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Articles Misc

I’m not sleazy!

If you don't believe me go and have a look here.
Am I right? Those of you who don't know my regular charming good looks may be
fooled into thinking that this is my daily appearance, but you would be way off
the mark. I am not a bad looking bloke, even if I do say so myself, and have
managed to dig out the best of my genetic code and handed it on to my beautiful
young daughter – lucky gal!

Naturally I haven't always felt reasonably
comfortable with my appearance, like most teenagers, I wished for a fairy
godmother to wave a magic wand or, at the very least, a paper bag that didn't
dissolve in the rain. Acne, lack of height and a lengthy period wearing
spectacles, not glasses, but spectacles left me dangerously named and exposed
in nerd territory – I even liked Star Trek, which didn't help my dress sense
either.

Medication cured the acne, a painful growth
spurt brought me up to average height and contact lenses were a gift from the
gods, but there were still issues. As I approached my 18th birthday my mum
asked what I wanted for a gift, but when my mind went blank she jokingly
suggested a nose job. Years later, the topic of the nose job came up and she
was shocked to discover that I, Cyrano de Bergerac, hadn't taken it as a joke.

My life had increasingly more
self-conscious moments as the years rolled on, especially on a weekend to Paris
that was destined to become the "Will you marry me?" trip. My future
wife and I were strolling along the Seine when a persistent caricature artiste
captured her in his chair and his cartoonist friend then grabbed me. After a
few minutes of scribbling and colouring they proudly show the childish result
and announce an outrageous fee. Following some angry negotiation, my artist
angrily declares, "Well, I could have drawn your chin bigger – you have
big chin!"

A big nose AND a big chin! I felt as though
my face was swelling up like it had an allergic reaction to a bee sting – at
least they weren't the only big things on my body that were large and swollen.
Anyway, finding shoes to fit by large and swollen fit proved tough on occasion…
what part of my body did you think I was discussing? The whole body image thing
is tiring and even though my wife casually pointed out that my stomach has
become larger the other day I desperately try to ignore it all.

You know the worst part? As time passed by
I have discovered that it isn't just physical attributes that attract attention
from vicious observers. Every week I co-host a live radio show with a Greek
friend and it was due to this show that my voice came under fire from a forum
user: "The Greek certainly came across better, the Brit sounded a bit
smarmy and false." What! Smarmy and false… come on! I do not sound slimy,
but then if you pair the slimy voice with the sleazy photo on FREE!'s front
page there's little left for me to do, except become a lawyer.

Categories
Misc News

Espoo Ciné starts tomorrow

Categories
Interviews Misc

Professionalism on stage

{mosimage}Juan
Echanove
is one of the most popular Spanish actors in the last twenty years. Although
known by his sweet and kind roles, Echanove adventures into difficult and
challenging performances like his role in Calixto Bieito’s adaptation to
theater of the controversial novel by Michel Houellebecq, Platform, which was just presented during Helsinki Festival.

 

Platform is
an uncomfortable play. It talks openly about pornography, sex tourism,
terrorism and the differences between the rich Western world and the developing
countries. The three representations in Helsinki are the last ones of a long
year with 200 performances since its premiere in the Edinburgh Festival where the
Spanish actor was honored with the Herald Angel award. Echanove speaks clearly
and frankly. He admits that he is exhausted after so many performances,
although willing to go once more on stage and fight with the demanding role of
Michel. Right after speaking to FREE! Echanove will start warming up his body
and his voice

Why did you
choose to play the role of Michel?

My decision
was completely based on my confidence in Calixto Bieito, our director. I
couldn’t imagine that there could be a play based on Michel Houellebecq’s novel, but if
Bieito was able to see a great show on it, it was good to trust on him.
Probably I wouldn’t have accepted to play this role if Bieito wouldn’t have
been involved.

It is one
of your most challenging works.

The text of
this play is very dangerous. It is very intimidating. It burns. It is a bomb.
In a very precise manner, it tells the lowest qualities of modern Western
civilization, of a nowadays individual from good old Europe. The play shows
normal people of my age, 45-50 years old and their expectations and emotions.
Indeed, it is very challenging and complicated to be for two hours such a
character, with those low human qualities and under the influence of alcohol
and pills.

