Finland?s
SixDegreeS
english language magazine
ONLINe
PRIVACY
Changing its face
Page 10
JeNNI
LAItI
Active for the
Sámi cause
Page 6
PUBLIC SAUNAS
Feeling the heat
Page 12
Issue 01/2015 www.6d.fi
16.01.2015 ? 25.02.2015
COME
AND
ENJOY
LEARNING!
S u o mi ? F in n ish for Foreigners. Ca lligra phy.
Dan c e . Han dcra fts. Music. Photogra phy.
S p an ish . English. 2D Ga me Gra phics.
S u o me n k i e l i j a o h ja u s - Nu o riso ta ku u ko u lu tu s.
HELSINGIN
A I KUISOPISTO
HELAO.FI
I n stitu te o f Adult Educa tion in H elsinki
Tö ö lö n tullinka tu 8, 00250 H elsinki
walk-in
Infochat is an information service for anyone
planning to move from outside Finland to the
Capital Region, immigrants already living here and
everybody who is interested in Helsinki, Espoo,
Kauniainen and Vantaa.
The service offers information about the services
in the Capital Region and in Finland, as well as
the various alternatives regarding immigration to
Finland. The Infochat service counsellors cannot
solve individual situations, but can inform you
about opportunities and guide you forward.
IRU HWKQLF PLQRULWLHV
UARY
FEBR
APRIL
MAY
AUGUST
OCTOBER
NOVE
MBER
.
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Unioninkatu 45 K, 00170 Helsinki
tel. 0207 465 705
^^^ OP][\RPRLZR\Z Ä
Starters
4
Issue 1 2015
Top 5
things on our
mind this month...
Matriculation exams beckoning
A big bunch of Finnish high school goers are getting
ready for what could well be the toughest stretch of
their student lives that is the matriculation exams.
Great grades are required for the most sought-after
disciplines of study to follow. Among the bright young
aspirants you can see the occasional old geezer seemingly with a point to prove ? one senior citizen has matriculated on three subjects whilst in retirement!
Not enough gags to shut up all free mouths
Those who recently committed the heinous attack
in Paris apparently have not done their homework
if they think they can shut up all mouths that speak
freely.
Time brings perspective
Funny how when the rock band Deep Purple first
returned in 1984, a teenager or two felt they had
been away for an eternity, although it was just nine
years. Many subsequent comeback attempts by
others have come from a timeline way longer. It is
never too late for artists to return to the scene as
long as they can still do what they do; another matter is if they can still find anyone who cares enough
to come see them and pay for it.
Go out and play basketball now? Madness!
Not necessarily. Look at the court at the sports park
in Laurinlahti, Espoo, that boasts a non-slip surface
and is sitting pretty pret-à-jouer. There?s nothing
keeping you from shooting hoops in January if you
just wear the right gear for the weather. Maybe hold
your best ball back though.
No respect for the elderly
Just around the turn of the year a number of scam
cases targeting old people came to light. Those who
are found guilty should be severely punished. Taking advantage of the old just won?t do.
Mika Oksanen
Word on the
street
What are you looking
forward to most in the
new year?
Satu
To have a good relationship with my husband and
friends, that?s the most important thing for me.
Aku
Getting ahead in my studies.
Claire
Enjoying Helsinki, meeting new people and learning
new things about Finland. I only arrived two days
ago. I think it?ll just be a very interesting year.
Mikko
Having a good time. Enjoying life.
Compiled by Alicia Jensen
Short on funds?
Crowdfunding gathers steam here in Finland.
Merle Must
G
OT a great idea for starting a play, journalistic project or a
company but lack the necessary fundage? Well, the recent rapid development of crowdfunding websites in Finland might
just provide a solution.
Let?s take a look of how and where to crowdfund and looked at
some cases that people have used it for.
First off, some definitions for those who came in late. Crowdfunding means raising money for a project from many people,
usually via the Internet. When the set goal isn?t reached, the
money is returned to the funders. According to Finnish laws,
the contributors must receive something in return, like concert
tickets while funding a band or a signed book when donating
for its publishing. The model emerged in the US in the early
2000s.
Probably one of the most successful Finnish projects, funded
through international crowdfunding website Indiegogo, is Jolla?s
tablet. Raising 1.82 million dollars (1.46 million euros) the project
was complete in December 2014.
But no more need Finnish people hope for support on foreign websites. A year and a half ago the first Finnish platform
Mesenaatti was launched. This has several projects, like a book
of love poems or already funded debut album of the band Dead
Girl Diamonds.
While Mesenaatti involves a wide range of projects, another platform, Invesdor, sets its sights on budding companies.
Elsewhere, for those of you who are eager to kick off a journalistic project, Rapport, founded in May last year, might offer some
help. Through this platform, everyone can present their story
ideas, but people choose the winning ideas and the Rapport journalists are responsible for them to be funded. Then the journalists
decide on the sum needed for the story and start working. Later
the work is published on the website, but the funders have first
dibs on reading the stories.
Even sports-minded people have their own funding website
that?s designed to fund professional athletes and teams: Kiririnki. While writing this article, it was possible to fund judoka
Eetu Laamanen?s participation in qualification tournaments
for the next Olympics or Marianna Zaikova?s participation in
the World Marathon Challenge ? running seven marathons in
seven days in seven continents ? in January 2015. With that,
Zaikova would be the first woman and also the first Finn to join
the race.
Finnish AFter DArk
Learning the Finnish they don?t teach in school
A BL E
AVAIL ATED
W
O
N
TR
IL L U S
AS AN ERBACK ! tores
PAP jor books
a
/fad
om m
.6d.fi
Buy fr line: www
n
o
or
Finnish: Sopii kuin nyrkki silmään
English equivalent: Fits like a punch in the eye
(literal) Fits like a glove.
Enjoy being punched in the eye? No, neither do most people, but this saying really does mean the opposite of what logic might
suggest. Something that literally fits you like a punch in the eye fits perfectly, like a glove. Which is fine, of course, providing you
don?t misunderstand it when some thug asks you how you?d like a smack in the face.
?
?
?
?
Ootsä nähny, kenen kans Miko seurustelee?
Mitä? En oo. No, kenen?
Sen ihme muijan sieltä hippikommuunista. Muistat sä? Se ihan outo.
Heh heh! Se muija sopii Mikolle kyllä ku nyrkki silmään. Samanlaisia hörhöjä molemmat!
?
?
?
?
Have you seen who Miko is dating?
What? No, I haven?t. Who?
A girl from that hippy commune. Remember her? She?s kinda weird.
Ha, ha! She fits Miko like a glove! The two freaks deserve each other!
David Brown and Mimmu Takalo
SixDegrees
Starters
5
SixDegrees
Stop making with
the COMMAS!
Tell me about your city...
Ever wondered about words
that just don?t exist in the
English language?
Groningen
Ewa Czerwinska
James O?Sullivan
e
veRy lanGuaGe has them: an expression that describes
minute aspects of life that are impossible to summarise succinctly or with a single word in English.
Aside from swearing and slang, there are many really useful phrases
that English could do with some borrowing from. Luckily, website
Cracked.com is on hand with a handful of choice suggestions, under
the title of ?9 Foreign Words the English Language Desperately Needs?.
Got a bad case of the blues? Reaching for another forkful to fill the
emptiness inside? Gained a few extra pounds as a result of your emotional overeating? Wondering how to surmise your resultant ballooning figure? Try your hand at some German then: kummerspeck.
Given these technological times, the Japanese are on hand with
hikikomori. What does it mean? Simply a teenager or 20-something
who has withdrawn from social life, often obsessed with TV and
video games.
Wondering about those slippery politicians, who cannot give an
answer that?s related to the question? Well, best dabble in some
Tibetan where they have the perfect expression to describe such
behaviour: Gadrii nombor shulen jongu. This is giving an answer
that is unrelated to the question, meaning literally ?to give a green
answer to a blue question?.
Speaking of blue, how about those potty-mouthed mothers who
scream at their kids in public, frequently using a language that
can only be described as such as colour. That would be kaelling, of
course, just ask the Danes.
And so, wondering what came in the number one position on the
list? A clue: it?s in Finnish. Any ideas?
Well, have you ever wondered about those people who pick over
every sentence, taking great pleasure in pointing out every obscure
grammatical error you may have or have not just made? In Finnish
they are known as pilkkunussija.
What?s that you say? Oh yes, a comma f**ker.
So, the next time someone corrects your less than perfectly composed email or post, or takes great pleasure in dusting off rigid grammatical rules that detract from your well-considered content, you
now have something potent in your vocabulary to impress them with.
Schools to teaching typing instead of longhand.
R
emembeR fussing endlessly over the neatness of your handwriting? Did your teacher or your parents constantly look
over your shoulder, rapping you on the knuckles with a ruler
when you forgot to cross the Ts and dot the Is, as it were?
Well, children of Finland rejoice. At least those who will be studying in 2016, that is. Savon Sanomat recently reported that such archaic skills are no longer needed. That?s right ? cursive writing and
calligraphy will not be taught at Finnish schools, replaced with the
study of typing skills.
?Fluent typing skills are an important national competence,? the
article quotes Minna Harmanen from the National Board of Education, which is currently in the process of finalising the guidelines
for the new study of writing.
Acknowledging that waiving handwriting will be a major cultural
transformation, Harmanen adds that teachers can still teach longhand if they so desire. Given the gradual, steady digitalisation of
our former analogue world, it remains to be seen just how useful
such skills will be. Unless, of course, you would like to make the
best use of your new Digital Ink Pad.
HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW WINTER IN
FINNISH?
1
2
Merle Must
?S
o many bikeS!? was
the first thought that
came to my mind when
I arrived in Groningen, the biggest
city in the north of the Netherlands. I had known about Dutch
bike-affection before going there for my Master?s studies, but
I didn?t guess that cyclists would be everywhere ? turning left,
right, behind and in front of you no matter where you go.
Soon it became clear that there is no other ?real? way to live
in or visit Groningen than by bike. Brave tourists who have the
courage to jump on the saddle can see the city from a completely
different point of view than on foot. They can also benefit from
the fact that the city is actually built for cyclists. There is more
than 200 kilometres of special roads for cyclists, with their own
traffic lights, tunnels and multiple-floor parking lots.
WRITTEN OUT
of the school curriculum
SixDegrees
There are almost twice as many bikes as
people in Groningen.
CLUES
1.
Shovel
A catchy view for foreigners can also be the biking Dutchies.
As they grow up pedalling, they learn to master it perfectly: it is
common to see people cycling with their whole family on a bike,
multitasking by eating a broodje (a sandwich, the well-loved
Dutch meal) or even reading a book. Because a ?proper? Dutchy
often owns more than one bike, it?s no surprise that there are
almost twice as many bikes as people in Groningen. Apparently
biking contributes to people?s wellbeing, because last year, the
residents of Groningen were so satisfied that the city was rated
to be one of the happiest in Europe. According to this European
Union survey, residents were especially satisfied with the public
space, health care and cultural facilities.
Besides bikes and happy citizens, this city with the population
of Tampere is home to a great batch of university students who
form about a quarter of the city?s population. Therefore, the
streets are empty in the summer and come to life in September
when they fill up with excited youngsters from all over the world.
Two big universities also attract world-known scholars, engineers
and medical specialists. This spring I had a great opportunity
to listen (and almost even understand) the lecture about the
accelerating expansion of the universe by Brian Schmidt, the
2011 Nobel Laureate for Physics.
Besides biking and learning, Groningen offers something
for everyone from strolling near the canals to visiting the art
museum. And the Finns who are afraid of homesickness, don?t
worry: there?s a Scandinavian restaurant just a few kilometres
from the city and all shops sell salmiakki, just search for its
Dutch name drop !
2. Skate
3
3. Blizzard
4
Contact james@6d.fi if you want to
share the inside word on your town.
4. To ski
5
6
5. Snow
6. Sledge
7.
7
Fireplace
8. Knitted cap
8
Restaurant Idän Piste
Turunlinnantie 14
00930 Helsinki
Test your knowledge of Finnish vocabulary by using
the local equivalent.
Puzzle by eva Czechanowski. Solutions on page 13.
Late night bar & restaurant
www.idanpiste.fi
We Met
6
Issue 1 2015
Art is my
Activism
A
ctivism
Jenni Laiti is looking out for
Sámi interests.
Laiti takes a moment out from fighting the cause.
Alicia Jensen
R
acisM, inequality and structural violence have been part of
the everyday life of the Sámi people for hundreds of years.
The Sámi are Europe?s only indigenous people, located in
Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, and suffer from being a minority. The Sámi aspire to live in harmony with nature,
and pursue a sustainable relationship with the land they live on. A
continued denial of rights to make decisions about the land they
own as an indigenous population has led to hundreds of years of
confrontation ? a struggle which has recently begun to gather momentum.
Jenni Laiti grew up in Inari, and was bullied as a child. Yet it
wasn?t until she was a teenager that she began to understand that
the reason was her cultural heritage as a Sámi, an understanding
that motivated her to do something to change that reality.
Laiti is currently the spokeswoman for Suohpanterror, a collective
activist group representing Sámi interests. She lives in Jokkmokk,
Sweden, where Suohpanterror has supported the Gállok Resistance Movement against a planned iron ore mine. The mine would
impact the health of the land on which the Sámi population live
and herd reindeer. The refusal of the Swedish government to build
the mine has thus far brought the biggest tangible success to the
Suohpanterror movement ? a success which, Laiti informs, has
empowered the movement to ask for change ? self-determination,
self-governance, and indigenous/Sámi rights.
What was it like growing up as a sámi in Finland?
When I was a child in Inari, every one of us in our neighbourhood
had a Sámi background, but everyone was Finnish. We were away
from our traditional culture, speaking Finnish and living Finnish
lives. When I was a child it was quite a negative thing to be a Sámi,
it wasn?t appreciated. But nowadays when you see the children and
youngsters it?s a positive thing to be Sámi, people appreciate their
identities.
It was rough. I think all the Sámi have felt racism in society, or
bullying because they are Sámi. You didn?t want to talk about being
a Sámi, you just wanted to hide it. A lot of my friends, especially
boys, have been beat up and got into fights because they are Sámi.
But it?s not only the bullying and teasing at school and in the social
environment, but the racism and hatred that has been driven for
hundreds of years. It?s also structural racism like not having the
right to use your own language and the right to your own culture.
language. Sámi language is still my mother language because it?s
my indigenous language. And I?m speaking Sámi to my children.
as a child did you understand where the racism came from?
I didn?t understand what it was. Later on when I was 14 or 15 I
started to realise. I guess when you?re a youngster you start to
search who you are and where you?re coming from, and I have an
older sister and brother who were taking their culture and language
back, so when they were in that process, I was driven to that. My
family is a political family, so we?ve been discussing these things.
How does the sámi minority differ from other minorities?
We are a minority but we are also indigenous people. We were the
first who were here. The difference between an ethnic minority and
indigenous people is that an ethnic minority is not connected to
the land. They can live anywhere. Indigenous people have a territory that they belong to. We have a history with our land. We?ve
been living traditionally in our home area for thousands of years.
What do you mean by taking their culture back?
My father is a Sámi and my mother is Finnish, and he didn?t speak
Sámi to us. In Scandinavia after the Second World War, children
were sent to boarding schools, and were prohibited to speak their
own language. Because of what happened at the boarding schools,
these children who became parents didn?t speak Sámi to their children. My father didn?t want to speak his mother tongue to me.
I speak Sámi now. When we didn?t speak Sámi at home, my sister
and brother took back the language and started to study it. After a
while I switched to speaking Sámi with everyone who spoke the
How does sámi culture differ from the culture of the majority
in Finland?
Sámi culture is indigenous culture. Our culture is based upon the
land and it?s all about the connection with the land and living. One
of the core values of our culture is living in balance with the nature.
When we use the term indigenous it means we were here first and
this land is ours. We still have the connection with the land. That?s
the biggest difference when you think about the Finnish and the
Sámi culture. When we lose that connection, we?ll become disconnected and we don?t love and respect, or listen to the land. Discon-
What are the attitudes of the sámi towards the Finnish
majority?
