Why it is useful for a band to have its own Occupational Safety and Health Action Plan?
Securing a good vibe
The Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble has a good vibe, on stage and offstage. This can never be taken for granted, though. Both the band and the cooperative that runs it – No Problem! Music – have undertaken active efforts to sustain that vibe. One of the elements in the underlying framework is an Occupational Safety and Health Action Plan jointly drawn up by the band and the cooperative.
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Composer Cecilia Damström & Ung Nordisk Musik:
Contemporary music can be political
The music of Cecilia Damström stems from expressiveness and the desire to make a difference. In music, the tiniest gestures can come across as political statements. At the Ung Nordisk Musik festival in Tampere in August 2020, Damström’s Requiem for our Earth puts the theme of this year’s event – Music Ecology – up front. “I was able to include an unusually large number of themes important for me in this Requiem,” says the composer.
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On my music and beyond:
The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny
“During the previous year of my studies in Utrecht I had added theory of music and composition to my curriculum. I knew I wanted to be a performer, but the traditional jazz piano wasn’t where my heart was. I had studied Clare Fischer’s harmonic concepts, which seemed to open windows towards the contemporary classical sounds I had heard in Donaueschingen,” writes composer and pianist Sid Hille. This column is part of the series where composers and other music makers write about their music.
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Special Feature 2/ 2020:
The extraordinary importance of music in extraordinary times
In this Special Feature, we consider the roles that music may play in exceptional circumstances. We asked musicians and music makers to tell us about music that is important to them and what music has meant to them in difficult times. We also explore the importance of music at transition points in life from the perspective of music psychology and examine what statistics on music listening look like in these troubled times.
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Pioneers of African music in Finland, part 1:
Envoys of Afro-pop
The African music scene in Finland began to evolve in major cities in the 1980s and 1990s, and some of the pioneering musicians who contributed to its genesis are still active in the field today. Ethnomusicologist Elina Seye discusses the early days of African-style popular music in Finland, characterised principally by influences from Senegalese and Congolese dance music.
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Sounds of summer in Finland in 2020
At first it looked like all summer festivals would be lost this year, but now that restrictions are being eased, there are signs of revitalisation everywhere, and the field of culture is no exception. In the wake of a string of cancellation announcements, streaming events and live concerts for limited audiences are being prepared near and far. While this is a classic case of ‘watch this space for further developments’, what is Finland’s exceptional classical music festival summer looking like as of now?
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Sarah Palu and the inner self reflected in music
Finnish-French composer-musician Sarah Palu touches a deep chord in the soul with her début album Ikivirta [Everflow]. It is a journey through soundscapes featuring a multitude of musical influences, but always connected by a scarlet thread. Palu plays the kantele and the harp, and what she finds fascinating in music are the connection to her inner self on the one hand and connections between people on the other.
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From the Archives (1985–2005)
FMQ began life as a printed magazine – the Finnish Music Quarterly – in 1985. Until 2005, its articles were only available in hard copy.
Selected articles from our back catalogue have been posted online, and the selection is continuously being added to.
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