How did you
create this character?

I went to
Barcelona for six weeks and lived alone in an apartment. I didn’t do anything
else but rehearsals in the evenings and building the character in the mornings.
I tried to make the complex psychology of Michel real, to find out how the
feelings of such a person would be, creating something real beyond the literary
work of Houellebecq. I wanted to know how a person of those feelings and characteristics
would be for real.

Did you do
anything special?

I did the
usual work when preparing a role. There was a lot of background documentation. I
did some research on the main issues that Michel Houellebecq addresses with his
thinking and criticism about society. The issues are the power of money over
poverty, terrorism and pornography and sex tourism.

Is it
easier for you to play a character that it’s so different from you?

No, it’s
the same. Acting is a job. A friend of mine says that being an actor is either
very easy or impossible. With this performance I learned to be shameless of many
things, for example things related to sex. It is not easy to talk about your
father’s dead while looking at a screen showing a double penetration. This is a
very tough role. Every performance I lose two or three kilos and it’s not
because of its physical intensity, it’s because the emotional intensity. But
there must be a good distance between the character and the actor. Sometimes
actors say that they are so identified with the character, that they own it.
That’s bullshit. My job is wonderful, but it is also tremendously complicated.
It’s a job like a pianist or violinist. All my life and education have been
devoted to acting. It’s natural for me to go on stage.

This is a
high point in your career.

It’s funny
because a role like Michel, who has nothing to do with me, marks a turning
point in my life and in my career. It’s a point of growing up. Doing
performances like Plataforma, one realizes that it’s not worthy to go on stage
if there is not a real motivation, if it’s not risky and meaningful.

Do you
think you could have played this part earlier in your career?

Absolutely
not. This was the right time. I think I would not accept if I had been called
next month. But as I said before, Calixto played a very important role. He
called me and I accepted even before knowing what was the play we were going to
do. He’s one of the best contemporary directors in European theater. If you are
an actor, you must be at his command at least once.

How is
working with Calixto?

He is a
sweet guy, very sincere and a very practical person. I like those qualities. He
is honest. He knows the audience; he knows what the audience looks at and why. He’s
unique.

Categories
Cover story Misc

The Helsinki Festival starts today


The Helsinki Festival is this year expanding its
programme. Arts from the Baltic Sea region will be very much to the fore. The
Festival presents three leading orchestras, several theatre groups and visual
arts from around the Baltic. There are also more free Festival events on the
programme than in former years. The revamped Night of the Arts caters for a
wider range of tastes than ever. The sculpture exhibition in Esplanadi Park and
the open-air movies in the Lasipalatsi square will all be free. The summer
season at the Huvila Festival Tent ends with a six-hour open-house day
masterminded by Pekka Kuusisto.


T
he Helsinki Festival begins with Kaija Saariaho’s dramatised Passion de
Simone
directed by Peter Sellars (US) at Finlandia Hall. The orchestra will be
conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. New works by Magnus Lindberg, another
contemporary Finnish composer of international repute, will receive their
Finnish premieres in a two-concert cavalcade of chamber and orchestral music
also starring Lindberg as a pianist and conductor.

The visiting orchestras include the Oslo Philharmonic and the Swedish Radio
Symphony; the St. Petersburg Philharmonic will be playing music by Sibelius,
something it rarely does in Helsinki. Appearing at the Festival will be
violinists Lisa Batiashvili, Viktoria Mullova and Christian Tetzlaff, and
pianist András Schiff – all great favourites with Finnish audiences.
Representing the Finnish vocal elite are Monica Groop, Camilla Nylund and Topi
Lehtipuu
, all of whom enjoy a fine international reputation.

The hundred-strong Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra will be playing familiar
tunes from pirate films at the family concert that is always a Children’s
Festival hit. In addition to music, theatre and film the children’s programme
will include an exhibition on the theme of Giotto with numerous workshops and
tie-in events at the Annantalo Arts Centre.