I think many of us also identify ourselves as Finnish, because many
of us have one Finnish parent or inheritance. When we?re talking
about racism it?s a question about the majority and minority. Usually the ones who are in the minority don?t hate the majority, they
just want to be heard and respected. We don?t hate the Finns, we
just want to live in peace and be respected ? in the same way that
we are respecting them.
We Met
7
SixDegrees
Carl-Johan Utsi
nectedness is a one of the biggest problems in human history, that is
causing the destruction of this planet, that is causing climate change.
Moreover, another of the biggest problems of humanity is that
we?re not taught to think. We don?t think. We want to destroy everything around us. And when everything is suffering around us, we?re
suffering. When the natural world is destroyed it?s causing more
disconnections, ecosystems become weaker and they disappear. We
have to start to think if we want to survive. We have to start to respect. We cannot just sit and watch TV, or be active in social media.
We have to change how we relate to the Earth.
I think this engagement is possible when we all remember that
we belong to each other. We have to remember that we have to connect to each other. We feel powerless, and when we feel powerless
we don?t want to take responsibility. But when we?re connected we
love life and we don?t want to destroy it, because we don?t want to
destroy the things we love. Finnish people also had the connection
with the land, but quite a while ago.
How have the Finnish lost that connection?
The Finnish are, for example, living in big cities. Sámi people do
that too, but when I?m talking about the Sami culture I mean the
people living in the north, connected to the land.
Food is a good example, it tells a lot about our culture. Finnish
people just go to the grocery store and that?s it. But the food is the
base for the life. We collect berries. We do reindeer herding, we
fish, it?s really important to us and our culture. Traditionally we use
every part of the reindeer. We use nature as a source of living. It?s
quite hard nowadays when our living areas are getting smaller and
smaller because of the exploitation and land grabbing. And globalisation and climate change and everything. It?s a struggle to survive.
What needs to change for the Sámi culture to survive?
First and most importantly we as a people should have a self-government. We have the right to self-governance but the states ? Finland and Norway and Russia ? should implement the indigenous
rights.
Indigenous rights are not special rights. They are human rights.
They are compensation for the injustice that has been done in the
past. You can?t change the past but you can make a better future.
Nordic countries have been colonising the Sámi area for the last
500 years, and they have been exploiting our land leaving emptiness behind, so it?s about a lot of wrongs that have been done in the
past. The states are obligated to make a better future for us.
Year of birth: 1981
Hometown: Inari
Currently living: In Jokkmokk,
Sweden, with her family, two
children and fiancé.
Education: Studying Sámi
culture at the University of
Umeå.
Being a Sámi is? everyday
survival. It´s hard, tough and
exhausting. We have to fight
everyday for our culture,
language, livelyhood. But
it´s something what I have
chosen, the thing what makes
me to be me. I´m nothing
without my culture, that is the
most important thing for me
after my family.
In the future I? hope to see
changes in the legislation
and Sámi politics. I hope that
we as a people achieve selfdetermination and we can live
as a free people, because
we have the inherent right
to be free on our own land
and the inherent right to selfdetermination. Freedom is
essential to the survival of all
peoples. If a people are not
free to.
When I was a child I wanted to
be? a lot of things, a teacher,
a policewoman, a designer,
but mostly I wanted to serve
my people and improve
our situation and make a
difference in the society.
And that´s what we are doing
now, making a difference and
changing the world.
How is that change going to happen?
The land is not so large but the state owns the area where we live
in Finland. Finland is only now in a process of ratifying ILO 169, a
declaration about indigenous rights. It?s the first step Finland has to
do. After it?s been ratified, they?ll have to start a process about the
Sámi land rights issues. It?s been under discussion for many centuries but nothing has happened. This land is ours, not Finland?s.
What are the core ideas that are important for you about
Sámi rights and culture?
The land is the base for everything. The question is all about the
land. At the same time the land is the answer. We are made of the
land. We live on the land. Land determines how to live in balance
with the land and how to treat each other, and how to arrange ourselves politically. Our whole survival depends on the land. It?s not
just the Sámi but the whole globe ? everyone?s survival depends
on the land. Land is not important just to us but for the whole of
humanity.
When it comes to food ? it is the land that sustains us and gives
us food. We have responsibilities to it. We must take care of all the
living, and we have to protect and respect the Earth. That?s also
one of the core values of the Sámi culture. We want to live sustainably. We don?t want to destroy this. That would be a really stupid
thing to do.
If the nature isn?t healthy no one survives. For me, a really important core value of the Sami culture is to protect our living environment and keep it healthy for the future generations, so there will be
healthy environment for the future generations.
?W
e don?t hate the
Finns, we just
want to live in peace
and be respected ? in
the same way that we
are respecting them.?
What?s missing from the dialogue between the Finnish majority and the Sámi?
Respect is one thing. It?s difficult to understand why one cannot respect or listen to the other. They are
like companies, using the word ?dialogue?, saying that they want to build a good dialogue. But it usually
means a monologue, they hear us but they don?t listen to us. If Finland and the other Nordic countries
would start to listen to us and respect us, and instead of the monologue that they call dialogue, they
should actually have dialogue.
Why is the relationship between the Sámi and the Finnish majority such a sensitive topic?
I think for me, as an activist, it?s not so sensitive. It?s a topic we have to discuss. I want to raise this topic
to the government.
It might be a sensitive issue for the Finnish government. One reason could be the land right issue.
The state of Finland doesn?t want to give back our land, that?s the big issue. And of course there is a lot
of racism towards us; we are not equal with the Finnish people.
How did you get involved with activism?
My personal political agenda is about indigenous rights not being recognised, and that Sámi rights are
not on political agenda. We?re a small people, if we don?t fight who will? We have to have the political
will to fight. The state has to have the political will to promote our rights. Resulting from hundreds
of years of colonisation, my people are feeling powerless. That?s why I choose to challenge that power.
I?ve learned that there?s no change without protest. If we want to have some kind of change in our
society we have to protest. For me, Suohpanterror art isn?t political art but it?s more political activism
in the form of art. Art is my activism.
How does art become activism?
In Suohpanterror, it?s making posters which are published on Facebook and Instagram. It?s using social
media as a tool to spread the word, in a new kind of activism, social media activism, visual activism.
You reach a lot of people in the social media. It?s quite easy to share and like them.
What is Suohpanterror?
It is a Sámi collective artist group. Suohpanterror makes posters that are critical to society, and the
structures of majority society. It?s a protest that happens on the border of art and activism.
Suohpanterror has social media activism, and has exhibitions. I, as a spokesperson, am travelling
around and talking about issues what are important for us, and having workshops about art and activism and encouraging people to start to think for themselves. We want to mobilise everyone and get
everyone active in this struggle, resistance, and protest.
The Sámi have been politically active from the ?60s, but the states haven?t been listening. That?s why
Suohpanterror has chosen this way to be active and make political change. It?s something new to make
political art. Sámi artists began to be political in the ?70s. Suohpanterror started in Facebook in 2012.
Why are a lot of your members anonymous?
We?re still quite small. We don?t want to talk about the people behind the movement. Suohpanterror is
criticising society, so it?s a lot of sensitive issues that we don?t want to be personalised.
What has Suohpanterror as an activist group achieved so far?
In Sweden we?ve been protesting against mining plans in Gállok, Jokkmokk municipality, and achieved
a lot in one year. The regional government just dismissed the
Jokkmokk Iron Mines Enviromental Assesment Report. The Gállok
Resistance Movement is growing and getting bigger and bigger. No
One of many Suohpanterror artworks utilising social media and visual activism. Credit: Suohpanterror
more mining. No more land grabbings. We want to live sustainably;
we want to have a better future.
The states have been ignoring the Sámi people and issues for so
long, but now we?re bringing issues to the national level, and being
heard through the art. Our people are thriving and we?re powerful
now ? we?re quite many artists making political art.
We?ve done a lot in the short term. We are lifting our people?s spirits. I hope that our pictures will continue to reach a lot of people and
that they will start to think.
What is the ideal situation in your opinion?
The main goal is self-determination and land rights, then we can
get self governance. To live as a free people in the future. The
other goal is to live ecologically, in balance with the Earth and
to protect it. That we, as a people, could live with self determination, and could self determine our own life as a free people, in a
sustainable way.
We have the inherent right to be free in our own land, we have
the inherent right to self-determination. Freedom is essential to
the survival of all peoples. If a people are not free to determine
their own future, then they cannot expect to survive as a distinct
society.
Society
8
Issue 1 2015
Column
Don?t bank
on it
COmiNg to an efficient, organised place like Finland, one
might have thought that opening a bank account would be
as easy as falling off a log. Hence, it was a bit of a surprise
to me to find that a few friends had not only had difficulties,
but had in some cases simply given up.
A little investigation with one friend revealed that several
Finnish banks not only do little to entice foreign customers,
some seem to actively discourage them.
ONe OF the largest banks in Finland provides no services at
all in English. Neither their online banking, nor customer
service, nor meetings in branches can be held in any languages except Finnish or Swedish. For new arrivals in Finland, that means you either have a local person help you set
up an account and pay your bills ? or you bank elsewhere.
?F
innish banks not only
do little to entice
foreign customers ?
some seem to actively
discourage them.?
ANOtheR bank was willing to hold meetings in English, but
from that point on provided a series of hoops for us to jump
through. When my friend presented her Kela card as proof
of legal residence in Finland she was told this was not sufficient ? she would need to go personally to Maistraati and
ask for a certificate which confirmed that she had a Kela
card.
ANOtheR potential hindrance is proof of employment ? if
you are in Finland with your (employed) partner or own
your own business, chances are you will not be permitted
a bank account in your own name. Although my friend
owned an apartment in her own country, she was told that
here she would have to use her boyfriend?s bank account.
StRANgeSt of all is that customers must explain why they
need a bank account. A joint bank account for shared bills
is not a valid reason. Neither is having moved here from
another EU country. In both cases, the bank declined to issue credit cards unless we could come up with something
more compelling.
AlthOUgh I have no doubt the banks will say differently, to
my mind these policies have been developed with a clear
view to discouraging non-Finnish clients - and I thought
the very concept of the EU was to end exactly this kind of
practice.
iS it really the contention of the banks that a German citizen with a perfect credit history, ?20,000 in his bank account at home, and who runs a small firm with his Finnish
girlfriend, cannot be trusted with a Visa card?
DO banks really not think that it is worth providing netbanking services in English in a country where perhaps 100,000
people are not native speakers of either national language?
NOt only do these challenges ultimately cost banks themselves, they also make life very difficult for normal, working
adults who happen to be living in Finland.
the wORlD is not as it was in 1976. We all move from one
country to another for work, or our studies or for our partners. Many of us will live in three or four countries during
our lifetime. If we can deal with that while still paying our
bills and taxes ? shouldn?t our banks also be able to keep up?
David Brown is a language consultant and journalist, regularly
covering stories in Africa, Asia & the Middle East. He has lived
in Finland for over 10 years.
A private
issue
The changing face
of social media &
sharing
personal
information.
Aleksi Teivainen
A
ROUND this time a year ago Facebook celebrated its 10th year
of existence. Along with the accolades associated with bringing together 1.2 billion users worldwide, however, increased
negative publicity related to the service?s privacy policy was gathering momentum.
One incident in particular raised the ire of many from various
sexual and gender minorities in the United States, when the social
network?s strict name policy alienated many.
RT, a state-funded Russian news outlet, reported in mid-September that the social media powerhouse suspended the profiles of
hundreds of drag queens due to their refusal to use real names on
their profiles. Although Facebook has since issued an apology, its
refusal to allow users to use pseudonyms ? even for safety reasons
? sparked an exodus from the social media platform.
The immediate beneficiary of the exodus was Ello, which exploded from near obscurity to a global phenomenon in the matter of
weeks, with requests to join the invite-only privacy-oriented social
media upstart peaking at over 27,000 per hour, according to RT.
Nonetheless, in Finland, Ello has yet to make such waves even
among sexual and gender minorities, estimates Salla Virtanen, a
spokesperson at Seta ? LGBTI Rights in Finland.
While some members of the LGBT community were eventually
enticed back to Facebook, perceptions of the service were soured as
other social media options continued gaining momentum.
?Facebook is currently considered very commercial, and people
are concerned that their personal details are being sold [to third
parties],? states Jari Jaanto, the co-founder of IRC-Galleria, the
largest social networking website in Finland.
Jaanto also estimates that privacy-related concerns are particularly common among people who read about the perils of social
media through an intermediary and may not fully understand the
phenomenon. ?Then there are the data security experts,? he adds.
?As using the Internet has become more common, practically a
national pastime, people have become very conscious of who they
want to share their details with. Although a transition toward more
closed systems has taken place, people aren?t necessarily ashamed
to tell about themselves and their lives.?
?Even young people may no longer share photos that could come
back to bite them in the future. On the other hand, people aren?t
as afraid of their future employers as they used to be,? he analyses.
Fragmentation
Privacy concerns are not the only factor driving the growth of alternative social media platforms.
?They were initially made to be a big deal, but people are already
used to them. Some groups of people will definitely continue using
Facebook for quite a while, but others will switch to rival services
due to an improved user interface, for example,? Jaanto estimates.
Helsingin Sanomat wrote last year that the popularity of Facebook is on the wane especially among young Finns. An expert interviewed by the daily pointed out that young people increasingly
use a number of social media platforms simultaneously, while their
parents concentrate primarily on Facebook.
The social media landscape is indeed becoming more and more
fragmented, confirms Jaanto. ?People used to use IRC-Galleria
for all their social media needs, but today their time is distributed
among YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp, Kik Messenger and the
likes.?
?Finns are eager to try out new services and alternatives, although
they may end up being a thing only for a particular group. Google+, for example, remains relatively small despite the initial buzz
that surrounded it,? he adds.
?Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp will continue to grow, whereas Ello seems to have hit a standstill after the initial breakthrough,?
he estimates. ?I?m sure that some group will eventually embrace it,
though.?
One should not assume that all social media services compete
directly against one another; they are simply used for different purposes, Jaanto reminds.
?Facebook is where your acquaintances, such as classmates and
parents, are. IRC-Galleria is where you meet entirely new people.
Services where you form small closed groups, such as WhatsApp,
are used to chat with people close to you. On Twitter and Instagram, in turn, you express your views to the entire world and create
a public image.?
As a result, it is unlikely that people are prepared to tweet about
every single issue they have discussed with a friend on WhatsApp
Society
9
SixDegrees
Minority Report
We take a look at the ethnic
minorities here in Finland.
The
Estonians
Merle Must
R
elated in languages and neighbours separated by the Baltic
Sea, Estonians form the one of the largest minority group
in Finland. According to Finnish Centre of Statistics, more
than 44,000 Estonians live in Finland permanently; almost 6,000
moved to Finland in 2013. Besides them, many Estonians have
not registered as permanent residents, but are employed here,
therefore the estimations are that up to 100,000 Estonians actually work in Finland. Sometimes Estonians call Finland their
16th county and in some Finnish areas, Estonian and Russian
language are more commonly heard than Swedish.
Estonians carry on their culture across the Baltic Sea in several ways. One of them is the Estonian House in Helsinki, which
hosts four Estonian organisations ? but in total, there are about
40 other unions with around 3,300 members related to Estonia
all around Finland ? and various cultural events, like concerts or
exhibitions to and by Estonians.
Grete Ahtola from the Estonian Institute explains that Estonian House is a home for a children?s song studio and a mixed
choir. They also organise Estonian courses for Finns and Finnish
courses for Estonians ? and once a week all language-learners can
gather in the Jututuba (Chat Room) where Estonians and Finns
have the possibility to speak and learn both languages.
or post every single photo they have uploaded to IRC-Galleria also
to Facebook for their parents and grandparents to behold, he explains.
A similar trend has been observed in the United States: Taking
Stock With Teens, a semi-annual survey carried out by the investment bank Piper Jaffray & Company found in early October that
the share of American teenagers who actively use Facebook has
plunged from 72 per cent to no more than 45 per cent between
April and October.
Meanwhile, 59 per cent of the some 7,200 respondents indicated
that they use Twitter and 76 per cent that they use Instagram on a
regular basis.
