Transnationality

"The fundamental problem of current music historiography, in Finland and elsewhere in the postcolonial civilised world, is that the preoccupation with evading all possible accusations of racism overwhelms historical investigations into how the present practices – historical narration included – are part and parcel of a political continuum where racist ideologies have been and continue to be amongst the most powerful ones."

The phenomena grouped under the soubriquet of Finnish folk music include transnational cultural phenomena on the one hand and strong regional traditions on the other, and not nearly all of these are defined by where Finland’s political borders happened to be at any particular time.

Edited by Vesa Kurkela and Marko Tikka and released in late 2014, a new book about the Finnish accordion covers, among other things, the early stages of the instrument and the most significant players, as well as going through the Finnish accordion repertoire. In the following article, based on the book’s introduction, the two editors contemplate the status of the accordion in Finnish music.

The turn of the 20th century is conventionally referred to as the era when the national musical culture of Finland was born. On closer inspection, however, we find its roots in the transnational context of general European art music, which also included the popular music of the day.

Transnationality has been a big thing in international cultural studies for the past decade. At the moment, there are several major research projects in the pipeline in Finnish music studies addressing issues across national borders.