New circus, Chekhov and contemporary European theatre

International circus, theatre and dance are more in evidence at this year’s
Festival than ever before. One of the Festival’s big attractions is Collectif
AOC, a French new circus group that will be erecting a 600-seat tent in
Meripuisto Park near Kaivopuisto. ‘New circus is conspicuous in this year’s
programme,’ says Festival Director Risto Nieminen. ‘Helsinki will also be
acting host to a number of current names in European theatre and dance, such as
dancer-choreographer Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and the enfant terrible
of Spanish theatre Calixto Bieito.’ The Stage festival to be held for the first
time at the Korjaamo Culture Factory has invited along five European theatre
groups.

The four-year Chekhov series culminates this year in three topical interpretations
of works by the Russian master. For the production of The Three Sisters
directed by him Declan Donellan (UK) has formed a cast of leading names in
contemporary Russian theatre. The Von Krahl Theatre from Tallinn is bringing
along a re-reading by Kristian Smeds of The Seagull, while Dmitri Krymov, a hot
name in Russian theatre, will be staging a collage of four Chekhov plays.

New rhythms, nostalgia and mysticism at the Huvila Festival Tent

The packed programme for the Huvila Festival Tent ranges from pop and world
music to poetry and a children’s day. Among the most eagerly-awaited guests
this year are French chanson star Juliette Gréco and blues legend Taj Mahal.

Bringing along a breath of the rich musical tradition of the Middle East will
be the Syrian Ensemble Al-Kindi reinforced with a Sufi singer and a Dervish
dancer, and Turkish Mercan Dede, combining electronic rhythms and Sufi ambience
straight from Istanbul. Ville Leinonen will be inviting dancers to take the
floor at the Huvila Saturday hop. ‘It’s great we were able to get Ayo, an
artist very much on the rise, for the Huvila Festival Tent,’ says Production
Manager Kaarina Gould. ‘In addition to new rising stars and old world music
hands the Huvila profile will take in such hybrid evenings as Lännen Jukka – a
joint gig by J. Karjalainen and one of the leading names in American old time
music, Dirk Powell.

Flow moves to the Suvilahti power station area

The visual arts will be make their presence felt in the city right at the
beginning of May, when the sculpture exhibition Las Meninas by Manolo Valdés of
Spain takes over Esplanadi Park. The series of 21 sculptures can be viewed free
round the clock until the beginning of September. The exhibition of work by
Carnegie award-winning Karin Mamma Andersson from Sweden will be travelling to
the Kunsthalle straight from the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. Meanwhile the
Amos Anderson Museum will be putting on an exhibition of oil paintings by Anna
Retulainen
.

On each of its three weekends the Helsinki Festival will be screening movies
free in the Lasipalatsi square. The Orion Cinema will be showing a unique
retrospective of work by Iranian Abbas Kiarostami. The life and works of Andrei
Tarkovsky
will be portrayed through documentaries about him.

The revamped Night of the Arts, shifted this year from Thursday to Friday
(August 24), is an urban event providing a feast for arts lovers all through
the night. Culture vultures will thus be able to revel in events numbering well
over a hundred in new and sometimes unexpected settings scattered round the
city. The enlarged Runokuu will be taking lyrics and literature out into clubs,
churches, public transport and nature trails and strengthening the role of
verbal art in the Festival programme.

The popular Flow festival will be focusing on the hottest contemporary rhythm
music from indie rock and folk to various subgenres of electronic music and
swinging jazz. One new urban venue is the area round the former Suvilahti power
station. As the August evenings draw in jazz fans can look forward to Viapori
Jazz on the island of Suomenlinna and the UMO Jazz Fest.

Helsingin Juhlaviikot – Helsinki Festival 17.8-2.9
www.helsinginjuhlaviikot.fi

Categories
Cover story Misc

North goes South

{mosimage}
It sounds
strange: a Scandinavian festival in Italy. Usually you
can find a lot of Latin festivals or even African one but never
Scandinavian.
From here the need, felt by a group of people, of trying to organize in
Milan,
with the help of some important partners and sponsors an event that
could promote the Scandinavian culture in Italy with the aim of
stimulating the exchange between different cultures.


