Categories
Misc News

Platinum debut for “HevAri”

Sales of the album instantly exceeded the amount of copies needed for platinum in Finland: 30,000.

Fuel for the Fire went straight to Number 1 of the Official Album Chart.

After winning Idols 2007, metal singer Koivunen, nicknamed “HevAri” (Finnish slang for 'heavy metal guy'), immediately got to work with some of the top names of Finnish metal and rock. Composers for his debut album included Marco Hietala (Nightwish), Pauli Rantasalmi (The Rasmus), Timo Tolkki (Stratovarius) and Teräsbetoni’s Jarkko Ahola.

Children of Bodom’s Janne Wirman and Thunderstone members Mirka Rantanen and Nino Laurenne are some of the top musicians that can be heard on the long player.

23-year-old Ari is also part of this year’s line-up at the Sauna Open Air Metal Festival in Tampere. On 27 July he will play Helsinki’s Tavastia Club.

Ari Koivunen's official website (partly in English)
Suomen virallinen lista – Finland’s official album chart.

Categories
Misc News

Bigger audiences for domestic films at Finnish cinemas

While there were slightly fewer premieres than in the year before, also the total number of cinema-goers grew in 2006. Nearly 6.7 million tickets were sold, about 600,000 more than in 2005. According to statistics from the Finnish Film Foundation, total box office revenues last year amounted to 50.3 million euros.

The most watched film in 2006 was the Finnish Matti (international title: Matti – Hell Is For Heroes) directed by Aleksi Mäkelä, which drew 461,665 people to Finnish cinemas. The second biggest box office hit in Finland was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

 

OVERALL TOP 5 MOST WATCHED FILMS 2006

1. Matti / Matti – Hell Is For Heroes (FIN; 461 665 admissions)
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (USA; 458 833)
3. Casino Royale (GB/USA; 368 621)
4. The Da Vinci Code (USA; 365 276)
5. Ice Age 2 (USA; 272,104)
 

TOP 5 DOMESTIC FILMS 2006

1. Matti / Matti – Hell Is For Heroes (461 665 admissions)
2. Kummelin Jackpot / Jackpot (229 511)
3. FC Venus (223 590)
4. Lupaus / Promise (84 389)
5. Jadesoturi / Jade Warrior (79 600)

 

 Source: Facts & Figures 2006, the Finnish Film Foundation

Categories
Misc News

Russian pianist wins prestigious piano competition in Helsinki

More:

Sofya Gulyak wins First Prize in Maj Lind Piano Competition

Categories
Misc News

Diablo opening for Metallica

 

Related:

Performance Apocalyptica at Metallica concert cancelled

Categories
Misc News

kanYe West concert moved to August

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

Categories
Misc News

New date for Mötley Crüe concert

Categories
Misc News

Nightwish announce first tour with Anette

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.

Categories
Misc News

Shooting Lordi film under way in Oulu

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
Misc News

New website

FREE! Magazine opens a new website. Browse around and discover it. Become a member and enjoy exclusive promotions and much more.

Categories
Art Exhibitions

OUR LAND! – Photographs from Finland

2007 is the year of a big celebration! Finland has its 90th anniversary of national independence this December. Over the past decades, Finland has experienced an unprecedented rate of economic, technological and social change. Our whole way of life is now totally different from what it used to be a few decades ago.

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Oi Maamme! – (Our Land!) is an exhibition about changes in the Finnish life from the 60s to the present day. 23 photographers show how Finns have lived in recent decades, both in Finland and as migrants abroad. When looking at the photographs you will see a development in Finnish lifestyle as well as in photography.

You take for granted the things that you see every day, don’t you? It is good to see how this country has changed but somehow stayed the same (yes, Finnish children have always been blonde and blue eyed!) Still, a lot has changed in the everyday life of Finns during these decades: jobs, buildings, cars and fashions. But as a Finn, I see that all of these photos have been taken in Finland. Or maybe I am just so old that I actually remember how good old Finland use to be. Or maybe all countries are developing in the same direction, so it is more and more difficult to point out the differences between them?

If you haven’t been around for so long or if you just don’t recognise Finland when looking at these pictures, then you have to admit, these photographs are very fine pieces of art!

