the nicest surprises from 2004) and both work as a great duo of actors, everyone with a personality that frontally collides with the other. Their dialogues and interaction are hilarious with an excellent chemistry.

Special mention for the scriptwriters that were able to twist once more the comedy genre and take advantage of a sport that had not been enough exploded in the big screen, although some scandals in real life were pretty notorious, like the Nancy Kerrigan’s case (who, by the way, makes a cameo during the film, as many other real skaters).

A movie that knows perfectly how to take advantage of the jealousy and personal competitions that happen in real life, but at the same time resolves exquisitely the non-easy task of putting two heterosexual men skating together. For the detail lovers, you must know that both actors had to learn how to skate almost as professionals with many hard hours of training. Jon Heder broke one rib while shooting the film and the moment when he answers in perfect Japanese a question from a journalist comes from the real Japanese knowledge that he has, after having lived a couple of years in the Asian country while being a Mormon missionary.

If you do not like Will Ferrell’s previous films, forget to watch this DVD, since it goes pretty much in the same line. But if you enjoyed their special gestures and sketches, you will not feel disappointed with this movie.

Rating 4/5

Suden Vuosi

{mosimage}{sidebar id=37}One of the nicest surprise last year in the Finnish film industry was this Suden Vuosi (The year of the Wolf). Now available on DVD.

K rista Kosonen has become one of the biggest surprises of the Finnish cinema landscape during last years, not only for her undeniable beauty, but also for her good acting skills in films like Jade Soturi or this present Suden Vuosi.  She, as an epylepthic and talented young Literature student, is the backbone of Saarela´s movie, together with a very effective Kari Hesikanen as Mikko Groman, the University professor whose concentration on Baudelaires work and absence from taking care of family responsibilities is going to cause him more than one headache. 

Krista Kosonen looks perfect as the forbidden fruit, young, fresh, and with an excellent balance between shyness, naiveness and voluptuously. The spectator could hesitate about if the couple will work on screen at the beginning of the film, but they certainly do when the story advances.  The director goes for a very conservative treatment of the relation and the sex scenes, quite far from other Finnish sagas such as the three parts of Levottomat, for example, where frantic sex is present all over the action.I found a bit annoying the role and stridency of Aksa Korttila as Mikko´s sister, but Johanna Af Schulten is superb as the professor´s arrogant ex – wife. Looks like Finnish actresses have a special talent for those kind of roles, after a similar and also magnificient interpretation by Susanna Anteroinen as Hanna in the also pretty reccomendable Valkoinen Kaupunki.

The ending is a bit weak compared with the rest of the film, but all in all, Suden Vuosi was able to climb very high in the ranking of my favourite Finnish movies. Good photography, good script and excellent acting. A must see movie for those of you who want to know what is going on in the Finnish contemporary cinema nowadays.

Rating 4/5

Extensive Helene Schjerfbeck retrospective in Paris

The presentation, organised by the Hamburger Kunsthalle, is the first ever retrospective of Schjerfbeck’s art in France. It contains 125 paintings, watercolours and drawings as well as documentary material.

Helene Schjerfbeck (1862 – 1946) is one of the most acclaimed female painters from Northern Europe, and her unique, ascetic yet expressive style is drawing a lot of attention from outside Finland. Earlier, the exhibition already attracted nearly 200,000 visitors at the Gemeentemuseum at The Hague and the Kunsthalle in Hamburg.

The art on show in Paris is on loan from Helsinki’s Ateneum Art Museum and other museums in Finland and Sweden, as well as from private collections. Key works in the exhibition are The Convalescent (1888) and The Seamstress (1905) as well as Schjerfbeck’s imposing self-portraits, particularly those from her later years that approach the issues of ageing in a very bold and straightforward way.

The Helene Schjerfbeck exhibition at the Musée d’Art Moderne runs until the 13th of January, 2008.

 

Helene Schjerfbeck, a modernist observer of life – Virtual Finland

Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (in English)

Sunrise Avenue – Live in Wonderland

{mosimage}Sunrise Avenue
is one of the new Finnish bands that got quite a big international
success, especially in Germany. They present their new DVD: Live in Wonderland.