?Young people feel that their parents are stepping into their turf
by being on Facebook. They want to be with their friends and
therefore use the same services their friends do. Young people
value privacy and their personal space,? Jaanto analyses.
?IRC-Galleria may be regarded as a better alternative because
your mother isn?t there to monitor what you?re up to.?
trailblazing
Jaanto and Tomi Lintelä launched IRC-Galleria near the end of
2000, roughly four years before a certain Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the first incarnation of Facebook ? on thefacebook.com ? at
Harvard University.
IRC-Galleria began to expand rapidly after a couple of relatively
dormant years, and in 2003 Jaanto and Lintelä established Dynamoid Oy to manage the daily operations of the social media upstart.
One year later, the number of active users had shot up from 40,000
to 120,000.
?At first, Tomi and I thought we?d do well to get one hundred
people to join,? describes Jaanto.
?The service was developed to enable people to post photos of
themselves on the Internet and thus show others what they look
like. It also enabled users to leave feedback and interact by means
of comments. What made it different from other services was that
users could produce all of the content themselves.?
?We looked into it later and estimated that the service could grow
to roughly 700,000 users in Finland,? he says. ?It was our desire to
seek potential growth, especially abroad.?
In 2007, IRC-Galleria was sold to Sulake, the creator of Habbo
Hotel, in order to facilitate its expansion abroad in an all-share
deal that went awry after the announced listing of Sulake failed to
materialise.
Today, the service is used by 100,000 unique weekly visitors and
by 300,000 unique monthly visitors.
Community
Although the social media landscape has evolved considerably
over the past decade-and-a-half, people continue to use social media largely for the same purposes, Jaanto estimates.
?People have spent time on social media decade after decade due
to their need to be with other people. People create a sense of belonging by discussing on social media, by sharing contents they
have created,? he says.
?As long as social media services manage to preserve their sense
of community, they will continue to thrive,? predicts Jaanto.
Legal Immigrants
There is a special organisation for Estonian-language education
(Vironkielisen opetuksen seura) which is focused on preserving
Estonian language and culture in Finland by organising the likes
of reading competitions for children and training days for Estonian
teachers. The Estonian Institute has also started the project ?Estonia Goes to School?where Estonians visit Finnish to introduce their
culture, language and history and organise film and music events.
The Estonian diaspora in Finland is also active in Facebook
groups, with the most populous having more than 25,000 members discussing various issues. There are also special webpages for
Estonians who wish to migrate, offering a range of information.
Several Estonian traditions and holidays are celebrated in Finland, says Ahtola. These include Independence Day on 24 February, the National Language Day on 14 March and Teachers? Day
on 5 October.
Although Estonians and Finns are ?relatives? belonging among
Finno-Ugric peoples, there are some differences between their
cultures. Ahtola says that probably the greatest contrasts appear in communication: Estonians talk much faster and over
each other and that?s not considered impolite, whereas Finns
are calmer and slower in communicating and await their turn
to talk.
The differences also appear in humour. ?Finns don?t laugh at
Estonians? ironic and even sarcastic jokes,? explains Ahtola. ?It
takes time until a Finnish friend will understand their Estonian
friend?s humour.?
But there are more similarities than contrasts, thinks Ahtola.
The cultural spaces are related and this can be seen, for example,
in food: you can find rye bread and blood sausage on both coasts
of the Baltic Sea.
These close cultural spaces and the Finnish language which is
easy for Estonians to learn help them to feel at home in Finland,
Ahtola observes. ?And of course it is comforting that Estonia is
so close, only a two-hour ferry-trip away,? she adds. Ties with the
homeland help Estonians acclimatise to Finland, sees Ahtola. ?Almost every day you can visit a concert, exhibition or a literature
event that?s related to Estonia or even held in Estonian.?
Contact james@6d.fi
if you?d like to share your thoughts for
a future issue.
6D gets to know what it?s like to be an everyday ?new local? in Finland.
Marek Sabogal
Bernardo Clementino is originally from
Brazil.
What do you do here in Finland?
I studied strategy in Aalto University.
Now I work in a very cool company called
Reddal as a business developer.
When and how did you end up here?
I came to Finland in 2010 because of my
girlfriend, who is Finnish. I had just graduated as an industrial engineer at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil,
while she was still studying here; so I was
the detached one that could move around.
I realised that the best way for me to get
a job and make a life in this country was
by creating fast connections to the society and employers. That?s why I applied
to Aalto University, even though I already
had a degree. In the end I was correctbecause of the networking opportunity
Aalto offers, I got my current job, and I
got to know people with many different
backgrounds, made friends, etc.
What do you like about Finland?
I like that things work. The buses run on
time, I love that! People are honest. The
government and the way society runs is
extremely inclusive and considerate to
people. Perhaps the Finns do not even notice it, but often when I compare it to my
home country, Brazil, I notice how important it is to know how your tax money
is being used and what is the true value of
having trust and faith that people are do-
ing their best at their jobs (especially the
government ?MPs in Finland are way less
lazy than Brazilian ones!).
What attracts you about the Finnish
culture?
A fascinating, and perhaps not that common, aspect I appreciate in Finnish people is their curiosity. As soon as they let
loose of the shyness (for instance, after a
couple of beers) even strangers come to
me to ask ?Where are you from?? Provocatively, I often answer ?I live right around
the corner, what about you??
They are so interested, they even sometimes trespass the barrier of intimacy
because they simply want to know moreperhaps trying to understand what a
foreigner would EVER do in Finland:
?Where do you work??, ?Why are you in
Finland?? amongst other personal questions. I guess it?s because Finns are still
not that used to foreigners around them.
Finland still holds a culture that has been
kept very far from ?external influences?.
What culture shocks did you
experience when coming to Finland?
University was my first real contact with
the Finnish people. I guess that the largest
clash would come from my not-so-common proactive behaviour during classes.
As a Brazilian, I am often the guy that asks
questions or the only one that actually interacts with the teacher.
Have you been able to settle and
integrate into Finnish society?
This is a very philosophical question.
I have done a lot of things to make me
more integrated into Finnish society,
but I am not sure if I will ever blend in
completely. For instance, I have taken
many Finnish courses, and I do speak ok
Finnish. Even though it has become independent almost a hundred years later
than Brazil, Finland has many traditions
and subcultures, which I appreciate and
would like to understand more.
When studying in Aalto, I?ve been active in the student organisations and
even created a student club, the Aalto
Management Consulting Association
(AMCA) together with friends from my
programme. It was quite an experience
because I had to talk to a lot of students
and they reacted in really different ways
to new ideas. On top of that, I also joined
the academic choir of the School of Business, Kauppakorkeakoulu Ylioppilaskunnan Laulajat (KYL), which gives me a
pretty interesting view of a lot of traditional (and not-so-traditional) Finnish
songs, from Sibelius to Cheek.
What were/are your worries?
Currently I?m extremely worried about
Russia. I?m worried about the ?expansionist? policy that Putin has and the economic
sanctions the EU and consequently Finland are applying to Russia. I?m really pessimistic. Finland is facing a never-ending
economic crisis and recent news of unemployment growth does not bring hope. It
is hard to know how much of all this news
is factually-based and how much comes
due to Finnish cultural pessimism.
What are your future wishes for your
life here?
You mean, if Russia doesn?t invade Finland and I don?t have to flee very fast?
Well, the company I?m working for is
growing pretty quickly and I?m getting
married in the near future, so things
seem to be good just by keeping them the
way they are. I would wish Finland to become more and more international as it
integrates more with the rest of the World.
The government has already noticed the
importance of immigrants to the Finnish
economy and Vero and Kela are already
providing ok services in English. The private side, though, is taking much longer
to adapt.
What is your favorite Finnish word?
Hollola, it?s a city close to Lahti. If you?re
by Hollola, you?re Hollolalla. Pöydällä is
definitely my second top one: the hardest easy-word to pronounce in any other
language.
Feature
10
Issue 1 2015
Sketching
a history
Finnish animation
celebrates its centenary.
Peter Schavemaker
t
Filmkompaniet Filmoteka Narodowa Jupiter Film
Moomins TV series (above)
Moomins on the Riviera (below)
he mention of animation in Finland immediately evokes images of Tove Jansson?s Moomins. A constant presence in books,
on screens, on mugs and in the hearts of Finns, these lovable
characters have been a part of the Finnish culture since 1945.
Last year saw celebrations honouring Jansson on the 100th anniversary of her birth, with Moomins the centrepiece of her career retrospective. The Moomins have become Finland?s most well
known animation characters, reaching a global audience and still
continuing to grow in popularity. They also reach a huge audience
in Japan. But why Japan, of all places?
?Finnish and Japanese people like to live quietly and peacefully
and care about the environment,? explains Tuula Leinonen, an expert on Finnish animation, ?The gentle and timeless world of the
Moomins is built on these values.?
Tom Carpelan (Filmkompaniet), who owns the rights to the ?70s
and ?80s TV series, agrees with Leinonen. ?Finnish and Japanese
people relate to the characters. The Moomins world is a very open
and forgiving society, like the Finnish. In Japan the character Snufkin
represents freedom.?
The appeal of the characters also stretches as far as Hollywood:
Walt Disney was a big fan. ?He liked the characters,? Carpelan reveals. ?They tried to buy the idea at the same time they bought Winnie the Pooh. But the Jansson family did not sell it.?
?The reason? The people of Walt Disney came to the office a few
months after Jansson?s funeral and asked the family to sign the paper.
It was turned down without discussion.?
An animated start
Finland?s history of animation began well before the first appearance
of the Moomins. In fact the first works emerged in the early 1920s
after inspiration came from animators in Sweden. The pioneers of
Finnish animation were Eric Vasström and Hjalmar Löfving.
?Vasström has the honour to be the first, but we have not seen
his animation work,? says Leinonen. ?His 1914 film (title unknown)
and images sadly have been destroyed.?
Thankfully, the animation ads made by Löfving have been preserved.
?He was a productive guy and knew how to animate,? Leinonen
describes. In 1932 Löfving would also independently produce the
famous animation Muutama metri tuulta ja sadetta (A Few Metres
of Wind and Rain).
Jansson and her Moomin creations followed the next decade,
boosting the local scene to previously unscaled heights of quality and
popularity, and paving the path for numerous artists and animators.
Following this, the first serious steps in Finnish stop motion puppet and cut-out animation history were made in the ?70s when YLE
opened an animation studio.
Later that decade, Finland?s first animated feature, an adaptation
of Aleksis Kivi?s iconic Seitsemän Veljestä (Seven Brothers), was
released. Creator Riitta Nelimarkka was inspired by the watercolours and cut out technique utilised in Stockholm, where she had
studied animation beginning in 1967. Nelimarrka worked on the
film for almost four years, with a crew of only six people.
?Most of the film was made in my own home,? she recalls.
The story of Seven Brothers relates to the time before Finland became independent from Sweden in 1917.
?I liked the humour of the story and the characters,? Nelimarrka
recalls. She also acknowledges the darker elements of the narrative.
?The story has some tragic lines. Its message is that there is nothing
wrong with having an own identity and being a Finn.?
Nelimarrka won a Jussi Award for her efforts in 1979, sharing space
on the mantelpiece next to a pair of State Awards presented to her
earlier that decade. Her mark on the history of Finnish animation is
unmistakable. Having been appointed professor in art by (former)
Finnish president Tarja Halonen in 2008, Nelimarkka says ? with
no small modesty ? that she doesn?t consider herself as an animation
legend. ?But,? she says coyly, ?I think I started the boom.?
Katariina Lillqvist also contributed significantly to the canvas
of the local scene, and is considered by many to be ?The Grand
Old Lady? of Finnish animation. She is well known for her groundbreaking puppet films, some based on Franz Kafka?s writings.
Most of Lillqvist?s films have politics, philosophy, multiculturalism,
tolerance and anti-racism as their main subjects.
Lillqvist was also awarded with the State Award in 2006 and won
the Silver Bear in Berlin in 1996 for her perhaps most recognised
effort Maalaislääkäri (The Country Doctor). The impressive film is
about refugees from the Sarajevo war.
Feature
11
SixDegrees
Maalaislääkäri (Country Doctor)
?I wanted to tell their stories. The Silver Bear felt as a true recognition, contrary to the criticism many people expressed.? Currently
Lillqvist is finishing a book about her career in puppet animation
and owns the Museum of Puppet Arts in Tábor, in her adopted
home of the Czech Republic.
Estonia helps Finnish animation move forward
Further down the animated timeline and Finland made a switch
to digital animation in the mid-1990s, with help from the Estonian
animation industry.
?We had to go to Tallinn to do the puppet animation for the 13 series of Urpo & Turpo,? states producer Hanna Hemilä. ?The Estonian animation was ahead of us. Nobody was able to do it in Finland.?
The cooperation did not go smoothly right away.
?There was not even a single computer, like in the old Soviet days.
We brought in the Western way of making animation, and they had
the technical knowledge and craft making with the puppets. Together we managed to create a classic series, built in a new era.? In
2001 Hemilä produced her second successful animated series Turilas & Jäärä after opening her own animation studio in Helsinki.
The series ? with a claymation look ? was shot in 35mm. Plans
to produce a series of 150 episodes at a Chinese studio were scuttled due to financing issues. Nonetheless Turilas & Jäärä still enjoys
reruns in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and other European
countries and can be considered one of the first Finnish series to
capitalise on merchandising.
One of the puppet makers on the Turilas & Jäärä series was Kari
Juusonen. The talented young animator became one of the pillars
of the current Finnish animation industry after independently directing his short Pizza Passionata (2001), which was awarded at the
Cannes Film Festival.
Juusonen?s next milestones were (co)directing Niko ? Lentäjän
poika (Niko - The Way to the Stars) in 2008 and Niko 2 ? Little
Brother, Big Trouble in 2012, two of Finland?s most successful animation features. A co production between Finland, Denmark and
Germany, Niko - The Way to the Stars was sold to over 118 countries, had more than three million viewers in Finnish cinemas and
also reached 26 million viewers during a US broadcast.
?Both films have been a catalyst for the current Finnish animated
feature industry?, says Juusonen.
In March 2013 Juusonen made a surprising artistic transfer to
Finland?s leading entertainment company Rovio, where he currently is directing the TV series Angry Birds Toons.
Both Niko films were produced by Anima Vitae, currently Finland?s leading animation studio. Animation expert Leinonen says
the company (founded in May 2000) can be considered a ?Finnish Pixar?, because of its success in producing feature films. Mikael
Hed, CEO of Rovio ? believes that ?talent-wise? Anima Vitae can
be compared to Pixar. ?I think they are awesome. They have done
some incredible stuff. I have nothing but respect from them. We
are super happy working with them.? Anima Vitae and Rovio are
currently co-operating on the Angry Birds Stella animated series.
?The technical people from Pixar have visited us three times, and
they were amazed how we ? a small studio in Finland ? achieved
our projects,? states Anima Vitae?s CEO Petteri Pasanen, who also
produced Juusonen?s Pizza Passionata. ?From day one our company
has been very passionate about quality, and technique.?
Pasanen says that the enormous global success of the Niko films
opened doors. ?We were lucky the Niko films brought us our international breakthrough. We had the aim to achieve success, and we
did. It brought awareness, although not everybody directly recognises that Niko was a Finnish animation project. In the US we are
considered a US-friendly company. It feels like a foot in the door.
That makes it easier to work on new productions. I don?t have to
explain who we are anymore.?
Currently Anima Vitae is also trying to get a foot in the door in
Asia. The company opened a branch office in Kuala Lumpur, and
is working on partnerships with Malaysian, Chinese, Korean and
even Australian studios.
?The continuation depends of course on the success of the first
one,? he adds. Hed emphasises his only true demand was that the
film needs to be a great story. ?There are so many game-based movies out there that are not that great.?
Juusonen says the animation aim of Rovio can be seen as an important new turning point in Finnish animation.
?This will take our animation industry to a high level.? Hed reveals that the animation process started while working on the the
App. ?Animation at that point was one of the considerations. Early
2010, long before Toons was launched, we did our first animated
pieces. Animation was for us an important way of transforming
Angry Birds from a game title to a consumer brand.?
