Georg Malmsten

The tango arrived in Finland during the great European tango fever of 1911—1913. Eventually in the 1930s Finns really started composing tangos themselves, which led to a form of the tango that is only a distant relative of its Argentinean counterpart. These days many composers look back to South America for tango inspiration.

Georg Malmstén was a man of many musical talents, and one of the most popular of his kind. While the Finnish recording industry was still only just in its infancy, Malmstén made the first children’s record with Finnish lyrics and orchestral accompaniment and in doing so paved the way for the popular Finnish children’s song as we know it today.

America had Bing Crosby, Britain Al Bowlly, France Maurice Chevalier. In the pre-war years, every country had a charming gentleman singer who entertained us on records, radio and the screen. But lucky Finland had everything twofold. We had the Malmstén brothers, Georg and Eugen, the bright singing stars of the thirties.