 


T
he
Ragnarock Scandinavian Music and Art Festival opened his first edition on the
7th of July in Milan Magnolia, near the Idroscalo. From 5 pm until late night,
you could find a photographic exhibition of 
the Danish Søren Solkær Starbird, for the first time in Italy, a fashion
show, a Scandinavian buffet and five concerts. Near the stage and the bar you
had also the chance of reading an Iperborea book, the biggest Italian publisher
of Scandinavian literature who has organized a books banquet and a reading
area, or you could also win a flight ticket to Copenhagen or Stockholm.
Everything for only 6 euro.

Starbird
himself, a great example of music photography, explained the criterion by which
he has selected the pictures underlining the aim of the festival: promoting the
Scandinavian culture:“Related to the
philosophy of the Festival, to the promotion of musical Scandinavian talents, I
decided to choose a selection of photographies that mainly show Scandinavian artists,
especially Danish. The theme of the exhibition is, then, linked with the one of
the Festival, in a continuous dialogue between the artistic and the musical
dimension”.

The result
was a musical trip throughout eighteen shots realized while touring with the
most important bands of nowadays.

But not
only photography, as I said: fashion show of five Scandinavian stylists from
the European Institute of Design (IED) and five different bands who were performing
on the stage (Promise and the Monster, Niepoort, Jonna Lee, The Fashion and
Prins Thomas
).

One thousand
and five hundred people welcomed this first edition of the Ragnarock
Scandinavian Festival, showing how much is widespread the interest towards the
Nordic culture and stimulating, I hope, the organization of other events like
this.

 

Categories
Misc News

27th Helsinki City Marathon August 18th 2007

{mosimage}The marathon starts in the vicinity of the statue of the legendary
Paavo Nurmi. The finish line is at the Olympic Stadium. Twenty
refreshment points guarantee that runners are well taken care of.

 Every
participant will be given a fine medal, T shirt and  diploma. The
runners are also offered facilities for an exotic experience of Finnish
sauna, shower and swimmin pool at the Swimming Stadium near by.



Program:

Friday August 17th 2007

The race
office is open at the Olympic Stadium from
12am to 8pm

Marathon expo from 12am to
8pm

Saturday August 18th 2007

Disney
minimarathon for kids 5-13 years from 10am to
1pm

Marathon starts at 3 pm

The race
office is open at the Olympic Stadium from
8am to 9pm

For registration and more information
check: www.helsinkicitymarathon.com

Categories
Misc News

Director French version of Paasilinna film to visit Espoo

The leading role in the French film is played by Christopher Lambert, who is mostly known for his action roles. Unlike the Finnish version, co-written (with Paasilinna and Kullervo Kukkasjärvi) and directed by Risto Jarva, Le Lièvre de Vatanen (2006) is situated in Canada and was filmed in Bulgaria. In the film, the name of Vatanen is about the only link with Finland.

The drama will be shown at the Espoo Cultural Centre in Tapiola, Espoo, on 26 August. Rivière will introduce the film right before the screening. Also Paasilinna, whose books are very successful in France, will take part in the film’s presentation at the festival.

The French language film will be shown with English subtitles.

 

Le Lièvre de Vatanen (in French)

Espoo Ciné International Film Festival

Arto Paasilinna [Virtual Finland]
 

Categories
Misc News

Nightwish album leaked

The source of the leak has been traced to a French journalist. The person in question has been caught, but the damage has already been done.

‘It will surely affect record sales,’ according to Nelli Ahvenlahti , International Exploitation Manager at Spinefarm Records in a reaction to Iltalehti, the daily paper that first reported the story in Finland. ‘It has been made very easy [to download a pirate copy, D.B.] and the threshold is low.’

Large numbers of  pirate copies of Dark Passion Play have by now been downloaded, many thousands via one single Finnish web service alone.

It is not the first time Nuclear Blast has blundered with Nightwish material. Earlier this year, the release of “Eva“, Nightwish’s long-anticipated first single with new singer Anette Olzon, had to be put forward after it, too, had been leaked onto the internet via the German record company.

Related: 

Nightwish announce first tour with Anette

Nightwish – official website
Nightwish on MySpace

Nuclear Blast

Spinefarm Records
 

Categories
Misc News

Sonata Arctica guitarist sacked

‘This matter, and everything that goes with it, caused a split between Jani and the other band members. This split was impossible to mend without Jani's help and co-operation,’ the statement continues.