The band appeared
recently also in the news for not such a happy reason: their guitar
player and founder member Janne Kärkkäinen was fired
due to differences with the rest of the musicians, and replaced by a
new guitarist, Riku, that made possible to save the present European
tour where the band is involved.

What we have here is
the new DVD recorded on March 25th at E-Werk, Cologne. Sunrise Avenue
is a big success in Germany, so it was an excellent chance to
transmit that devotion of the German public (many female teenagers in
the first rows of the show) towards Samu Haber, the singer and
composer, and his fellows. The live DVD comes after the release of
the first album of the band: One way to Wonderland, and I must
admit that I am not very kind of bands releasing live material at
such an early stage of their careers. Even the musicians themselves
admit that they lack a larger repertoire when facing the encore. All
along the 15 tracks (plus the bonus track Diamonds) you can
see a young band that transmits a happy spirit and sunshine in the
melodies. Samu connects pretty well with the audience testing his
German language skills, but I don’t consider his vocal skills any
special. My impression towards Sunrise Avenue is that they are not so
different from many other pop-rock bands that appeared recently in
the Finnish scene (for example, labels like Fullsteam have
literally flooded the market with bands with similar style). Easy
pop-rock that can be easily swallowed by a broad teenage audience;
Same old formula. The band shows its best when they try harder riffs
and they really rock in some songs like in the introductory Choose
to be me or the final one Nasty, but the public clearly
appreciates more softer tunes like Into the Blue or Fairytale
Gone Bad.

About the technical
features, the design of the DVD main menu is quite cool, and you can
also have access to some interesting extras like images taken on the
road during the tour. Pay attention to some funny comments like when
Samu affirms that “this is a non-alcoholic tour, as usual” but
some minutes later you can see some members of the band holding
bottles of beers in their hands… Well, otherwise that would not be
a Finnish band on tour!

In any case, my
perception is that this DVD on live comes too much earlier for a band
with hardly just one studio album released. It smells too much like a
product thought by the brains in the record label to take advantage
of the present success, but they should have waited a bit more to let
the guys mature and show more experience on stage. If you are not a
fan of the band, do not waste your money on it.

Rating: 2/5

Sunlight in your eyes

{sidebar id=34}Danny
Boyle is one of the most exciting
English directors during last decades, with fresh products like
Trainspotting or
28 Days Later
(and some other films that failed, like
the disappointing The Beach).
Now, with this Sunshine,
he has achieved a product that pays homage to some science fiction
classics, being the most obvious inspiration to be recognized:
2001: A Space Odissey.

The
film is visually beautiful and shocking, with nice sequences like the
one when the captain and Capa go out of the
spacecraft to solve the problem with the protection panels. The
design inside inside and outside the craft is astonishing, once again
you can feel the impact of classic sci-fi movies all around the sets.
Boyle shows respect for all that previous influence and achieves
technically a very competent film. The actors` work is efficient,
with special mention to Chris Evans
as the down to earth man on board, Cliff
Curtis as the sun-lover doctor and
Hiroyuki Sanada
as the sacrificed captain. But the plot loses balance after the
encounter with the Icarus I and
the appearance of Captain Pinbacker. The film could have had much
more to offer just exploding the philosophical and ethical crashes of
the crew’s personalities, without having to resource to the typical
“monster” solution to endanger the mission. At the end, Boyle
just offers a bit of everything good from the science fiction’s
tradition, and much of nothing.

Redeeming the lust

They say that
everything is hotter there in the South of USA. It must be true for the
character played by Christina Ricci, Rae, since she cannot control the sexual
desire that turns her body, specially the part between here legs totally crazy,
due to abuses suffered from childhood. Samuel L. Jackson is the
God-fearing retired bluesman that will put effort, faith, patience and
understanding in curing and listening to this troubled woman.