The exhibition is held at Tennis palace Art Museum, Salomonkatu 15, 00100 Helsinki.

Open Tue-Sun 11 a.m. – 8.30 p.m, Mon closed.

Tickets: 5 to 7 euros. Admission is free for children under 18. Free admission on Fridays.

Categories
Art Interviews

Las Meninas invade Esplanadi

FREE! Magazine was able to have a brief talk with Manolo about his impressions and feelings about his work, which has been placed in such an important location in the heart of Helsinki.

Manolo, why have you lived in New York so long?
Yes, I have lived there for 18 years. It is a city where I can learn a lot, that suits me very well, and nowadays I do not feel so far from my native Spain. Every day I can enjoy the Spanish press and by it takes only six hours to get here… Conditions are easier now.

Have you visited Finland before?
Yes, I have been here several times. Now conditions are very good because I have been  invited to many places and events and I can see the life-style from “inside the house”.
 

{mosimage}How did you come up with the idea of having this worldwide tour of Las Meninas?
Initially, they were made to be displayed in the Palais Royal in Paris, and then other cities got interested such as Düsseldorf, Beijing, etc… And of course I am very proud of having them for the whole summer in the centre of Helsinki. 

You have collaborated with the writer Mario Vargas Llosa. How was the experience?
It was very enriching. I made some sculptures and Mario wrote a poem about them. The idea was that the sculpture would be able to talk in first person: to mix sculpture and poetry into one artistic representation.

Do you have any new projects in mind for the near future?
I am preparing an exhibition of portraits and landscapes in New York, and another one in Miami. 

Categories
Misc News

Samantha Marie José Sayegh wins Ourvision

Categories
Art Exhibitions

The Siida Museum

 

{mosimage}The Triangle of Life

Theoretically, at least, Sami artist Tuula-Maija Magga-Hetta’s exhibition is thought-provoking. Almost all of the exhibits in the Sami Museum’s gallery are based around the triangle: the shape of the traditional Sami tent, a shape associated with unrequited love, but also the strongest of shapes. But this is, perhaps, as far as the originality goes.

Despite all the arty verbosity in the press release (“The triangle of life is reflected on our moments in the form of a triangle of destiny. We meet our triangle in the fells…”), there is very little that is original or distinctive in this exhibition. In essence, it is typical Sami handicraft: twigs, Sami colours, reindeer-related stuff, colourful textiles, carefully displayed and occasionally given interesting titles.

The triangle dimension is a nice touch but it hardly compensates for the fact that there are scores of places in Lapland –both in Finland and Norway– where you can see handicraft just like this, indeed possibly more original than this. If you merely want to look at Sami handicraft, it may well be worth waiting until July when Inari will be populated with tents from which Sami will sell their various creations… and it will be free to look around those.

At a time when Lapland has become extremely touristy –and saturated with Sami handicraft– a Sami artist needs to approach the tradition in a strikingly original and fresh way. Although the triangle metaphor is interesting, I don’t think Magga-Hetta’s exhibition is fresh and striking enough.

Until the 6th May 2007

 

{mosimage}“Rewind!” Arctic Russia in Archival Films

Some exhibitions are so breathtakingly bizarre that they are worth seeing simply for that reason. ‘Rewind!’ definitely falls into that category. The exhibition’s blurb seems pretty boring: it is archive footage of life in Soviet Arctic Russia. But when you actually get to the exhibition you can do things like watch Russian TV from decades ago in a typical forty-year-old Russian front-room and change the channel by moving around on the sofa.

You can be filmed against an age-old Arctic Russian backdrop of reindeer herders as if you are there with them and, most peculiarly of all, you have the chance to mix different examples of Russian archive footage with various examples of old Russian music to create the appropriate mood for the film. But the exhibition also reflects a more serious purpose. Much of the archive footage involved, which is at any rate very rare, has been painstakingly restored and rescued from unsuitable and damaging conditions.

So the whole project aims to ‘protect the cultural heritage’ of northern Finland and Russia. But an exhibition of Soviet archive footage, no matter how rare and significant, could sound mind-numbingly dull to many people. However, this really is entertaining, original and… well… just plain bizarre. Whatever the exhibition is, it is great fun and worth having a look at.