To achieve their goals Rovio hired experienced animation director Eric Guaglione in August 2012. Guaglione, who previously
worked at Walt Disney Animation Studio?s on Mulan, Lilo and
Stitch and Brother Bear, was also nominated for an Emmy award in
1995 for his work on Star Trek: Voyager.
?The worldwide phenomenon of Angry Birds was the main reason for my transfer to Rovio?, says the US-born director. ?Working
on the Disney properties had the same drive and integrity as working on Angry Birds now. Both understand extremely well how to
work on characters and their stories.?
Guaglione says his work at Disney is not a blueprint for his current work at Rovio. ?We want to create our own identity and ask the
question: Where are we different from Disney, Dreamworks and
Pixar? Angry Birds have a little edginess that Disney won?t do.? Hed
explains that Rovio has the benefit to test out ideas in other mediums such as games, instead of making a 200 million-euro gamble
on the animated films and TV series.
Guaglione says his main goal is to take the Rovio storytelling culture to a higher level. ?We like to expand the characters of Angry
Birds, from the gaming atmosphere, to an animation based dimension. Currently we are developing new properties and animation
styles beyond Angry Birds. It doesn?t stop with Angry Birds.? The
recently released character Stella is a first example of the new approach, according to Guaglione.
?It still branching out from the Angry Birds universe. We know
that the Angry Birds franchise is very strong, we want to go beyond
that,? adds Hed.
Rovio director Guaglione says it is an interesting question if the
Angry Birds can be considered
as typical Finnish characters, as
the Moomins are.
?I think they became world
citizens.? Hed adds, ?Angry Birds
are created by Finns, but have
been worked on by such an international crew all over the
world that they are cosmopolitan.?
Angry Birds
As creators of the worldwide phenomenon Angry Birds, Rovio Entertainment is Finland?s biggest entertainment company. Following
the Angry Birds Toons animated series that featured the contribution of Juusonen, the company set out to create animation on a
global scale. This is set to be achieved on 1 July this year when the
first Angry Birds 3D CG-animated film will be released, made in
conjunction with Sony Pictures.
Such is their faith in the project, that Rovio CEO Hed revealed
that Rovio is already preparing for sequels.
Coproduction is the key to
success.
In the last 20 years Finnish animation companies have taken
steps far outside Finland. The
Finnish Ministry of Education
and Culture have even established Finnanimation, a nonprofit association formed by
Finnish animation producers
Niko has been one of the most successful
Finnish animation productions ever.
in 2005 which carries out various promotional and cultural export
activities on all continents.
Currently the best example of a Finnish international coproduction is the Finnish/Chinese TV series Dibidogs produced by Finnish Futurecode, owned by Jim and Pia Solatie, and Chinese Blue
Arc, owned by Tommy Wang. They met in 2007, a year after the
Solatie family created the Dibidogs characters.
?The original characters were drawn by my two kids Mikaela
and Tom,? states Jim Solatie, ?they also came up with the first storylines. We asked Finland?s bestselling author Tuija Lehtinen to
help us with us with the scripts.?
Solatie and his wife, who had just sold their market research
company, were so convinced that Dibidogs could work that they
decided to invest all their money in a Chinese animation studio to
work on the animation series.
?We travelled to China 50 times to find the right partners. In September 2007 we met children?s director Wang at Southern TV, South
China?s biggest TV station.? With a budget of 7 million US dollars,
the first season of 26 episodes of 23 minutes each premiered in
April 2010 on MTV3 in Finland. Two months later Southern TV
started broadcasting.
?Now, CCTV ? China?s Central Television ? is broadcasting Dibidogs nationwide?, says Solatie. ?We have closed TV deals with Multimania in Russia and Korean KBC.? Dibidogs was sold to 32 countries. In 2014 Dibidogs was awarded for its international success by
winning the Finnish Audiovisual Export Award HALDA.
Dibidogs is also broadcasted in European countries such as
Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia. Solatie says the victory march has not
ended. ?We are having talks with main channels in Southern Europe and will launch the unique DibiTales app where children can
create and animate their own stories. The app will be launched in
Chinese in the beginning of 2015, followed by an English version.?
And so, as Finns continue their international collaboration, with
new and exciting projects emerging, the future seems bright for the
local scene. With the industry?s centennial celebrations held last
year, one could even suggest that there has never been a better time
to get animated in Finland.
DibiDogs continue to make a global impact.
Lifestyle
12
Issue 1 2015
A
dressing
down in
public
In a land rich in sauna history and
tradition, public saunas used to be
a staple in every neighbourhood of
Helsinki. Now only a handful still exist.
Andy Kruse
O
NE could say that sauna is to Finns as air is to the rest of us: indispensable. In fact, in a country of
5.5 million people, there is said to be nearly three million saunas on hand. Sauna is also the most
recognised Finnish word to have been incorporated into the English language, originally used to
describe the structure in which a sauna is held. It?s importance cannot be understated. As a cornerstone
of Finnish life, sauna has provided warmth in a cold land and been a cultural domain for millennia.
More recently, in the past 100 years or so, locations in metropolitan Helsinki where anyone can come
take a sauna and use a bathhouse have been commonplace. During the first half of the 1900s these
public saunas dotted the city streets. There was one on just about every block, totalling over 200 at one
point. People would come regularly to these locales that served not only as a place to get warm and
cleanse, but also as community gathering spots.
Then, upon the arrival of piping systems that brought hot water into peoples? homes, residents began to
remain there for bathing, and visits to the public sauna became less frequent. Now they?ve been replaced
even more so by private saunas at home and those in the numerous public swimming pools. Today the
number of public saunas that remain open year-round in Helsinki can be counted on one hand.
Inside public sauna
Water sizzles as it?s thrown onto a pile of scalding rocks and a hot vapour engulfs the room. ?I like
the way the steam bites you when it hits,? grimaces Timo Yliluoma, a regular at Kotiharjun Sauna in
Kallio.
Ylihuoma prefers to sit up on the piippu hylly, what translates to the ?pipe shelf ?. This is the highest
seat in the sauna, the hottest seat in the house. ?Its an overwhelming feeling, like finally getting that itch
that you haven?t been able to reach.?
Open since 1928, Kotiharjun Sauna is the only strictly log burning sauna left in Helsinki. Nearly two
cubic metres of wood are thrown daily into two huge stoves, one in the men?s sauna and one in the
women?s. These each hold 1,500 kg of glowing hot stones. As one could imagine, this sends out some
serious steam.
This hot steam is what Finns call löyly. Originally meaning spirit or life, it?s the essence of sauna. And
when it hits the skin, pores open up and sweating ensues pushing dirt and toxins out of the body. Then,
following up with a cool shower or jump in a cold lake washes it all away.
The experience not only cleans you on the outside, but inside as well. ?You clear your head and go to
a different world,? states Otso Koski, another Kotiharju patron who enjoys a sauna two to three times a
week. ?It?s complete radio silence for a few hours. All systems down to reboot for the next week.?
On special occasions a vihta is passed around the sauna. This is a leafy bundle of birch twigs tightly
wrapped together that is firmly swatted across the back during the climax of the sauna. This ritual relieves
itching and further stimulates the opening of the pores, while at the same time emitting a sweet aroma into
the room. Something special Kotiharjun Sauna offers is their ready stock of vihta available for purchase.
Many prefer the public sauna atmosphere over a private sauna club. ?In a public sauna, it doesn?t matter who you are or what is your position in society,? reflects Tuesday night regular Arto Lode. ?There
are no rules on how you are supposed to be.?
So if there are no rules, then who says you can?t have a public sauna disco party? This is exactly what
goes down twice a year at Sauna Hermanni in Vallila. With a DJ, disco ball, lights, and dancing, participants really get loose during this sauna event.
Sauna Hermanni goes above and beyond what a normal public sauna might do by holding its own
special events such as this. Another classic day at this sauna is the vihta marathon, where 14 different
kinds of leaf bundles are available for people to try and compare. And on Helsinki?s Restaurant Day,
the sauna brings a spread of traditional Finnish food along with live music.
The public steam of life. Images from Alexander Lembke?s series ?The New World of Sauna?.
Founded in 1953, just as the electric sauna was the new hype, Sauna Hermanni has always had two
large electric stoves, each keeping hot 300 kg of rocks. With separate saunas for men and women, this
is the only public sauna to offer a mixed sauna on Thursdays.
?If you have a bad day, you come to sauna and it?s not a bad day anymore,? states Miko Ahonen of Sauna
Hermanni. ?There are no angry people here. Red faces come out, but they are happy red faces.?
Sauna religion
Sauna has always been a place of peace. In medieval Europe, the sauna bathhouse was almost as sacred
as church. During a time of nearly constant war, these were places of neutrality where weapons were
left at the front. A crime committed in sauna was as punishable as if committed in church.
Today poor behaviour in the sauna remains taboo. Folklore has it that a little gnome called saunatonttu, or ?sauna elf ?, has its home in the sauna and is watching. He is always to be treated with respect,
as he may bring trouble to those behaving immorally in the sauna. If treated well, he will watch out for
the people and warn them if a fire threatens the sauna.
It is even customary to occasionally warm up the sauna just for the sauna elf and at times to leave a
bite to eat for him.
For many, sauna is very much a holy experience. ?Sauna is a religion where you praise yourself and
the others with you,? says avid sauna goer Simo Puintila. ?Here you are just how you are ? naked and
sweating, and more willing to open up yourself.?
So for the Finns, who don?t easily share their emotions, here is one place where they really open up
and tell their stories. As a local sauna proverb goes, ?Without clothes we become anonymous. No need
to pretend, with no place to hide.?
Sauna evolution
The practice of sauna has flourished throughout history in Finland particularly, more so than in other
countries. For one, the extreme cold makes this the only way to really warm your bones during much
of the year. And being that Finland has been more rural and heavily forested than most other densely
populated European countries, there has always been an endless supply of firewood allowing sauna to be
a regular part of everyday life.
The sauna is also historically a very versatile structure, being the first thing built when people would
move. They could live and make food in it, take care of personal hygiene, and perhaps most importantly, give birth in a sterile environment.
Originally a sauna, or what is often referred to as a ?sweat lodge?, was dug out of the land as a pit
and covered into a dome shape with wood, earth, or animal skins to retain the heat inside. Rocks were
heated by fire to a very high temperature and water poured over them to create steam and the sensation of increasing heat, just like today. It was mainly a warming and cleansing activity, surrounded by
various traditional rituals, prayer and song.
The first actual ?Finnish? saunas, are nowadays called savusauna, or ?smoke sauna?. Instead of heating rocks in a stove with a chimney, these saunas are heated by burning large amounts of wood for up
to eight hours and letting them fill up with smoke and heat. The smoke is then ventilated out and the
warmth in the air and from the rocks stays for an extended period of time. A properly heated smoke
sauna gives good heat for up to 12 hours.
When the industrial revolution brought metal, the sauna evolved to being built in a log cabin containing a metal wood stove with a chimney that was used to heat the rocks. After this came the electric
stove which heats the rocks without fire. And nowadays there is even infrared sauna, where infrared
light is experienced as radiant heat absorbed by the skin.
Amidst this growth of sauna variety, however, for those who like the social aspect of public saunas,
the options are diminishing.
Lifestyle
13
SixDegrees
solutions
for
crossword
on page 5
STUDY BUSINESS IN ENGLISH ? APPLY NOW!
VOCATIONAL QUALIFICATION IN BUSINESS AND ADMINISTRATION
Customer Service and Sales, 180 ECVET points, 3 years
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Tampere Vocational College Tredu offers vocational upper secondary education in Business. The studies are entirely in English. This program is for youth
aiming at international customer services duties.
Applicants with good command in English language and who have completed
basic education are welcome. No high school graduates can be accepted.
1. Lapio
2. Luistin
Application period: 16.2.?17.3.2015 (interviews 23.?24.4.2015)
Application e-form: www.tredu.fi
Interested? Further information: Merja Helin, merja.helin@tampere.fi
www.tredu.fi
3. Lumimyrsky
4. Hiihtää
5. Lumi
6. Kelkka
7. Takka
8. Pipo
Advisory Board on Immigration and Integration
declares an application process for
The grAnT FOr IMMIgrAnT ASSOCIATIOnS? CApACITy BuIldIng
The grant may be awarded for one of the following purposes:
? Volunteer training, lobbying and organizational democracy for the staff, board members, members and volunteers
? IT-systems and consulting services that could be seen as one-off investments in strengthening the organization
? strategy work
? communications development.
The applicant must be an association with more than half (50%) of its members having immigrant backgrounds. The applicant should
by definition promote active citizenship and integration, among other things, by means of supporting their members? employability, Finnish or Swedish language training, education and general welfare.
The grant is not intended to fund the associations? core work, but their structural development. The size of the grant will vary according
to the number of people participating in the strengthening activity and according to the size of the target group benefiting from the development action.
The representatives of associations may book a consultation time (45 minutes) for their grant application between February 9-13th,
9:00-15:00.
Additional information (in Finnish) and application forms: www.hel.fi > Maahanmuuttajat > Järjestöyhteistyö ja avustukset.
Inquiries: Planning Officer Olga Silfver, tel. 09 310 37951 from 9 to15, olga.silfver@hel.fi
The dead line for applications is Friday February 20th 2015, at 16.00.
When and how to apply: Digital applications in English or Finnish should be submitted by February 21st 2015 (16:00), through the
portal asiointi.hel.fi.
heLsINKI?s year-round public sAUNAs*
sauna Arla, in the Kallio district, has been open since 1929. It had wood burning saunas until 1970 when natural gas became available in the
buildings, so this way of heating the stones continues today. One cubic metre of stones is heated in both a men?s and a woman?s sauna for 3-4 hours
in the morning creating heat to last all day. On Sundays body scrubbing is available for a fee. And for special order, one can receive the traditional
ancient Chinese healing practice of cupping, which uses local suction on the skin to mobilise blood flow and promote healing. www.arlansauna.net
Kotiharjun sauna, since 1928, has maintained its original architecture throughout the decades. With separate wood burning saunas for men
and women, an electric sauna is also available for rent to families and groups fitting from 50-80 people. The sauna offers a traditional scrubbing
service and frozen vihta are available for purchase. Patrons can also rent a towel and purchase non-alcoholic drinks. www.kotiharjunsauna.fi
sauna hermanni, since 1953, has a cosy living room environment decorated to reproduce the feel of the 1950s. They specially offer a choice of vihta
of birch, oak, and maple, which is softer than the others, for purchase with a sauna. A full menu offers foods such as toast, sausages, eggs, herring,
potato salad, or a snack plate of olives, cheese and pickles. Refreshments are available or one may bring their own drinks. www.saunahermanni.fi
* Oh, for those who like to enjoy their saunas in public only in summer, here are some more seasonal options on offer:
w w w.helsinginlatu.fi /mm / hinnasto
?
w w w.siir tolapuutarhat.net /pakila /sivut /sauna.html
?
w w w.sompasauna.fi
Trend of the Month
Travel
A
s the Arctic freeze sets in, what
could be more on people?s minds
these days than getting away for a
little while. And so, with Finns recently
dubbed the number one travellers in the
world, there are more options on offer
than ever before to meet their needs.
Enter stage left: the Nordic Travel Fair
MATKA. Arriving with a wave of inspiration, the largest event of the travel trade
in Northern Europe presents a wide range
of foreign and domestic destinations at
Messukeskus, Expo and Convention Centre Helsinki until Sunday 18 January.
Visitors can find services and products of
over 1,000 exhibitors from over 80 countries on display. Offering various options
for both travel professionals and regular
travellers alike, the event has grown steadily
over the years. With nearly 70,000 visitors, it
is now one of the biggest events in Finland.