{sidebar id=33}Both actors are
great in their roles, and with a lot of chemistry. It is not easy to play their
parts without falling in a misleading interpretation of their relation, but
they just know how to spice up things when needed, and cool them down to show
that what is really important all over the film is to transmit the feeling of a
real friendship.

Not that I am a
great fan of Justin Timberlake, but he does his part as the betrayed
husband while John Cothran Jr. is a good support and guaranteed fun when
sharing scenes with L. Jackson.

But the best of
the film is when L. Jackson plays the blues, with some electrifying scenes
while makes his guitar cries that matches greatly with the southern atmosphere
exhaled by the film.

Maybe it is not a
great comedy, and probably it is not to be taken seriously enough as a drama,
but Black Snake Moan gives a new nice approach to the relations between
black and white people, showing that there is some universal feelings that we
all share, starting for the pity, the love, the friendship and the
philanthropy. Let’s see when the time finally arrives for the taboo of love and
sexual relations featuring more interracial couples to be finally and openly
broken in the still very morally strict Hollywood
industry.

Rating: 4/5

Waltari – Release Date

{mosimage}One of the nicest
surprises in the Finnish heavy metal scene this year: Waltari with
their new album: Release Date.

Waltari has a long
story, being formed in 1986. The band from Helsinki started singing
in Finnish, but the changed to English language in the mid 90s. What
we have here is their new album with a very suitable catchy name:
Release Date. You can find powerful metal, raw and direct,
that could remind in some moments to earlier Sepultura, like
in the theme Wish I Could Heal.

In most of the
themes background vocals play quite an important role although Kärtsy
on vocals manage pretty well, great skills showing an amazing
capacity of registers that for some moments could sound even like
Ozzy Osbourne. The band is not afraid to experiment with more
electronic sounds like in The Incarnation Party, but they do
their bests when they just simply go to make business and release a
load of good heavy metal, like in the first track: Get Stamped,
which literally will blow your minds.; for my taste, one of the best
Finnish singles of last times, or in the not much political correct
Let’s Puke Together.

The band owns what
is maybe the most important requisite in music to get success: a
personal style that is transmitted from the design of the cover to
the lyrics. It was about time to have Waltari´s Release
Date. Pretty recommendable.

 

Rating: 4/5

 

Director Rauni Mollberg dead

Mollberg also worked as a radio and TV drama director with Finnish public broadcasting company YLE for nearly forty years. Between 1968-1986 he was the director of the theatrical department of YLE TV2.

Mollberg had been suffering from leukaemia for the past four years. He
passed away in a health centre in Loimaa, western Finland, on Thursday
morning (11.10.2007).

Rauni Mollberg – Wikipedia
Rauni Mollberg – Internet Movie Database (IMDB)

The Unknown Soldier (1985 film) – Wikipedia

Matti Johannes Koivu ystävineen – Topsi ja tohtori Koirasson

{mosimage}Despite
the fact I consider myself a fan of Matti Johannes Koivu’s work both in his
solo career and the band Ultramariini, I am probably not the right person to
review this album. No person whose age is a two-digit number is, since Topsi ja
tohtori Koirasson is an album for children.

Children’s music has often
been criticized – and for a reason – for underestimating it’s audience. That’s
not the case here – it’s actually quite surprising, how much this sounds like
Koivu’s “adult” records. Koivu and his band perform their folk-influenced pop
songs with great passion and care, like they always do. For example, the track
Räksytän could be, at least with a bit different lyric, from one of his other
albums.

What make this suitable
for kids are, indeed, the lyrics and the story, both penned by author Juha
Itkonen, and the album is actually meant to accompany the book he has made with
his wife Maija Itkonen, also entitled Topsi ja tohtori Koirasson. Juha Itkonen
has proved himself to be a very good author with his two novels aimed at the
adult audience, and the story here – about a dog afraid of the sound of buzzing
– is genuinely touching.

The story is told both in
the songs and in the narrative parts, which works very well. Taru Kivinen’s
narration empathizes beautifully the different elements of the story, and the
same goes for the musical parts. Besides Koivu’s band, the album features many
guests, of whom the most interesting must be Jarkko Martikainen in the role of
doctor Koirasson.