Liimatainen was one of the founding members of Sonata Arctica (back then called Tricky Beans) in 1996. He had been absent from the line-up this spring and summer. During those periods Elias Viljanen filled in for him.

Liimainen was asked to leave the band already in May. His departure from the group was only announced publicly this week (6.8.2007) ‘to give Jani the chance to get his life together’, according to the statement

Elias Viljanen will now be a full and official member of the band. Earlier, he released two solo albums and played with metal bands Mess and Arched.

Sonata Arctica is currently one of the biggest names in the international metal scene and enjoys great popularity especially in South America and elsewhere in Europe and manages to play sold out arena concerts in bigger markets like the United States and Japan. After a short break, the band will head to North America for a tour through Mexico and the United States this autumn, which will be followed by a European tour at the end of the year. The group’s latest album, Unia, was released on 25 May.

Related:

A piece of Artic Metal Music
FREE! Magazine's interview with Sonata Arctica's Toni Kakko (vocals) and Henrik Klingenberg (keyboards)

 

Sonata Arctica – official website
Sonata Arctica on MySpace

Elias Viljanen – official website
Elias Viljanen on MySpace
 

Categories
Misc News

Blues legend “Honeyboy” Edwars to play in Tampere

In Tampere, Edwards will play at the Down Home Island festival in Viikinsaari. Other bands on the bill are Honey B and the T-Bones and Jo' Buddy & Down Home King III. The festival is organized on an island and there is transportation, by boat of course, from Laukontori. The show starts at 7pm. Tickets are 15 euro.

More information at Blues-Finland.  

 

Categories
Cover story Misc

Sail the world

{mosimage}
 

Auli Irjala made her dream come true and sailed
the world for four year with her husband Hannu Aulin. They visited places like Greenland, Tonga,
Mexico,
New Zealand and Alaska, only few to mention. She wrote a
book of their adventures called Meren Selkä Taittuu (The Stories of Sailing on
Kristiina
, Edita 2007). It is a great story about the journey itself, good
description of the nature and life on the 11,2 meters long sailing boat called
Kristiina

{sidebar id=3}How did you become a
sailor?

It was in
1986 when I inherit some money. Me and my brother bought a 6-meter long
sailing boat as an impulse purchase. I didn’t know anything about sailing at
that time. I had been on sailing boat only once in my life. I just tried to
learn it by myself, but then I gave in and took a course and realised what
sailing was all about. Later I bought my brother’s share, because it didn’t quite
work, owning the boat together. We disagreed on some things about the boat.
Afterwards I let him use it though and it worked very well that way.

How can one learn to sail?

Only way to
learn it is by sailing. When you get more experience you can sail further and
to more challenging places. I remember how great it felt when I sailed from Helsinki to Hanko for the
first time in my life. The great feelings come when you exceed your limits and
challenge yourself.

Did you plan the trip
to be so big before hand?

We were
planning the trip to last for 3 years, but we were aware that those kind plans
can easily change and so we ended up sailing for 4 years. We didn’t even want
to do around the world trip.

When you
are planning this kind of sailing journey, you need to plan the time schedule
and the route very carefully and according to the hurricane seasons and
predominant winds.

How much time did you
spend on planning the trip?

We spent
two years planning the trip, getting information and equipment, fixing the boat
and testing equipment. The hardest part was making the final decision of leaving.
But after the decision had been made, all the problems were practical problems,
which just need to be solved. The better you plan your trip, the less you will
have problems on it.

What were the places
you wanted to go most?

To Greenland. When we got there, we wanted to go to across
the USA
and so we cruised along the rivers of America. We also were dreaming of
sailing to Alaska,
but we weren’t going to do that, because the passage is quite demanding. Then
we met people who had done the journey and we decided to take an extra year and
go for it. And so we sailed from New Zeeland to Alaska.

Do you recommend that
kind of big trip to other sailors?

Yes, if
that is what they want. They should do it rather now than when they are on
retirement pension. You never know what’s going to happen in the future. Our
journey was definitely the right thing for us.

{mosimage}What did the freedom
feel like?