JOB HUNTING EVENTS AND INFORMATION SESSIONS
Introduction session to the Finnish-British Society and the
Finnbrit Language Centre, Jan 22nd at 1-3 pm
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Requirements for working at Seure, Jan 29th at 5-7
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One day job event Feb 25th at 2-4pm. 8IBU JT B DPWFS
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Peer support group for unemployed immigrants , Mondays
March 2nd - April 13th at 2-4pm, %P ZPV OFFE IFMQ JO
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E-portfolio workshop Feb 11th at 3-5pm. .BLF ZPVSTFMG
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Emergency First Aid Course 4hours (10?) April 11th at
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Food Hygiene - training and testing (50?) March 18th and
23rd at 5-8pm. 5IJT DPVSTF DPOTJTUT PG UXP QBSUT B USBJOJOH
DPVSTF .BSDI UI
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Occupational Safety Card Training and Test (50?) April 16th
at 8-4 pm. 5IF DBSE BJNFE BU JNQSPWJOH TIBSFE XPSLQMBDF
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SOCIAL AND LANGUAGE EVENTS
Vi läser tillsammans! Lets read together! Tuesdays Jan 13th
- April 24th at 5-6.45pm. 8FMDPNF UP MFBSO 4XFEJTI BOE QSBDUJDF FWFSZ EBZ WPDBCVMBSZ
Multicultural family café in English The fi rst Friday of each
month, Fridays Jan 9th, Feb 6th, March 6th, April 3rd, and May
8th, o GPS QBSFOUT XJUI DIJMESFO BHFE UP ZFBST
o QN GPS QBSFOUT XJUI LJET BHFE UP ZFBST 7FOVF -JMMB
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Nordic Travel Fair MATKA
The partner country for this year?s
event is Egypt. With recent years seeing
the country?s stability unbalanced, it now
seeks to re-establish itself as a popular
holiday destination.
For those who can?t find what they are
looking for at the fair, keep in mind that
the annual ski week is soon upon us, arriving during the second week of February. Here families descend on all manner
of slopes both local and abroad, celebrating the fact that the end is nigh for the
chilly weather. Well, only another couple
of months or so, that is.
In related news, Finnair was recently
rated one the top ten safest airlines in the
world for 2015, by AirlineRatings.com,
offering further piece-of-mind for passengers.
So, when in Rome... join the hordes in
heading somewhere else for a little while.
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The annual Nordic Travel Fair MATKA is
being staged once again this year.
Tastebuds
14
Issue 1 2015
,
s
i
h
t
s
i
t
Wha
exactly
The weird and wonderful tastes of
your local Asian grocery store.
A little variety of rice would be nice
Pizza, wine
& jazz
Helsinkians can rest
easy ? everything
they?ve ever needed
now in one place.
?O
Italians in Helsinki
I ask the Italians how their restaurant differs from other Italian restaurants in Helsinki. The look they share is indicative of mutual
agreement on no restaurant in particular having impressed them.
?To be honest, most of the Italian restaurants are not really Italian. You can eat well, but you can?t eat Italian well,? explains Metta.
?A plate that is simple you complicate it because you add some
local taste. That?s what we don?t want.?
Avignonesi delle Lucille says that they wanted to establish a typical, traditional Italian restaurant ? something they claim doesn?t
exist in Helsinki.
Long grain
Cooking well and holding its shape, long grain rice varieties
are plentiful and less sticky than shorter grains. They are also
more expensive and come in a dizzying array. Remember that
cooking times differ for different types of long grains, and adjust water levels accordingly. Basmati and jasmine rice both
belong to the long grain rice family. Long grain rice comes
in white or brown, the latter being more popular though less
healthy as it has had its nutritious brown husk removed.
Short grain rice
Also called porridge rice in Finnish stores, short grain rice typically also includes risotto rice and glutinous or sticky rice varieties though their type differs. Use short grain rice like glutinous
to prepare sticky rice with mango for desserts, or Arborio rice
for risotto or cook into porridge, sweet if you prefer or a congee
for a typical Asian breakfast. Classic and good.
Text and images Alicia Jensen
NE DAY, it was the 12 of March, Paolo [Morcucci] came
to my place,? begins Stefano Metta. It was a Friday and
the two of them were living in Mazzano Romano, a small
medieval town close to Rome. ?I?m the owner of some restaurants
and bars, and he told me why don?t we open something in Finland?
I said to Paolo, why not.?
Two weeks later they were on a plane to Finland, and would soon
fall in love with Helsinki. Simple as that.
I sit down with Metta, a Sicilian Swiss restaurant owner, Morcucci,
a musician with a Finnish wife, and Flavio Avignonesi delle Lucille, who has been working in hotel management in London, and
was the third addition to the team. There are two other owners
who aren?t present at the interview that day, Pasi Pyhanen and Kim
Lerche, the latter helping with the music aspect. The mélange of experience and professional history is brought together by friendship,
they tell me. What connects them, Metta says, is an artistic soul and
wanting to live well; ?we are humanists.?
Metta and Morcucci didn?t leave the idyllic medieval town of
Mazzano; they left Italy.
?At the moment it?s not the best place to live. The economy is not
brilliant, and we don?t like the situation with people always complaining,? says Morcucci. They wanted to find a country where they
could stay and live quietly. The solution was the serene streets of
Helsinki.
?Paolo, your idea was perfect. It?s not a hectic city like London. It?s
a man-sized city that?s what I call Helsinki. It?s not that big, not that
small. It?s the perfect size,? adds Avignonesi delle Lucille.
Following Morcucci?s lead, the quintet established what they call
the only truly Italian restaurant in Helsinki. Being a musician,
Morcucci added a jazzy element to their restaurant with the help
of Jyrki Kangas, a well known Finnish jazz musician who has, for
example, run the annual Pori Jazz festival. Their restaurant sports a
small stage where they host live performances three times a week.
They named the restaurant Pjazza ? a tribute to both jazz and the
atmospheric square Italians call the piazza.
It may seem counter productive to go back to the basics after discovering all the joys and weirder wonders of the Asian
store. But you must learn to walk before you fly little grasshopper, so let me introduce you to the most basic, and yet
arguably the most important of Asian foodstuffs: rice. Rice is
the basis of any meal; it is the backbone, and the first and last
thing you would eat as an Asian. The very first of solid foods
fed to babies, and the very last thing served at banquets. Rice
symbolises fertility, plenty, good health, luck, bounty and all
things good. Surely you wouldn?t want to neglect such an important guest at your dinner table?
From the flour to the kitchen staff, they tell me that their restaurant is authentic Italian. The chefs all come from a specific school
in Italy, called the API or Italian Pizza Association.
?Most of all, we are Italians and we conduct it in an Italian way,?
says Metta. ?The ambiance is Italian.?
What they want to bring Helsinkians is an easy atmosphere and
locale where one can enjoy a glass of wine, jazz, and of course true
Italian cuisine. They serve a modern pizza that?s easier to digest.
The flour is left to rise, or ?levitate? for at least 72 hours. If the dough
has risen for that long, it won?t continue to rise in the customer?s
stomach. Given that this is Finland, naturally they also have a gluten free pizza.
Food, jazz and atmosphere
For a starter I tried the burrata cheese with truffle and parma ham,
the size of which would have sufficed as a main. I tasted two mains:
fettuccine con tartufo nero, or pasta with black truffle, and the pizza bresaola with bresaola, rocket, parmesan and olive oil. Although
the pasta was good, I have never tasted a pizza as good as this. The
food was accompanied with a glass of Sicilian Donnafugata?s Mille
e una Notte, its fullness and berry flavours giving a wonderful contrast to the saltiness of the ham and parmesan which played a leading role in the bresaola.
The restaurant has a surprisingly large number of square metres.
It consists of a large main room, complete with bar and small stage,
and three smaller areas, one of which also has a bar. Each has been
designed with a pleasant simplicity, with an easy warmth despite its
spaciousness and high ceilings. The addition of live jazz was also
wonderful, bringing the restaurant an extra mile ahead.
?The restaurant is a machine which is warming up?, says Avignonesi delle Lucille. Yet the modest owners appear to be doing
well already. A lounge area is being developed in the foyer, and the
space was buzzing on a live jazz Tuesday night. With already such
impressive results, this is certainly a place to keep in mind for when
it kicks into top gear.
Pjazza
Mon - Thu: 11.00 - 23.00 (kitchen closed 15.00-17.00)?
Fri - Sat: 11.00 - 01.00?
Sun: 11.00 - 17.00
Yrjönkatu 18 B
Helsinki
tel. 050 347 7802
Jasmine
Long grained yet slightly sticky, this aromatic rice is undoubtedly the queen of the rice table for Thai and Chinese cuisines.
Its subtle flavour, ease to cook and slightly stickiness amends it
to sauces and chopsticks alike, not to mention its light floral fragrance and taste. Buy in 10-20 kilogram bags in Asian stores for
the best savings and if health is your goal, mix with wholegrain
rice and quinoa. An easy, everyday rice that suits every cuisine.
Basmati
Long, thin slender grains with a nutty scent, basmati rice is
expensive and rightly so. It cooks well into pilaus, briyanis ?
even plain ? and holds its shape well. It?s also arguably healthier than other rice varieties, with brown basmati having up
to 20% more fibre than regular brown rice. Originating from
India, it is prized and eaten at special occasions.
Black rice
Also known as purple rice, I have only seen the glutinous varieties in Asian stores around Hakaniemi. The nutritional properties of black rice surpass blueberries and is a good source
of iron, Vitamin E and antioxidants. Possessing a mild, nutty
flavour, soak your rice before cooking and eat with coconut
cream and brown sugar as a decadent dessert or mix with normal white rice and cook after soaking. It will stain your rice a
nice purple hue but hey, live a little.
Red rice
Eaten by Indians for health reasons, red rice is purportedly
lower on the glycemic scale and therefore better for you. The
colour comes from its husk, which adds to its fibre and general
good for you nutrients. It cooks up a tad toothsome but tastes
pretty nice mixed in with regular rice. It has a flavour similar
to black rice but milder, so start out with this one. Available in
smaller bags and requires no soaking prior to cooking.
Sushi rice
Sushi rice is a bit pricier but worth trying for its shiny and flavoursome finish. Generally it?s mixed in with mirin and sugar
when made into sushi but why not try this with a topping of
sesame oil, wasabi and your choice of protein? Cook as you
would rice and spread out on a plate and fan vigorously to maximise the shiny finish after pouring over with mirin mixture.
Tania Nathan is a Chinese-Sri
Lankan Malaysian who loves
her food and is often to be
found rummaging through
a freezer somewhere in
Hakaniemi. Come say hi!
Cultitude
15
SixDegrees
Steve Gullick
The Point of documentaries
James O?Sullivan
DocPoint
O
NCE again, the 14th annual DocPoint is the first port of call
for what is becoming an increasingly crowded film festival
calendar annually. Presenting the best Finnish and international documentaries of the year, the festival lands once again in
the Capital Region from 27 January until 1 February.
Founded in 2001, DocPoint represents one of the largest documentary film festivals on the Nordic landscape. Here in Finland it
is the only festival solely dedicated to documentary films, and has
also been organised concurrently with Tallinn since 2010.
The numbers are impressive, with some 28,000 visitors attending festival screenings and side events last year. This year sees 166
documentary films on offer.
The festival opens with Markku Heikkinen?s Men of Talvivaara
Mine, depicting the everyday life of miners in the eponymous mine
that has grabbed headlines in recent times.
Elsewhere, those who have followed the Edward Snowden saga with
great interest are in for a treat: Laura Poitras? Citizenfour is being
screened. In June 2013, Poitras flew to Hong Kong with two reporters
for the first of many meetings with the man who would soon become
Public Enemy No. 1 in the USA. She brought her camera with her, with
the resultant footage edited into a gripping documentary. The film will
also be DocPoint festival?s main seminar film on Saturday 31 January.
Hanna Polak?stouching film Something Better to Come follows a
girl named Yula for 14 years living at an enormous dump site near
Moscow with her family. Also in Russia, Children 404 and Victory
Day, discuss the controversial anti-gay law that was passed in 2013.
Aside from politics, other themes during this year?s edition of the festival revolve around nature and the sea. Three of the world best known
apes take the screen in Jos de Putter?s See No Evil and two Academy
Award-winning documentaries from legendary explorer Jacques
Cousteau are screening.
On the local scene, 11 new films from Finnish directors are being
presented under the banner of ?New Finnish Documentary Film?.
Much, much more is on offer. Head to the website for more info.
Eclectic Radio
tunes
James O?Sullivan
.
Walking
Under Water is one of many documentaries on offer at this year?s
As always, all of this and more is available at their website.
festival.
DocPoint - Helsinki Documentary Film Festival 2015
27 January ? 1 February
http://docpoint.info/en
Finnish National Gallery / Yehia Eweis
Artistic
sounds
James O?Sullivan
n
o other individual has
had such an impact on
the international classical
music scene than national hero
Jean Sibelius.
Commencing in December last
year, celebrations have been taking place in honour of the 150th
anniversary of his birth. In the
midst of these Ateneum Art Museum is currently exhibiting an
extensive jubilee exhibition. Tak-
ing a closer look at the composer?s contacts with the art scene of
his day, Sibelius and the World of
Art is on display until 22 March.
The sounds created by Sibelius
inspired a great many artists, with
their own work creating a reciprocal effect on the composer. Siberlius was surrounded by art during his lifetime: his home could be
found amongst the cultural landscape at Lake Tuusula, his artistic
circle of friends and relatives, and
the art collection at Ainola all had
great influence on him.
A more specific example of
this artistic exchange can be
found in his 1892 tone poem En
Saga, which would inspire Akseli
Gallen-Kallela two years later to
paint a work bearing the same
name.
The links between the composer?s work and the art scene
of his time are found to be both
on a personal level as well as
in the context of the art movements of his era. The exhibition
traverses the landscape from Sibelius? youth to his international breakthrough. Fantasies and
myths surrounding the composer, as well as his symphonic
landscapes and nature motifs
are also explored in detail.
The website www.sibelius150.
fi offers more celebrations,
Albert Edelfelt: Composer Jean
Sibelius (undated). Ateneum Art
Museum.
A night of Pasión
James O?Sullivan
k
icking off on 24 February, Finland is once again
infused with the spirit of
the tango, with the welcome
return of the Grammy Awardwinning Argentinean dance
group Tango Pasión.
The highly regarded troupe
is set to bring a new show Sinfonia de Tango. A tribute to
the legend of composer Astor
Piazzolla, audiences in Helsinki can enjoy the Pasión until 28 February, before it sets
off around the country. Stops
in Turku, Hämeenlinna, Lahti,
Mikkeli, Kuopio and Oulu are
scheduled.
Tango Pasión first emerged
in 1982 when producer Mel
Howard and co director José
Libertella set about establishing
a unique tango spectacle. The
fruit of their labour saw them
bringing together a number
of different tango stories. For
them, tango wasn?t about any
level of social status. A diverse
cast of dancers represented the
variety evident in Argentinean
society. Audience responded
overwhelmingly positively at
home and aborad, and it wasn?t
long before the group was playing to packed crowds on Broadway.
Fast forward to 2014 and 20
artists, dancers and musicians
come together to form the
world?s best tango show group.
With their last visit a couple
of years ago drawing a total of
around 30,000 attendees, the
Argentine heat is a welcome
reprieve from the frosty conditions outside.
Duration of the show is approximately 2.5 hours, including an intermission.
Tango Pasión ?
Sinfonía de Tango
24 February until 7 March
Helsinki, Turku,
Hämeenlinna, Lahti,
Mikkeli, Kuopio and Oulu
Sibelius and the World of Art
Until 22 March
Ateneum Art Museum
Kaivokatu 2,
Helsinki
Political
snapshot
James O?Sullivan
D
EDICATING itself to photographs and photographers
who seek to make a difference on the world through their
work, the inaugural Festival of
Political Photography is on being
exhibited at The Finnish Museum of Photography from 30
January until 12 April.
Bringing together images
from seven different parts of
the world, the photos are the focal point for a resident of each
area, whose themes are deemed
to have social relevance. The exhibition includes contributions
from Swedish photographer
David Magnusson, Afghan Farzana Wahidy, Russian Tatiana
Vinogradova and Finns Meeri
Koutaniemi, Thomas Castle
B
ringing with him the growing eclecticism of his songbook,
Mark Lanegan hits the stage at The Circus on Friday 6 February in support of his latest release, Phantom Radio.
The road to this point has been anything but without curves and
unexpected turns for the former Screaming Trees frontman. Emerging from the shadows of the grunge movement, the singer-songwriter has diversified his output to the point of sheer unpredictably.