Until the 20th May 2007

 

Both exhibitions are at the Siida Museum, Inari, Lapland.

The Siida Museum also houses permanent exhibitions about Sami life, nature in Lapland, the Northern Lights and an open air museum recreating traditional Sami houses and traps. All of them are highly recommended.

Prices: Adults (€8), Children (€4), Students/Pensioners (€6.50)

Categories
Art Features

The Lusto Museum in Punkaharju

In 1843, the Punkaharju State Forest was established and in 1990 the ridge was declared a protected area, with the approval of the Act founding the Punkaharju nature conservation area.
 

It’s not surprising, then, that the Finnish Forest Museum, Lusto, is located right here. The museum, opened to the public in June 1994, is entirely devoted to illustrate the Finnish forests, their importance and the interaction and relationships between Finns and their forests.

The museum is shaped in such a way as to remind a tree section, and a few huge windows allow the visitor to have a glimpse of the beautiful landscape. Inside, the basic permanent exhibition ‘Discovering the forest’ shows how the Finns have lived off the forests over the centuries. A whole section is devoted to log floating, which in the 1920s and '30s gave work to almost 100,000 men –even though only for a few weeks. Old photographs and a display of the tools used by log floaters help to understand the harshness of the work.

Lusto museum

Another interesting section deals with popular beliefs. For centuries, forests, in addition to supporting people with food, heating and even clothes, were believed to host many kinds of magical creatures, sometimes evil, sometimes helpful. In this section a karsikko is on display. In Finnish folklore a karsikko is a conifer tree with some branches cut off in memory of a special occasion or event. Often the date of the event and the initials of the people involved were carved on the tree. The karsikko on display comes from Lapland where it was grew from the 15th century to 1940.

Beside 'Discovering the forest' other temporary exhibitions are organized every year. This year, starting from April 27th, ‘Finn horse – work horse’ will celebrate the 100th birthday of the Finnish horse. On June 15th and 16th the Forest Culture Days will take place, with competitions in logging and log floating, work demonstrations, hands-on workshops, concerts, theatre performances, presentations and information sessions.

Lusto, The Finnish Forest Museum, Lustontie 1, 58450 Punkaharju
www.lusto.fi

Categories
Art Features

The Year of South Korea

Since 1997 the festival has been exploring different Asian cultures: from Indonesia to China, to India and –last year– the countries hit by the 2005 tsunami.
Asia in Helsinki is the only Finnish festival devoted to Asia, and the organizers put a great deal of effort into selecting the themes and the performers. “We tend to choose according to first-hand knowledge, groups and performers we have already seen in action,” says the festival's Managing Director Veli Rosenberg.

The festival usually focuses on performing arts, such as ballet, drama and music, but thanks to collaboration with the Museum of Cultures exhibitions relevant to the festival's theme are being organized every year. This year is the turn of ‘Korean home – the way of living’ open till the end of December 2007.
Two are the 2007 festival highlights, according to Rosenberg: Hee Dong, a group of ten Buddhist monks and nuns performing ritual dances, which has been highly praised in Europe and the States. And the NOW dance company, led by young choreographer Sohn In-young, and their merging of traditional dances with contemporaries choreographies.

{mosimage} 

South Korea has been chosen for having been a cultural bridge between China and Japan for centuries, a place where it is still possible to find dance forms already vanished in the other two countries. The roots of South Korean culture are in shamanism and that will be reflected in the performances of the artists present at the festival.

“The festival’s aim is not so much to attract huge audiences,” Rosenberg states, “it is rather to offer interesting performances and an opportunity to get to know also the background. Before the show, the public can hear an introduction about the art and the artists, so they are given a context, a background in which to set the performance.”

The venue has always been the Aleksanterin Teatteri – the former Helsinki Opera Theatre. “That is the perfect venue for the festival," says Rosenberg, "it has 450 seats, with wonderful acoustics. Performers don’t need to use microphones most of the time. And it’s an intimate and beautiful theatre.”

Asia in Helsinki – Aasia Helsingissä, Helsinki Aleksanterin teatteri, 3rd-5th May 2007
For further details and the program:

www.kulttuuri.hel.fi/aasia