It is
contradictory matter; in the beginning it felt great, like being on big holiday.
But big journey isn’t any holiday, so at some point we felt like having
something to do, some work to do. In the beginning of the trip I felt guilty of
not doing anything useful and that was something I couldn’t have prepared for.
But when the time passed, the feeling faded and I got use to not being very
active. I wrote articles for magazines, but Hannu didn’t have much to do and he
didn’t like being inactive. It may sound weird, but being inactive isn’t good
for most of the people. Sometimes we even missed the everyday life in Finland, but
when we visited Finland
few times during our trip, we were amazed how hectic and stressful life in here
actually is.

We learned
to be more social and learned to rely on the boat and on each other more and
more. We didn’t get bored; our relationship was great and we saw lot of new
things and places on the way. Although there was a bit of numbness: for example
it was breathtaking to see dolphins in the beginning of the trip, but after we
were snorkelling with whales in Tonga we weren’t that impressed when we saw
dolphins. After eating so much fresh lobster we don’t feel like eating lobster
in Finland
anymore.

I could
have stayed for longer, but Hannu wanted to end the trip and come home, for
work. But it took a year to come back after the decision of coming back, so we
had enough time to settle down with the thought of going home. Now I feel great
about it all and I know that I am very privileged to do that kind of adventure.
I really appreciate the experience I had. Now it is my turn to give time to my
parents. It feels good to be here now.

{mosimage}What was the most
impressive experience?

The whales
in Tonga.
We have always been curious about whales and we have seen lot of them before in
Norway.
We also were really close to bears in Alaska,
which is very rare. We really enjoy the nature. Also meeting other people,
different kind of people than you meet back home was very interesting. In Finland we
usually meet people, who share the same background and values, but overseas and
especially in Alaska,
we met these crazy and great people, we wouldn’t get to know in here. It really
opened our eyes to many ways people live. After being moving from place to
place for so long and especially after very thrilling passage from New Zealand
to Alaska it
was great feeling to know that we were going to stay in Alaska for a year.

And the most
frightening moment?

On our way
from New Zealand to Tahiti the mast almost
fell down. The bolt inside of the mast broke and the wire cables went all loose.
It was in the middle of the sea, we were one week of sailing away from the
nearest harbor. Luckily we could solve the problem by ourselves. You will feel
good when you can cope with the situation like that by yourself. Other wise
everything went well, we were lucky, but in addition to that we lived very
quiet life and moved slowly.

What kind of sailors
did you meet?

We met lot
of sailors and got along with them well. Sailors, who do big trips like ours,
understand each others quite well, no matter where they come from. We met lot
of sailing families, even with their children aboard and sailors on all kind of
boats; for example in Tonga
we met this old man who was on his journey by a sailing canoe made of veneer
plywood.

Did you know that you
would be the first Finnish sailors to go to Greenland?

We had
sponsors, because we were going to sail to ashore of Greenland
as the first pleasure sailors under the Finnish flag. I haven’t heard that
anyone else had done the same route; people usually want to go to South.

How was it living in
the boat all the time?

Our
relationship was strong and good before the trip and it was dream of both of
us. Aboard you just don’t want to argue about small stuff. And if something
turns up, you have to solve it right away, because you can’t leave anywhere. Of
course there were moments when we were a bit bored, but there weren’t so big
arguments that we wanted to end the trip. On dry land it is easier to quarrel
about small matters that become bigger issues. And it is so easy to break up
ashore. No one should do that kind of trip to fix a relationship. 

Of course
it was crowded on the boat every now and then, like when we sailed to Greenland and there were 4 of us aboard, wearing winter
clothes. Most of the time it was only two of us and it was nice to have our
family members to come visit us on the journey. We are very different kind of
people, which was only the strength: we always had two different kinds of
solutions to problems and we just picked the better one. Our relationship is
even stronger now, after the experience.

How did you decide
that it is time to go back home?

Hannu
wanted to get back to work and our parents were expecting us to come back,
especially when the trip was already one year longer than we planned it to be.
Distances are so huge, so if we had wanted to sail for longer, it would had
been at least one year more.

What is the thing with
the sailing for you?

The wind!
Sailing is just one way to move and see the world. The most important thing is
that I have seen the places on the way and disengage myself from routines and
everyday life back home. Sailing makes it possible to make that kind of trip
safely and on cheap. It really wouldn’t be possible with motor boat. That kind
of sailing is a life style.