There are many reasons why
an adult would like to be a kid again. Topsi ja tohtori Koirasson is certainly
one of them. And any parent looking for children’s music that treats it’s
audience with respect and integrity cannot go wrong with this album.

4/5

Jarkko Martikainen – Hyvää yötä, hyvät ihmiset

{mosimage}Jarkko
Martikainen has maintained surprisingly good quality in his work both in his
band YUP and his solo career. Martikainen’s latest offering, a live album
consisting of songs he’s performing accompanying himself with an acoustic
guitar, is – for the most part – no exception to the rule.

He is one
of the sharpest lyricists in the current Finnish rock scene, and a very good
also at composing songs and performing them on stage. Still, it is somewhat of
a surprise that the acoustic versions of the songs work so well, since one
would think they would need the elaborate arrangements YUP and Martikainen are
famous for.

Live albums, just like
live gigs, are very much about co-operation with the audience and the
performer(s). Hyvää yötä, hyvät ihmiset is, in a refreshing way, very different
from live albums recorded in huge arenas, where you can only hear thousands of
anonymous people screaming. Here, people shout out their comments and wishes
for songs Martikainen should play, and he answers them most usually in a very
funny way. The record is very warm and intimate. People seem to be quite drunk,
but that’s the way it usually is in Finnish rock clubs.

The only drawback of the
album is that after only two solo albums, Martikainen may not have enough of
different songs for a well balanced live album. Muovailuvahaa is a previously
unreleased track, and Elegia is Timo Rautiainen cover (although the lyrics are
penned by Martikainen as well). All the other songs are from Martikainen’s two
solo albums.

This isn’t really the same
thing as seeing Jarkko Martikainen live, but live albums can rarely replace the
real thing. However, as a live album, it is different from the norm in a nice
way, and as a proof that Jarkko Martikainen is one of the most talented Finnish
songwriters, it works rather well.

3/5 

The Princess Bride and other tales

 

In any case, watching the Princess Bride
took me into the old habit of making a top ten about some aspect of cinema
(something we did during the printed edition of FREE! Magazine), so this time I
wanted to write my top ten of princesses in movies. If you think of other names
to add to the list, feel free to drop a line and write a comment in the blogs
section.

{mosimage}Princesses in Movies:

  1. Princess Leia in Star Wars (1977). Maybe Jabba the Hutt was not the most
    handsome being in the galaxy, but he had an excellent taste when dressing
    Leia in a sexy metal bikini.
  2. Elora Danan in Willow ((1988). The cutest smile from a very special baby.
  3. Buttercup in The Princess Bride (1987). She made Westley have a
    hard time to recover her, but they had what most of couples miss soon or
    later: True love.
  4. Helene in Troy (2004). The beauty of Diana Kruger demolished the walls of Troy.
  5. Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989). My favourite Disney´s
    princess. Maybe because she is a wild red haired…
  6. Princess Isabelle in Braveheart (1995). Sophie Marceau knew how
    to recognize the bravery of William Wallace.
  7. Princess Fiona in Shrek (2001). When an animation character has
    the voice of Cameron Díaz, she can be able even to throw kicks in the best
    “Matrix style”.
  8. Princess Moana in Pan´s Labyrinth (2006). Young  Ivana Baquero was one of the best
    revelations during last year.
  9. Princess Shakiko in Highlander (1986). Ok, she does not appear
    in the movie, only when Sean Connery tells the story, but don’t you feel
    like you had loved to watch how Ramirez stole her from her father’s arms?
  10. Xena: The Princess Warrior (1995). Well, she comes from a TV
    series, but the wild dreams of many men after watching her adventures make
    her worthy to appear in the top ten

Not a Finnish – Estonian band anymore

{mosimage}During
mid 90s, there was no pub or venue in Finland where Smilers did
not play. They gained lots of experience in the music circuit, but
the success was waiting at the other side of the Baltic Sea.
Nowadays, there is no other band in Estonia with so many well known
radio hits and catchy melodies. Good times to smile!