Each release has been greeted with acclaim of some degree, as his
grunge roots have been overshadowed by more sensitive leanings.
Battles with substance abuse has ensured his material remains
fringed with darker edges over the years. Collaborations have come
thick and fast, with Lanegan hooking up with Queens of the Stone
Age (co-writing their monster hit No One Knows), former Belle and
Sebastianite Isobel Campbell (for a trio of sublime albums), Greg
Dulli (The Gutter Twins), Duke Garwood (2013?s Black Pudding)
and even Moby (2013?s The Lonely Night single). This is just the tip
of the collaborative iceberg.
The past decade has also seen him compliment his early catalogue of solo albums with a revolving line-up of musicians under
the banner of Mark Lanegan Band. 2004?s brilliant solo release
Bubblegum saw his trademark gravelly vocals and dark reflection
harmonizing into something majestic. 2012?s follow-up Blues Funeral saw electronica introduced into the mix, with Lanegan performing a barnstorming gig in February that year at The Circus.
The well-received Phantom Radio has seen him head out on an
extensive European tour, stretching until the end of March.
Support comes from Sean Wheeler & Zander Schloss, and Lyenn.
Mark Lanegan Band
6 February, 21:00
Tickets ?34.50
and Sara Hurtig. The lion?s
share of the works are on display
in Finland for the first time.
The
images
themselves
traverse a variety of topical subject matters. These include the
Finnish media, religion and children, women and minority status, immigration and exclusion.
The images offer various and
differing perspectives on the circumstances within the festival
theme of the third generation.
The exhibition also illustrates
how habits, social status and values are handed down between
generations. This movement
of traditions and ideals often
sees each generation struggle
against the values of those that
have come before them and seek
to bring about change for their
perceived betterment.
The exhibition ponders the
relevance of the photograph
being a tool for influencing
change. The images on offer at
the exhibition fail to elicit indifference in the viewer, compelling a reaction of some kind.
The festival organisers seek to
The Circus
Salomonkatu 1-3
Helsinki
inspire discussion and activities
via the images presented.
Further facilitating this, a
number of workshops will be
held in conjunction with the
exhibition, as well as discussion
groups.
Miranda & Jody Heckert, Yuma
Arizona Photo by David Magnusson
The Festival of Political
Photography
30 January ? 12 April
The Finnish Museum
of Photography
Tallberginkatu 1 G
Helsinki
Out&See Greater Helsinki
16
Issue 1 2015
Anna-Maija Lappi
Music _ Clubs
16 Jan. Levon Vincent, Lil Tony &
Katerina // Techno. Kaiku, Kaikukatu
4. Tickets ?14.50. www.clubkaiku.fi
16 Jan. Lieminen // Pop. Tavastia,
Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets
?13.50. www.tavastiaklubi.fi
16 Jan. Sea Change (NOR) // Synth
pop. Korjaamo Culture Factory,
Töölönkatu 51 B. Tickets ?9.50.
www.korjaamo.fi
17 Jan. Plutonium 74 // Psychedelic
disco
funk.
Tavastia,
Urho
Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets ?13.50.
www.tavastiaklubi.fi
17 Jan. Toni Loimuneva, Kari Tapiiri
solo // Singer-songwriters. Semifinal,
Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets
?7.50. www.semifinal.fi
17 Jan. Laineen Kasperi & Palava
Kaupunki + St. Rasta // Hiphop. Korjaamo Culture Factory,
Töölönkatu 51 B. Tickets ?11/13.
www.korjaamo.fi
17 Jan. Above & Beyond (UK) // Trance.
The Circus, Salomonkatu 1-3. Tickets
?26-39. www.thecircus.fi
22 Jan. Sarana // Experimental
ambient.
Semifinal,
Urho
Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets ?6.50.
www.semifinal.fi
22 Jan. Happoradio // Pop/rock. On
The Rocks, Mikonkatu 15. Tickets
?17.50. www.ontherocks.fi
22 Jan. TootToot // Rock. Bar Loose,
Annankatu 21. Tickets ?8.50.
www.barloose.com
22 Jan. Jukkis Uotila Trio // Jazz. Koko
Jazz Club, Hämeentie 3. Tickets
?11.50/16.50. www.kokojazz.fi
23 Jan. Isolée, Lauri Soini, Denzel
& J.Lindroos // Techno. Kaiku,
Kaikukatu 4. Tickets ?14.50.
www.clubkaiku.fi
23 Jan. Aurora // Pop. Semifinal,
Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets
?7.50. www.semifinal.fi
23 Jan. Alavala // Pop. Le Bonk,
Yrjönkatu 24. Tickets ?7.50.
www.lebonk.fi
23 Jan. Marjo Leinonen Huff?N?Puff
// ?Groove ?n? roll.? Virgin Oil CO.,
Mannerheimintie 5. Tickets ?11.50.
www.virginoil.fi
23 Jan. Milla Rumi, Älyvarkaat, Karri
Lehtonen & Afgaaninvinttikoira //
Pop/folk. On The Rocks, Mikonkatu
15. Tickets ?5. www.ontherocks.fi
23 Jan. Kerkko Koskinen Kollektiivi //
Pop. Tavastia, Urho Kekkosen katu
4-6. Tickets ?22. www.tavastiaklubi.fi
23 Jan. Danceteria 10th Anniversary
// Stefano Noferini (ITA), Hollen
(ITA), Adrian Hour (ARG). Fredan
Tivoli, Fredrikinkatu 51-53. Tickets
?13.50. www.fredantivoli.fi
24 Jan. Maria Gasolina // Forro
in Finnish etc. Gloria, Pieni
Roobertinkatu 12. Tickets ?11.50.
www.gloriahelsinki.fi
24 Jan. Funky Rocks Club // Tuomo.
On The Rocks, Mikonkatu 15.
Tickets ?11.50. www.ontherocks.fi
24 Jan. White Fox // Rock/pop.
Semifinal, Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6.
Tickets ?8.50. www.semifinal.fi
24 Jan. Jaakko Laitinen & Väärä Raha
// Echoes from Balkan gypsy music,
Russian romances and old Finnish
?humppa?. Bar Loose, Annankatu 21.
Tickets ?11.50. www.barloose.com
24 Jan. Freak Kitchen (SWE), Doom
Unit Rebelhead // Metal. Virgin Oil
CO., Mannerheimintie 5. Tickets
?16.50. www.virginoil.fi
26 Jan. Christina Grimmie & Before You
Exit (USA) // Pop. Nosturi, Telakkakatu
8. Tickets ?22. www.elmu.fi
27 Jan. Nipsey Hussle (USA) // Rap.
Tavastia, Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6.
Tickets ?23. www.tavastiaklubi.fi
29 Jan. Mikael Jakobsson Quartet
feat. Thomas Franck (DEN) // Jazz.
Koko Jazz Club, Hämeentie 3.
Tickets ?16.50/22. www.kokojazz.fi
29 Jan. Risto, Talmud Beach // Rock.
Bar Loose, Annankatu 21. Tickets
?7.50. www.barloose.com
30 Jan. Santa Cruz // Hard rock. Le
Bonk, Yrjönkatu 24. Tickets ?13.50.
www.lebonk.fi
30 Jan. Femmagaala 2015 // DJ
Kridlokk, Tuuttimörkö, Aivovuoto,
Soul Valpio Band, At The Hollow.
Virgin Oil CO., Mannerheimintie 5.
Tickets ?11.50. www.virginoil.fi
30 Jan. Freerap Finland meets
Freerap Sverige // Tavastia, Urho
Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets ?19.
www.tavastiaklubi.fi
30 Jan. Soliti Winter Beach Party
// Black Twig, Gim Kordon, Ghost
Christina Grimmie
26 Jan. Nosturi
K-X-P
31 Jan. Korjaamo Culture Factory
Nipsey Hussle
27 Jan. Tavastia
Olöf Arnalds
11 Feb. Kuudes Linja
Sea Change
16 Jan. Korjaamo Culture Factory
Of Jack Nance, Big Wave Riders,
Oceans, Cats Of Transnistria, Delay
Trees, Astrid Swan, The New Tigers
& Black Lizard. Nosturi, Telakkakatu
8. Tickets ?16.50. www.elmu.fi
30 Jan. Minutian //
Rock/
metal. Korjaamo Culture Factory,
Töölönkatu 51 B. Tickets ?7.50.
www.korjaamo.fi
30 Jan. Hexdrive, Ten After Dawn, Di
Un Ru, Silent Scream // Rock. On The
Rocks, Mikonkatu 15. Tickets ?5.
www.ontherocks.fi
30 Jan. Näppituntuma, Serial Humpers,
N.A.D. // Ska, reggae, soul, funk...
Semifinal, Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6.
Tickets ?6.50. www.semifinal.fi
30 Jan. Jaakko & Jay, Panssarijuna //
Folk punk. Bar Loose, Annankatu 21.
Tickets ?7.50. www.barloose.com
30 Jan. Club Dance Pon Di Corna //
Renaissance Disco (JAM). Kuudes
Linja, Hämeentie 13. Tickets ?10.
www.kuudeslinja.com
31 Jan. Megastupido-klubi //
Kumikameli, The Splits, Liimanarina,
Saijaa Saijaa, Joosua & Kari Tapiiri.
Nosturi, Telakkakatu 8. Tickets
?13.50. www.elmu.fi
31 Jan. K-X-P, O Samuli A //
Electronic.
Korjaamo
Culture
Factory, Töölönkatu 51 B. Tickets
?10/12. www.korjaamo.fi
31 Jan. Linnea Henriksson (SWE),
Alina Devecerski (SWE) // Electro
pop. Korjaamo Culture Factory,
Töölönkatu 51 B. Tickets ?13/15.
www.korjaamo.fi
31 Jan. Valtter Vin, Sofa Pets,
Faenimal Arm // Pop. Semifinal, Urho
Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets ?6.50.
www.semifinal.fi
31 Jan. Bikers Night at Bar Loose
// Crossfyre, Texas Oil. Bar Loose,
Annankatu 21. Tickets ?11.50.
www.barloose.com
5 Feb. Mark Olson (USA) // Folk/
Americana.
Kuudes
Linja,
Hämeentie 13. Tickets ?12.50.
www.kuudeslinja.com
5 Feb. Kasperi Sarikoski Quartet // Jazz.
Koko Jazz Club, Hämeentie 3. Tickets
?11.50/16.50. www.kokojazz.fi
5 Feb. Kakkmaddafakka (NOR)
// Indie rock. Tavastia, Urho
Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets ?17.50.
www.tavastiaklubi.fi
6 Feb. Mokoma // Metal. Tavastia,
Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets
?18. www.tavastiaklubi.fi
6 Feb. araabMUZIK (USA) // Hip-hop.
Ääniwalli, Pälkäneentie 13. Tickets
?23. www.facebook.com/Aaniwalli
7 Feb. Modern Pets (GER) // Garage
punk. Bar Loose, Annankatu 21.
Tickets ?8.50. www.barloose.com
7 Feb. Manna + Aino Venna // Pop.
Tavastia, Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6.
Tickets ?14.50. www.tavastiaklubi.fi
7 Feb. Spark, Sons Of Suns // Pop/
rock. Semifinal, Urho Kekkosen katu
4-6. Tickets ?7.50. www.semifinal.fi
7 Feb. Arcturus (NOR) // Metal.
Nosturi, Telakkakatu 8. Tickets
?31.50. www.elmu.fi
7 Feb. Club Blow Up That Gramophone //
Callisto. Kuudes Linja, Hämeentie 13.
Tickets ?13.50. www.kuudeslinja.com
10 Feb. Yung Lean & Sad Boys (SWE)
// Rap. Tavastia, Urho Kekkosen katu
4-6. Tickets ?20. www.tavastiaklubi.fi
10 Feb. Earth (USA) // Experimental
metal/post rock. Kuudes Linja,
Hämeentie 13. Tickets ?25.
www.kuudeslinja.com
11 Feb. Ólöf Arnalds (ISL) // Singer
and multi-instrumentalist. Kuudes
Linja, Hämeentie 13. Tickets ?8.50.
www.kuudeslinja.com
11 Feb. Gramma, Superfall // Rock.
Semifinal, Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6.
Tickets ?6.50. www.semifinal.fi
12 Feb. Nisennenmondai (JPN) //
Instrumental. Kuudes Linja, Hämeentie
13. Tickets ?22. www.kuudeslinja.com
12 Feb. Naomi Punk (USA) // Punk.
Semifinal, Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6.
Tickets ?9.50. www.semifinal.fi
12 Feb. Markus Niittynen Quartet // Jazz.
Koko Jazz Club, Hämeentie 3. Tickets
?11.50/16.50. www.kokojazz.fi
13 Feb. At The Hollow // Rock.
Tavastia, Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6.
Tickets ?8.50. www.tavastiaklubi.fi
13 Feb. Samat Nimet // Pop. Korjaamo
Culture Factory, Töölönkatu 51 B.
Tickets ?9.50. www.korjaamo.fi
13 Feb. Paquito D?Rivera & UMO
// Cuban-American clarinetist,
saxophonist,
composer
and
conductor.
Savoy
Theatre,
Kasarmikatu
46-48.
Tickets
?32.50/38.50. www.savoyteatteri.fi
13 Feb. Mardi Gras Carneval // Império
Uupi Tirronen
Light egg by ACT Lighting
Design and Odeaubois.
3-8 Feb. Side Step Festival 2015 // Zodiak - Center for New Dance, Tallberginkatu 1B.
Tickets ?15/25/40. www.zodiak.fi
Side Step Festival 2015
Side Step, the annual contemporary dance festival will be taking place between 3 and 8 February
at Zodiak ? Center for New Dance at the Cable
Factory. This year, the festival brings on stage impressive creatures from bizarre birds of paradise
to clowns of death.
The pieces in the festival programme explore
large, universal themes. The programme depicts
human beings and inner worlds, reflecting weirdness and the unknown. It celebrates the wonder
and uniqueness of life but also death and the
other sides of reality.
do Papagaio, Reine Rimón & Her
Hot Papas. Storyville, Museokatu
8. Tickets ?16.50. www.storyville.fi
13 Feb. Renegades of Rhythm: Dj
Shadow & Cut Chemist play Afrika
Bambaataa // Ääniwalli, Pälkäneentie
13. Tickets ?22/26. www.facebook.
com/Aaniwalli
14 Feb. Melrose // Rock. Tavastia,
Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets
?19. www.tavastiaklubi.fi
14 Feb. Reggae Snowsplash 2015 //
Bitty McLean (UK), Aurora & Band,
Safari Sound (SWE), Solid Unruly
(SWE). Pressa, Antinkatu 2. Tickets
?21. www.pressa.fi
18 Feb. Octopus Syng, Soft Power
// Folk rock/pop. Semifinal, Urho
Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets ?6.50.
www.semifinal.fi
18 Feb. H.E.A.T. (SWE) // Hard rock.
Tavastia, Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6.
Tickets ?27. www.tavastiaklubi.fi
19
Feb.
Kannaste-ViinikainenRiippa // Jazz. Koko Jazz Club,
Hämeentie 3. Tickets ?11.50/16.50.
www.kokojazz.fi
19 & 21 Feb. The Ukulele Orchestra
of Great Britain // Savoy Theatre,
Kasarmikatu 46-48. Tickets ?38.
www.savoyteatteri.fi
20 Feb. Mirel Wagner // ?Silent gig?.
Nosturi, Telakkakatu 8. Tickets
?13.50. www.elmu.fi
20 Feb. Risto, Teksti-TV 666 // On
The Rocks, Mikonkatu 15. Tickets
?11.50. www.ontherocks.fi
20 Feb. Anaal Nathrakh (UK) // Metal.
Tavastia, Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6.
Tickets ?22. www.tavastiaklubi.fi
20 Feb. Anette Olzon (SWE) //
Ex-Nightwish vocalist. Virgin Oil CO.,
Mannerheimintie 5. Tickets ?22.
www.virginoil.fi
20 & 21 Feb. Winter Wonderland 2015
// Unique wintery festival dedicated for
dance music. Helsingin Messukeskus,
Messuaukio 1. Tickets ?58-92. www.
thewinterwonderland.net
21 Feb. Ismo Alanko // Pop/rock.
Virgin Oil CO., Mannerheimintie 5.
