MP3 Scandinavian Music presents - Songs of Finland
Scandinavian vocal and instrumental music from String Orchestra to Tango. Classic songs from Finland. Beautiful booklet with scenery pictures included.
17 MP3 Songs
POP: Delicate, WORLD: Eastern European
Details:
The SONGS OF FINLAND CD features classic songs by the most prominent Finnish popular music composers, songwriters and lyricists: Toivo Kärki, Reino Helismaa, Kauko Käyhkö, Lasse Mårtenson, Tove Jansson and Erna Tauro among them. The songs are performed by today''s top artists with international careers.
Vocalists: Eeppi Ursin, Sanni Orasmaa, Henrik Lamberg, Mirja Mäkelä, Johanna Grüssner
Yusuke Yamamoto: drums, percussion & flute
Laura Arpiainen: violin
Alan Ferber: trombone
Fernando Huergo: bass
Felipe Salles: reeds
Piano, arrangements & Production: Mika Pohjola
ABOUT FINLAND
The summer is marked by long days in Finland, especially in the far north where the sun does not set at all. People go fishing and canoeing. Finland is famous for its many lakes, nearly 200,000 of them, not including the small ones. There are several large lakes, including Saimaa, Inari and Päijänne. Hiking is a popular activity, especially in the summer.
Finland is also known to have the best water quality in the world, and green deep woods and forests around the sea, rivers and the waterways. In Finland, tourists can sit on the shore of a lake, fishing, watching reindeer or moose and enjoying silence.
In the winter, Finland provides excellent opportunities for cross-country skiing and some for alpine skiing too. Many of the popular ski resorts are situated north of the Arctic Circle in Lapland, but there are exceptions like Kuusamo in the northeastern part of Oulu Province.
Santa Claus is commonly known to be from near the Arctic Circle in Finland. In the town of Rovaniemi there is the Santa Claus Village.
The Finnish language has a reputation for being difficult to understand and learn. However, many Finns are very fluent in foreign languages, such as English. Swedish is an official language and therefore widely spoken. Many Finnish people speak German as well. In the eastern parts of Finland there are many who speak Russian.
A sauna bath is called a kylpy ("sauna" refers to the bathing chamber, not the bath itself). One undresses completely, takes a shower (traditionally without soap) and enters the sauna. In the sauna the temperatures range from 80ºC to over 100ºC (160ºF to 212ºF), but the heat can be regulated by sitting higher up on the benches, called lauteet. One sits back and lets the heat penetrate one''s body and open the pores of the sweating skin.
The stones on the furnace (kiuas) in the corner are very hot and when water is thrown on them (called throwing löyly), a hot, yet invisible, cloud of steam fills the room. The löyly makes the sauna feel hotter, and tradition dictates that the person who throws the löyly must be the last person to exit. One throws löyly as often or seldom as one wishes. After about 5–20 minutes, one leaves and cools down outside, by having a cold shower or alternatively by going for a swim in a lake or the sea. The process is repeated at least twice, but there is no upper limit. The whole kylpy usually takes from 30 minutes to two hours. At the end a shower is taken with soap and shampoo.
At lakeside cottages, a kylpy is not normally complete without a refreshing swim, when one leaves the sauna for a break. In the winter, sauna veterans may even cut a hole in the ice and take a bath in the icy water (typically from 1 ºC to 4 ºC) or they might roll around in the snow. They may also use a vasta or vihta, a strong wisp or bundle of birch twigs with leaves left on them (only the Silver Birch, Betula pendula, is appropriate for this). It is immersed in warm water and then used to beat oneself (gently!). This cleanses and exfoliates the skin and relaxes the muscles.
Much of the music of Finland is influenced by Karelian traditional tunes and lyrics, as comprised in the Kalevala. Karelian culture is perceived as the purest expression of the Finnish myths and beliefs, less influenced by Germanic influence, in contrast to Finland''s position between the East and the West. Finnish folk music has undergone a roots revival in recent decades, and has become a part of popular music. The people of northern Finland, the Sami, have their own musical traditions, collectively Sami music.
Finnish popular music traditionally includes a large amount of various kinds of dance music; tango, a style of Argentinean music; humppa, a German-based two-beat dance; waltz (valssi), a slow, often slightly melancholic, yet romantic rhythm; and jenkka, a more swinging beat, often resembling slower Jazz Swing, but with a strong beat on the down beats instead of upbeats as in jazz.
(Source: Wikipedia)