There has been little research in Finland into Karelian culture on the Russian side of the border during the Soviet era. From the 1920s to the...

The pop-music Finland of 2004 is no longer just “the land of a thousand sad and sorry songs”, as the classic Eppu Normaali quipped some twenty...

Instead of struggling to defend the accordion, Mika Väyrynen is now raising its status by commissioning compositions.

"Tauno Marttinen's (1912-2008) image as a composer is a colourful one. His work has relied on instinct and inspiration and is rooted in mysticism. For the...

The earthy tones of Pepa Päivinen’s saxophone are a cornerstone of Finnish jazz. To date [2003], the man has released three albums as a leader and...

Kimmo Pohjonen represents that rare breed of musicians who seem to be born to redefine the genres and recalibrate the metres. Such is the force of...

In 2001, it was a hundred years since the first Finnish records appeared on the market. Pekka Gronow, the then head of record archives at the...

What does it take to be a great composer? What is characteristic of a vital tonal art that appeals to different kinds of people in different...

Jean Sibelius conducted his own compositions with orchestras the world over for the space of nearly three decades. Vesa Sirén, author of “Aina poltti sikaria –...