Tickets ?23. www.virginoil.fi
23 Feb. Anneke Van Giersbergen &
Arjen Lucassen (NLD) // ?The Gentle
Storm? duo. Nosturi, Telakkakatu 8.
Tickets ?18. www.elmu.fi
25 Feb. Oddarrang // Cinematic
soundscapes.
Kuudes
Linja,
Hämeentie 13. Tickets ?12.
www.kuudeslinja.com
Among the cavalcade of interesting performances are Adrienn Hód´s Dawn with naked
human bodies opening up a landscape of
muscles, limbs and skin, Gob Squad´s Dancing About where a nightclub dance floor meets
ritual worship and expressive dance therapy,
and Paraíso ? Colecção Privada by Marlene
Monteiro Freitas.
During the festival week, the pop up bar Ihana
will be serving delicious drinks, coffee, tea and
snacks in the Zodiak foyer.
Theatre _ Dance
16-25 Jan. Cirko Aereo: Camping 3
// The third part of the acclaimed
Camping series by contemporary
circus group Circo Aereo. Cirko,
Kaasutehtaankatu
1.
Tickets
?17.50/27.50. www.cirko.fi
16-30 Jan. Don Quixote // Major
classical ballet choreographed
by Patrice Bart. Finnish National
Opera, Helsinginkatu 58. Tickets
?16-94.50. www.opera.fi
21-29 Jan. Jenni Kivelä: Kleine
Monster // A performance about
female monsters. Zodiak - Center
for New Dance, Tallberginkatu 1B.
Tickets ?15/23. www.zodiak.fi
21-30 Jan. Jyrki Karttunen: Jemina
? act as you?d know her // Exciting
blend of stand-up comedy, soft porn
cabaret and contemporary dance.
Helsinki City Theatre, Studio Elsa.
Ensi Linja 2. Tickets ?26. www.hkt.fi
23 Jan.-12 Feb. The Cunning
Little Vixen // Leo? Janá?ek´s
opera featuring a cast of animal
characters. Finnish National Opera,
Helsinginkatu 58. Tickets ?24118.50. www.opera.fi
3-8 Feb. Side Step Festival 2015
// Contemporary dance festival.
Zodiak - Center for New Dance,
Tallberginkatu
1B.
Tickets
?15/25/40. www.zodiak.fi
13, 14 & 25 Feb. Kullervo // The
tragic tale of Kullervo choreographed
by Tero Saarinen. Finnish National
Opera, Helsinginkatu 58. Tickets
?24-118.50. www.opera.fi
24 & 25 Feb. Tango Pasión: Sinfonía
de Tango // Tribute to Astor Piazzolla.
Savoy Theatre, Kasarmikatu 46-48.
Tickets ?41-56. www.savoyteatteri.fi
Exhibitions
Until 18 Jan. #snapshot // Photographs
taken by ordinary people, images
sourced from the internet, historic
snapshots and selfies as well as an
overview of the history of the selfie.
The Finnish Museum of Photography,
Tallberginkatu 1 G. Tickets ?0/6/8.
www.valokuvataiteenmuseo.fi
From 24 Jan. Helena Hietanen,
Jaakko Niemelä: Chaos & Beauty // A
show of light and shadow. Kunsthalle
Helsinki, Nervanderinkatu 3. Tickets
?0/7/10. www.taidehalli.fi
From 30 Jan. The Festival of Political
Photography // Event dedicated to
photographs and photographers
who want to make a difference in
the world through their work. The
Finnish Museum of Photography,
Tallberginkatu 1 G. Tickets ?0/5/8.
www.valokuvataiteenmuseo.fi
From 30 Jan. Postmodernism 19801995 // Postmodernism from a Finnish
perspective of the years 1980 ?
1995 in architecture, design, popular
culture and the arts. Design Museum,
Korkeavuorenkatu 23. Tickets
?0/5/8/10. www.designmuseum.fi
Until 1 Feb. Edward Munch - The
Dance of Life // Exhibition of
one of the major visual artists
in Northern Europe of the 20th
century. Didrichsen Art Museum,
Kuusilahdenkuja 1. Tickets ?0/8/13.
www. didrichsenmuseum.fi
From 4 Feb. Shared Cities //
Exhibition exploring the role of urban
space from a European perspective.
Museum of Finnish Architecture,
Kasarmikatu 24. Tickets ?0/3/6.
www.mfa.fi
From 6 Feb. Vilhelm Hammershøi:
Painter of Silence // One of the most
impressive Scandinavian painters.
Amos Anderson Art Museum,
Yrjönkatu 27. Tickets ?0/2/8/10.
www.amosanderson.fi
Until 15 Feb. Klaus Kopu: Epätoden
Valta // Wide oil paintings of intense
expression and color. Korjaamo
Galleria, Korjaamo Culture Factory,
Töölönkatu 51 B. www.korjaamo.fi
Until 22 Mar. Sibelius and the World
of Art // Exhibition explores the links
between the composer?s work and
the art scene of his time. Ateneum
Art Museum, Kaivokatu 2. Tickets
?0/10/12. www.ateneum.fi
The event listings in the Out&See
sections are based on the available information at the time of printing the issue. SixDegrees is not
responsible for possible changes,
mistakes, cancellations or lack of
information concerning the events
mentioned.
Out&See Turku
17
SixDegrees
Kasperi Teittinen
Music _ Clubs
16 Jan. Psykodrama à la Wienerschule
// Turku Philharmonics? 225th
anniversary year begins with
Schoenberg?s
Erwartung
and
Sibelius? Lemminkäinen. Concert
Hall, Aninkaistenkatu 9. Tickets
?21/16/9. www.tfo.fi
21 Jan. Freak Kitchen // Swedish
virtuoso progressive metal. Klubi,
Humalistonkatu 8. Tickets ?12.
www.klubi.net
29 Jan. Blues Brothers // Classic
movie turned into a musical has
been on tour for more than 20
years. Logomo, Köydenpunojankatu
14. Tickets ?57.50/52.50/47.50.
www.logomo.fi
29 Jan. Mirage for millennia to come
// Turku Philharmonic Orchestra?s
performance is named after one
of the evening?s highlights, Kaija
Saariaho?s
Mirage.
Concert
Hall, Aninkaistenkatu 9. Tickets
?21/16/9. www.tfo.fi
30 Jan. K-X-P // Finnish electronic
rock band has been widely praised
by indie music lovers. Dynamo,
Linnankatu 7. Tickets ?10.
www.dynamoklubi.com
30 Jan. Steve?n?Seagulls // Finnish
band plays bluegrass versions of
classic heavy rock tunes. Klubi,
Humalistonkatu 8. Tickets ?12.
www.klubi.net
30 Jan. Mauro Negri Quartet //
Modern clarinet jazz from Italy.
Monk, Humalistonkatu 3. Tickets
?10/8. www.monk.fi
2 Feb. Soile Isokoski // Worldclass soprano sings Bach?s arias.
Turku Cathedral, Tuomiokirkonkatu
1. Tickets ?37.50/27.50/22.50.
www.turkumusicfestival.fi
6 Feb. Kakkmaddafakka // Oddly
named Norwegian indie rockers mix
influences from various pop music
genres. Klubi, Humalistonkatu 8.
Tickets ?13. www.klubi.net
13 Feb. Ostrobothnia Jazz Sextet
plays Piazzolla // A crossover of
tango and jazz. Café Tiljan,
Eerikinkatu 13. Tickets ?15/10.
www.abosvenskateater.fi
15 Feb. Amaranthe // Swedish-Danish
power metal band features three lead
vocalists. Klubi, Humalistonkatu 8.
Tickets ?20. www.klubi.net
25 Feb. Soen // International
progressive metal supergroup. Klubi,
Humalistonkatu 8. Tickets ?16.50.
www.klubi.net
Others
Petri Viitala
24-25 Jan. Top Dog Show //
International all breed dog show.
Turku Fair and Congress Center,
Messukentänkatu
9-13.
See
more info on ticket prices at
w w w.showlink.fi / showlink /
topdogshow15.
5-8 Feb. Disney On Ice // A total
of seven shows filled with classic
stories and recent Disney tales.
HK Areena, Artukaistentie 8.
See more info on ticket prices at
www.hkareena.fi.
Theatre _ Dance
18 Jan. Swan Lake // Tschaikovsky?s
masterpiece is performed by St
Petersburg Festival Ballet. Logomo,
Köydenpunojankatu 14. Tickets
? 6 2 . 5 0 / 5 2 . 5 0 / 3 7. 5 0 / 3 2 . 5 0 .
www.logomo.fi
From 23 Jan. Ellen Thesleff // One of
the leading Finnish early modernists.
Turku Art Museum, Aurakatu 26.
Tickets ?8/5. www.turuntaidemuseo.fi
From 13 Feb. Annu Vertanen // Finnish
artist is best known for her original
large woodcuts. Ars Nova, Itäinen
Rantakatu 4-6. Tickets ?8/7/5.50.
www.aboavetusarsnova.fi
Exhibitions
17 Jan. Ipanahipat Children?s Festival
// Workshops, circus, theatre, music
and all kinds of things for kids.
Logomo, Köydenpunojankatu 14.
Tickets ?9.50. www.logomo.fi
17-18 Jan. Antique Fair // Traditional
biannual collectors? event. Turku
VPK house, Eskelinkatu 5. Tickets
?8.
The event listings in the
Out&See
based
sections
on
the
are
available
infor mation at the time
of printing the issue. SixDegrees is not responsi-
14-17 Jan. For further details see www.turkubandfestival.fi
ble for possible changes,
mistakes,
cancellations
or lack of infor mation concer ning the events mentioned.
Turku Band Festival
If you are unfamiliar with the Turku music scene and want to know what kinds of bands are springing
up from the local rehearsal spaces, then Turku Band Festival is certainly the event for you. Four days
full of gigs, both in the city?s most popular venues like Klubi and Dynamo and in smaller joints like
Sointu and Kirjakahvila ? covering a variety of genres including folk, punk, experimental electronic
music and metal. Most concerts are admission free and entry fees are low for the rest.
SET YOUR SIGHT
ON AN INTERNATIONAL
CAREER?
The applicaTion period
7?27 January 2015
Apply for an English taught Degree Programme
at Turku University of Applied Sciences
Bachelor of Business administration
International Business
(part-time studies)
Bachelor of Business administration
International Business
Bachelor of engineering
Information Technology
Bachelor of health care
Nursing
Master of Business administration
International Business Management
Master of culture and arts
Leadership and Service Design
MORE INfORMATION:
www.tuas.fi
www.tuas.fi
18
Issue 1 2015
Out&See Oulu
Out&See Tampere
By James O?Sullivan
By Jutta Vetter
Music _ Clubs
23 Jan. Paleface // Local rap hero.
Club 45 Special, Saaristonkatu
12.
Tickets
?14.50 /12.
www.45special.com
29 Jan. Honningbarna (NO) //
Punk rock from Norway. Club 45
Special, Saaristonkatu 12. Tickets
?12.50/10. www.45special.com
13-14 Feb. CMX // Rock legends. Club
45 Special, Saaristonkatu 12. Tickets
?22.50/20. www.45special.com
23 Jan. Juju // Local rapper. Club 45
Special, Saaristonkatu 12. Tickets
?14/12. www.45special.com
17 Jan. To/Die/For + support //
Nuclear Nightclub, Uusikatu 23.
Tickets ?8. www.nuclear.fi
29 Jan. Callisto // Post metal. Nuclear
Nightclub, Uusikatu 23. Tickets ?10.
www.nuclear.fi
16 Feb. Heidi Pakarinen &
Karavaani // Nightclub Tähti,
Pakkahuoneenkatu 19. Tickets ?13.
www.nightclubtahti.fi
17 Jan. Ässät // Nightclub Tähti,
Pakkahuoneenkatu 19. Tickets ?13.
www.nightclubtahti.fi
23 Jan. Yölintu // Nightclub Tähti,
Pakkahuoneenkatu 19. Tickets ?14.
www.nightclubtahti.fi
24 Jan. Marko Maunuksela & Fantasia
// Iskelmä and dance. Nightclub
Tähti,
Pakkahuoneenkatu
19.
Tickets ?14. www.nightclubtahti.fi
30 Jan. Mikko Mäkeläinen &
Myrskylyhty // Iskelmä. Nightclub
Tähti,
Pakkahuoneenkatu
19.
Tickets ?14. www.nightclubtahti.fi
31 Jan. Tomi Markkola & Fernet //
Nightclub Tähti, Pakkahuoneenkatu
19. Tickets ?14. www.nightclubtahti.fi
6 Feb. Janne Tulkki & Tulinen Sydän
// Nightclub Tähti, Pakkahuoneenkatu
19. Tickets ?14. www.nightclubtahti.fi
7 Feb. Charles Plogman & Rosette //
Nightclub Tähti, Pakkahuoneenkatu
19. Tickets ?15. www.nightclubtahti.fi
14 Feb. Elonkerjuu // Nightclub Tähti,
Pakkahuoneenkatu 19. Tickets ?15.
www.nightclubtahti.fi
Exhibitions
Until 29 Jan. Annuli Viherjuuren
//
Paintings.
Neliö-galleria,
Asemakatu 37. Free Entrance.
www.neliogalleria.com
Opens 1 Feb. Huumorinkukkia,
maalauksia ja veistoksia // Sergei
Arhipov, Erkka Auermaa, Raimo
Jaatinen, Rauni Koivisto, Sonja
Lehto, Kikka Nyren, Lea Pihkala,
Susanna Sinivirta. Neliö-galleria,
Asemakatu 37. Free Entrance. www.
neliogalleria.com
17 Jan ? 22 Feb. Marjo Hyttinen:
Traces // Photo exhibition. Northern
Jaani Kivinen (KaihoRepublic)
20 Feb. Nightclub Tähti, Pakkahuoneenkatu 19. Tickets
?17. www.nightclubtahti.fi
Tuure Kilpeläinen
Originally from Uusikaupunki, this musician and singer-songwriter goes continues going from strength to strength.
During his career he has collaborated with a number of artists
including the likes of Anna Puu, Vesa-Matti Loiri, Kari Tapio and
Johanna Kurkela.
Elsewhere, teaming up with Kaihon Karavaani, their album Afrikan
tähti reached the number 2 position on the Finnish Albums Chart.
Photography Center. Hallituskatu 5,
Oulu. www.photonorth.fi
Teuvo Pakkalankatu 11. Tickets
?7.50-21. www.oulunkarpat.fi
17 Jan ? 22 Feb. Minna Pöllänen: Nature
Trail // Photo exhibition. Northern
Photography Center. Hallituskatu 5,
Oulu. www.photonorth.fi
Opens 24 Jan. Checkpoint Leonardo //
Oulu Museum of Art, Kasarmitie 7.
Tickets ?4-6. www.ouka.fi/taidemuseo/
Until 1 Feb. Aino Tervo & Ilkka
Palosaari: ?Vapaudesta? // Paintings.
Galleria 5, Hallituskatu 5. Free
Entrance. http://galleria5.artoulu.fi
4-22 Feb. Eila Kinnunen: ?Päivä ja yö?
// Paintings. Galleria 5, Hallituskatu 5.
Free Entrance. http://galleria5.artoulu.fi
23 Jan. Kärpät ? HPK// National Ice
Hockey League. Oulu Energia Areena,
Teuvo Pakkalankatu 11. Tickets
?7.50-21. www.oulunkarpat.fi
27 Jan. Kärpät ? Ilves // National Ice
Hockey League. Oulu Energia Areena,
Teuvo Pakkalankatu 11. Tickets
?7.50-21. www.oulunkarpat.fi
30 Jan. Kärpät ? Sport // National Ice
Hockey League. Oulu Energia Areena,
Teuvo Pakkalankatu 11. Tickets
?7.50-21. www.oulunkarpat.fi
10 Feb. Kärpät ? Lukko // National Ice
Hockey League. Oulu Energia Areena,
Teuvo Pakkalankatu 11. Tickets
?7.50-21. www.oulunkarpat.fi
13 Feb. Kärpät ? Tappara // National
Ice Hockey League. Oulu Energia
Areena, Teuvo Pakkalankatu 11.