We sit
down to have a chat (and a beer) with the composer and singer of the band
Hendrik-Sal Saller and the bass player Urmas Jaarman,
while the rest of the guys eat their lunch after the sound check,
getting ready for the concert that will take place in a quaint old
gunpowder cellar turned into pub in Tartu. Being cataloged for many
years as a Finnish-Estonian pop-rock band, Hendrik recognizes that
maybe it is about time to change that perception of Smilers for the
public, since only one original Finnish member, the keyboards player
Mikko Saira, remains from the old Finnish times.

“Actually
there wasn’t place in Finland where we did not play. Somehow I
think that there was a problem because we did too many gigs at that
time and people were a little bit bored at the end. One day maybe the
audience was composed of only 6-7 people. It was quite hard work. And
there were guys who did not want to do it in that way anymore. At the
same time a friend from Estonia made an offer to make a record in
Estonia so I just put the question on the table: “who wants to
come with me to Estonia”. Some guys wanted and some guys not, at
that time it was quite Finnish-Estonian band, now it is more
Estonian-Finnish band.” 

Good football is better than bad sex

And
the change did well for Smilers (the
name of the band is inspired by a Rod Stewart’s song).
They started to collect awards and to be well known wherever they
played. This has led to a chain of radio hits like no other band in
the country. Songs like Ainult
unustamiseks or Käime
katuseid mööda are almost
like second national anthems in the small Baltic country. Not
mentioning the unforgettable chorus: Jalgpall
on parem kui
seks (literally: Football is Better
than Sex). The compulsory question comes: Is it really better?

"Well,
it depends. If you look at the
finals… maybe yes. Good football is better than bad sex, of course…
jokes Hendrik. I
can’t remember how the idea came out. The line just came out, and
yeah…I knew that in the history of my life, everybody would ask me
that question until the end of my days…"

The
catchy lyrics not only make Smilers popular for the audience, but
also for the companies in Estonia. 3 or 4 of the biggest brands in
the country have used Smiler´s tunes when advertising their
products. "Everybody knows the songs.
They work out well in the radio. They have good spirit, so that is an
additional value for advertising. I don’t think there are other
reasons behind", adds Urmas, the bass
player. "And I must honestly say that we
are very lucky to have such a good composer as Hendrik is". Indeed
Hendrik is well known also in this aspect, having composed for other
Estonian artists like Ines, Supernova
or the recent song representing Estonia in the last Eurovision Song
Contest in Helsinki for Gerli Padar
(the sister of Tanel Padar, the
national hero who won the contest in 2001)

{mosimage}
"It
was a big surprise for me. I am well known guy here against
Eurovision contest. And then our song has won the national contest.
At that time we were skiing in France and I got a call
“Your song is at Eurovision”…I was
feeling like…oh yeah…whatever. But well, it is a good song, I
think. It deserved better luck. I was in Finland for 2 weeks and it
was a nice experience to see all the big show around
“

Later
that night, another good show for a band that does not need to prove
anything new to an audience that knows by heart all the lyrics.
Urmas swings his bass player wildly not stopping sweating copiously
while Hendrik jokes with the audience. Young girls dance cheerfully
in the first rows and the band attends the petition of its public
finishing the concert’s encore with the much appropriated song
Korrata (literally
“one more time”).

The
band does not seem to care about the hard life on the road and the
heavy tour schedule that they have year after year. Urmas comments:
"No. If you choose this occupation you
must be up for it. If any band member would say “no, I can’t do
it” then I would say ok, you are not a musician if you don’t like
to do this. It is our life, so it is never enough." 

"Usually
we are doing a break in autumn and
other in spring. So
we are privileged since choose when to have holidays, so you can’t
really get tired", reaffirms Hendrik.

Urmas
dedicates to the Finnish audience the only
sentence he remembers in Finnish: “Kaikki Uimahousut mukaan!”
That would resume very well the cheerful spirit of a band that takes
life easy and transmits a happy feeling wherever they play.