You sold Kristiina and
bought and a new sailing boat, why?

We bought
bigger boat with the shower inside. In Kristiina the shower was on the deck.
This new boat is a project; we are going to change lot of it. It’s name is
Manta.

You left your job
before the trip. Was it right thing to do?

Yes it was.
Now I work as a freelance journalist and writer. At the moment I am writing a
book about history of gaff schooner called Joanna Saturna. It is build in 1903.

Where to next?

It takes approximately five years to fix Manta. I would imagine that the next place we are going to sail
is somewhere cold, no matter if it is to South or North. You see so much wild
life in arctic area, which we are seeking. I like to be in tropics, but only
shorter periods. When we leave, we probably will stay for several years on the
trip; we just take our home, Manta, to some cool place, where are lot of whales
and birds. This summer we will sail in beautiful archipelago of Finland.

Categories
Misc News

Many millions more to arts & culture -draft state budget

The long-desired Archive would contain material from both public broadcasting company YLE and other broadcasters and will most probably be connected to the Finnish Film Archive, according to Riita Kaivosoja, Director General at the Ministry of Education, responsible for culture politics, in Helsingin Sanomat (4.8.2007).

The Ministry is also willing to support digitalisation of Finnish cultural heritage by 2 million euro. Public libraries will have to make do with the same amount of state funding as in 2007: about 2.5 million euro. The Ministry rejected a request for a 2-million euro state subsidy for culture export.

In total, 209.6 million euro in the draft state budget is allocated to arts and culture. Another 205.1 million would come from the profits of state-owned lottery company Veikkaus.

The Government will decide on the draft budget in negotiations beginning on 30 August.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Sources: Helsingin Sanomat, Finnish government, draft budget 2008 – Ministry of Finance

Categories
Misc News

Leningrad cancels Ankkarock, replaced by …part of the band

Spitfire was founded in the early nineties as a garage rock group but
later turned to a unique way of playing skapunk. The band from Saint Petersburg has played in
Finland numerous times and performs in both Russian and English.

Ankkarock is held this weekend (4 and 5 August) in Vantaa. Spitfire will play Saturday at 4 pm.

Spitfire – official website
Spitfire on MySpace

Leningrad (in Russian)

Ankkarock

Categories
Misc News

DMX gigs in Finland cancelled

According to the hip-hopper’s management, DMX (real name: Earl Simmons)
was arrested at the airport passport control for failing to attend a
court session earlier this year and prevented from leaving the United
States until the case has been settled.

The court case involved driving without a driver’s licence, a minor offence, so it shouldn’t take much time to solve the matter, the management reassures.

A replacement concert at Kulttuuritalo will take place at the end of August. The exact date will be announced as soon as possible. 

Ticket holders who can’t (or don’t want to) attend the gig at Kulttuuritalo on the new date can have their tickets refunded at Lippupalvelu ticket offices.

UPDATE:  

Early on 3 August, the organizers of Pipefest in Vuokatti announced that American rapper Cassidy will take DMX's place the same day.  

 

DMX – official website
DMX on MySpace

Cassidy – official website
Cassidy on MySpace

Kulttuuritalo
Pipefest  (in Finnish only)

 

Categories
Misc News

Jann Wilde & Rose Avenue calls it quits

Jann Wilde & Rose Avenue’s first album Tokio Okei made it to No. 9 in Finland’s Official Album List. The band last performed at music festivals Tammerfest in Tampere and Down By The Laituri in Turku. In November 2006, the group did a tour through Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

Earlier this year, the band’s initial two entries into the national Eurovision competition were both disqualified because they had already been widely available for download on the Internet and played during live performances as early as in 2006. The group eventually participated with two new songs that had been put together in a rush and failed to make it to the national finals.

 

Jann Wilde & Rose Avenue’s official website
The band on MySpace

The group in the national Eurovision semi-finals:

"Rock ‘n’ Roll Dreams" (YouTube)
"Cinnamon" (YouTube)

The group’s disqualified entries, performed live:

"Lover Lover Lover" (YouTube)
"Soft Is Selling" (short clip, YouTube)