Tickets ?7.50-21. www.oulunkarpat.fi
Sports
17 Jan. Kärpät ? TPS // National Ice
Hockey League. Oulu Energia Areena,
Out&See Jyväskylä
Music _ Clubs
21 Jan. Jyväskylä Sinfonia: Sallinen
80 years // Jyväskylä City Theatre,
Vapaudenkatu 36. Tickets ?
26/24/12. www.jyvaskylasinfonia.fi/
23 Jan. Freak Kitchen (SWE),
Rebelhead // Gothenburg metal.
Lutakko, Schaumaninkatu 3. Tickets
?10/8. www.jelmu.net
23 Jan. flamencokitaraduo Toni
Jokiniitty & Jari Lehtonen // Poppari,
Puistokatu 2-4. Tickets ?8/5.
www.jazz-bar.com
27 Jan. Kimmo Pohjonen & Eric
Echampard (FIN/FRA) // Improvised
sounds
onstage.
Lutakko,
Schaumaninkatu 3. Tickets ?16/14.
www.jelmu.net
28 Jan. Jyväskylä Sinfonia?s
musicians: Damsel of the Forest - A
musical fairy tale // Jyväskylä City
Theatre, Vapaudenkatu 36. Tickets
?10/8. www.jyvaskylasinfonia.fi/
30-31 Jan. Garagefest 2015
// Alternative music festival,
shared with Joensuu. Lutakko,
Schaumaninkatu 3. Tickets ?10-18.
www.jelmu.net
4 Feb. Jyväskylä Sinfonia: Orient
Express // Jyväskylä City Theatre,
Vapaudenkatu
36.
Tickets
?26/24/12. www.jyvaskylasinfonia.fi/
6 Feb. Brother Firetribe, Even
Steven // Local rockers. Lutakko,
Schaumaninkatu 3. Tickets ?12/10.
www.jelmu.net
9 Feb. Sólstafir (ISL), Jess And The
Ancient Ones // Icelandic metal.
Lutakko, Schaumaninkatu 3. Tickets
?22/21. www.jelmu.net
11
Feb.
Jyväskylä
Sinfonia:
Winds of change // Jyväskylä City
Theatre, Vapaudenkatu 36. Tickets
?26/24/12. www.jyvaskylasinfonia.fi/
12 Feb. Amaranthe (SWE), Cypher16
(UK) // Swedish metal. Lutakko,
Schaumaninkatu 3. Tickets ?20/17.
www.jelmu.net
12 Feb. Pauli Hanhiniemen Melko
Akustinen Duo (MAD) // Rock.
Poppari, Puistokatu 2-4. Tickets
?12/10. www.jazz-bar.com
18-19 Feb. Jyväskylä Sinfonia: The
Brave and the Strong - A Night of
Movie Heroes // Cinematic sounds.
Jyväskylä City Theatre, Vapaudenkatu
36. Tickets ?26/24/12. www.
jyvaskylasinfonia.fi/
19 Feb. Elektro GT Jazzliiton kiertue
(Keitele Jazz) // Poppari, Puistokatu
2-4. Tickets ?10/8. www.jazz-bar.com
19 Feb. Anaal Nathrakh (UK) //
British extreme metal. Lutakko,
Schaumaninkatu 3. Tickets ?18/16.
www.jelmu.net
Exhibitions
Until 28 Jan. Saskiat stipendinäyttely:
Music _ Clubs
16 Jan. Klub Tidsmaskin 1958 //
Music by DJ Antti. Gastropub Soho,
Otavalankatu 10. Free entry. www.
gastropub.net/soho/index.php
16 Jan. Tampere Drum&Bass
Convention // With DJs Infekto,
Wispy, Esc, NoComply, Balttikoira &
Retrome. Klubi, Tullikamarin aukio 2.
Tickets ?5. www.klubi.net
17 Jan. Pub Disco // Music by DJ
Jere Dangerous. Gastropub Soho,
Otavalankatu 10. Free entry. www.
gastropub.net/soho/index.php
17 Jan. Hang the DJ // Music by DJs
Antti H & Sami, plus guest VJ. Klubi,
Tullikamarin aukio 2. Tickets ?6.
www.klubi.net
17 Jan. Jussi Selo & Badding Band
// Doors open at 22:00, showtime
at 22:30. Yo-talo, Kauppakatu 10.
Tickets ?10. www.yo-talo.com
21 Jan. The Fisk // Support by
Idiomatic. Klubi, Tullikamarin aukio
2. Tickets ?6. www.klubi.net
23 Jan. Sub Soho // Music by
DJs Lassi & Tuomas. Gastropub
Soho, Otavalankatu 10. Free entry.
www.gastropub.net/soho/index.php
24 Jan. Voltti Reggae Night //
Music by Cstar & Jahvice, and DJs
Vilhelm & Voltti Selectors. Klubi,
Tullikamarin aukio 2. Tickets ?7.
www.klubi.net
24 Jan. Wester Coates // Music by
DJ Special K & Migulord. Gastropub
Soho, Otavalankatu 10. Free entry.
www.gastropub.net/soho/index.php
29 Jan. Irina Björklund // La vie est
une fête -concert. Tampere Hall
(Main Auditorium), Yliopistonkatu
55. Tickets starting from ?30.
www.tampere-talo.fi
31 Jan. Take It Back (extended
edition) // Music by DJs EC &
Extra Stout. Gastropub Soho,
Otavalankatu 10. Free entry.
www.gastropub.net/soho/index.php
5 Feb. Erja Lyytinen // The Queen
of the Slide Guitar. Tampere Hall
(Small Auditorium), Yliopistonkatu
55. Tickets starting from ?24/29.
www.tampere-talo.fi
6-7 Feb. Valoa Festival // Supported
by Bassoradio. Various venues
all around the city. For further
information on programme and ticket
prices, see www.valoafestival.fi
12 Feb. Stam1na // Con Amore
2015 tour, showtime at 22:00.
Klubi, Tullikamarin aukio 2. Tickets
?18/22. www.klubi.net
13 Feb. Scandinavian Music Group
// Doors open at 22:00, showtime
at 22:30. Yo-talo, Kauppakatu 10.
Tickets ?18/20. www.yo-talo.com
14 Feb. Jarkko Ahola & Erik
Walkama Band // Doors open at
22:00, showtime at 22:30. Yo-talo,
Tampere talo
30 Jan. Tampere Hall (Park Hall), Yliopistonkatu 55. Tickets starting from
?24/29. www.tampere-talo.fi
The Paladins
Straight from San Diego, California, The Paladins are an American
roots rock & rockabilly band founded in the early 1980s. Especially lead guitar player Dave Gonzales and his top-notch guitar
playing skills are often considered to be pioneering in his genre.
The Paladins have visited Finland three times before, but more
than a decade ago. And now they are back! Their music can best
be described as West Coast Jump Blues or Memphis Rockabilly, but
above all, it is skilful blues and sizzling rock crossing all genre lines.
This is a party that should not be missed! Doors open at 8 pm,
with an ultimate dance show by Swing Team at 8:30 pm, hot live
music by Mr. Breathless at 9 pm and The Paladins on stage starting from 10 pm. The party continues until 1:30 am. So, put your
glad rags on and dance the night away!
Kauppakatu 10.
www.yo-talo.com
Tickets
?12.
Irish Bar O?Connell?s, Rautatienkatu
24. Free entry. www.oconnells.fi
16 Feb. Iskelmä Gaala 2015 // Tenth
anniversary of the Finnish music gala.
Performers include names such as Olli
Lindholm, Juha Tapio, Janna, Jonne
Aaron, Virve Rosti, Pauli Hanhiniemi,
Pate Mustajärvi and Stina Girs.
Tampere Hall (Main Auditorium),
Yliopistonkatu 55. Tickets starting
from ?50/54. www.tampere-talo.fi
20 Feb. The Ukulele Orchestra
of Great Britain // Rock and pop
classics performed on ukulele, with
a delicate touch of British humour.
Tampere Hall (Main Auditorium),
Yliopistonkatu 55. Tickets starting
from ?29/35. www.tampere-talo.fi
21 Feb. Mirel Wagner // Support by
Viitasen Piia. Klubi, Tullikamarin aukio
2. Tickets ?10/12. www.klubi.net
Until May 2015 Evita // The legendary
musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and
Tim Rice now on stage in Tampere!
TTT-Theatre, Hämeenpuisto 28-32.
For detailed information on show
times and ticket prices, please see
www.ttt-teatteri.fi
Theatre _ Dance
15 Jan. & 19 Feb. Comedy O?Connell?s
// Stand up comedy in English,
starting at 20:00. Irish Bar
O?Connell?s, Rautatienkatu 24. Free
entry. www.oconnells.fi
5 Feb. JadaJada Improv // Improv
show in English, starting at 20:00.
Exhibitions
Until 21 Jan. Marika Mäkelä //
Expressive and colourful art work.
Sara Hildén Art Museum, Laiturikatu
13 (Särkänniemi). Tickets ?3/4/6/8.
www.tampere.fi/english/sarahilden/
exhibition.html
Others
17, 25, 31 Jan. Breakfast Club // A tasty
breakfast buffet served with cool DJ
music. Klubi, Tullikamarin aukio 2.
Tickets ?10.50. www.klubi.net
7-8 Feb. Wedding Fair // A definite
must for all brides and grooms to
be. Tampere Hall, Yliopistonkatu
55. Tickets ?12. www.tampere-talo.
fi, www.tampereenhaamessut.com
By James O?Sullivan
Tobias Fischer
Anna-Liisa Hakkarainen & Maarit
Siltamäki: Jostain kaukaa, jostain
läheltä // Exhibition. Galleria Becker,
Seminaarinkatu 28. Free entry.
www.jkltaiteilijaseura.net/galleria.
htm
15 Jan. ? 8 Feb. Nobuyuki Kobayashi:
Portrait of Nature?Myriads of Gods
// Exhibition. Galleria Ratamo,
Veturitallintie 6. Free entry.
www.jyvaskyla.fi/ratamo
From 31 Jan. Heidi Hänninen
// Exhibition. Galleria Becker,
Seminaarinkatu 28. Free entry.
www.jkltaiteilijaseura.net/galleria.
htm
From 12 Feb. Antti Nieminen (1924?
2007) // Exhibition. Galleria Ratamo,
Veturitallintie 6. Free entry. www.
jyvaskyla.fi/ratamo
Until 19 Apr. Soda and circuses
? glass art // Exhibition. Craft
Museum of Finland, Kauppakatu 25.
www.craftmuseum.fi/
Sports
16 Jan. JYP ? Tappara // National Ice
hockey League. Synergia Areena,
Rautpohjankatu 10. Tickets ?6.5034.50. www.jypliiga.fi
20 Jan. JYP ? SaiPa // National Ice
hockey League. Synergia Areena,
Rautpohjankatu 10. Tickets ?6.5036.50. www.jypliiga.fi
14 Feb. JYP ? Kärpät // National Ice
hockey League. Synergia Areena,
Rautpohjankatu 10. Tickets ?6.5034.50. www.jypliiga.fi
20 Feb. JYP ? Ässät // National Ice
hockey League. Synergia Areena,
Rautpohjankatu 10. Tickets ?6.5034.50. www.jypliiga.fi
24 Feb. JYP ? Pelicans // National
Ice hockey League. Synergia Areena,
Rautpohjankatu 10. Tickets ?6.5034.50. www.jypliiga.fi
Others
29-31 Jan. BeatCon Music & Games
Festival // Festival combining
the best in game developing
and music. Jyväskylän Paviljonki,
Lutakonaukio 12. Tickets TBA. www.
beatmusentertainment.me/beatcon/
30 Jan. Trotting race // Killeri
Equestrian Centre, Vesangantie 24.
Free entrance. www.killeri.fi
2 Feb. Trotting race // Killeri
Equestrian Centre, Vesangantie 24.
Free entrance. www.killeri.fi
The event listings in the Out&See sections are based on the available information at the time of printing the issue.
SixDegrees is not responsible for possible changes, mistakes, cancellations or
lack of infor mation concer ning the events
mentioned.
26 Feb. Lutakko, Schaumaninkatu 3. Tickets ?15/13. www.jelmu.net
Soen (SWE/USA)
Once again proving the attraction of the supergroup, metal
quartet Soen offer a diverse take on modern metal. Bringing
together the talents of former Opeth drummer Martin Lopez,
ex-Death, Testament and Sadus bassist Steve DiGiorgio, Willowtree vocalist Joel Ekelöf and guitarist Kim Platbarzdis, the
band has been touted as the thinking man?s metal.
The quartet dropped their debut effort Cognitive in 2012. Their
most recent album arrived late last year, in the shape of Tellurian. Set against a backdrop of often pummelling heavy metal
Ekelöf?s vocals miraculously manage to remain grounded, subdued even at times. Resisting the urge to launch into metal
histrionics, or growl a metallic roar, the band is left with an
often fascinating contrast in styles.
FINLAND IN THE WO
HELSINKI TIMES
coMpiLEd By piLAr d
HERITAGEDAILy. 16 MAy
world!
Evidence of Viking
settlement on the
Åland Islands
intriguing finds from
the Late Iron Age have been
found in Kvarnbo, Saltvik, on
the Åland Islands, within the
framework of a project led by
Dr Kristin Ilves.
The geographical position
of the Åland Islands (today
an autonomous, monolingually Swedish-speaking region of Finland) between
Sweden and Finland is highlighted in most of the few historical studies dealing with
the region?s Iron Age (500 BC1050 AD).
Finds, consisting mainly of
personal ornaments of silver
and bronze, were unearthed
in connection to what is believed to be the remains of a
40x12 m large building.
Overall, the results point
towards the existence of an
elite settlement at the site,
comparable to only a handful of places in the Baltic Sea
region...?
ALASKADISPATCH. 17 MAy
on the Baltic island of Gotland. The imaginary enemy is called simply ?Country
X? and is attacking from the
east. This year the Swedes
will be working with neighboring Finland on how to
counter such a threat, and it
will involve cooperation between air and sea defenses.
At the air defense batallion in Småland, Lt. Col. Fredrik Zetterberg says it is
no coincidence the exercise
is about defending the east
coast. He says the supreme
commander of the armed
forces, Sverker Göranson,
has said recently that events
in Ukraine show the situation in Europe can change
very quickly, although there
is no immediate threat to
Sweden...?
?NEW
Sweden
and Finland
in joint
defense
exercise
?MAJOR military exercises are
happening in Sweden, playing
out all week, with the scenario
of an attack from the east.
At the helicopter flotilla
in Linköping Lasse Jansson,
who is in charge of communications, says about 3,300
people are taking part. Most
of the participants are in
the south of the country and
Degree Programmes
starting in Autumn 2015
APPLICATION PERIOD:
7 - 27 January 2015
Whole grain wheat and rye bread are a go
XIHUANETNEWS. 16 May
Whole grai
risk of diab
?A RECENT doctoral research
conducted at the University of Eastern Finland showed
that whole grain rye and
wheat bread effectively reduces risk of type 2 diabetes.
STANDARDMEDIA. 18 MAy. JOSEPH
Renewable energ
?AMID soaring energy costs
and deficit, foreign pundits and
Kenyans living in diaspora met
to discuss alternative ways of
bridging energy needs in the
country. Meeting in Helsinki
under the caucus; ?Connect Af-
Moving to finland
as an immigrant in finland
Where to find work?
information about finnish or swedish
Bringing your family to finland
Housing
Health services in finland
education
problem situations
local information
Natu
inclu
hydr
poun
char
diffe
Media and Arts
Ba
co
liv
ne
?A G
Will
mar
THE
vantaa, kauniainen,
St
be
Mikkeli, Oulu,
rovaniemi
Energy and Environmental
Engineering
TIM
TAS
helsinki, espoo,
Turku, Tampere,
Bachelor of Culture and Arts
rica?
Univ
es (F
lead
stitu
invo
er re
?NO
Bachelor of Engineering
International Business
Bachelor of Business Administration
More information on
www.tamk.?
admissions@tamk.?
finland in your language
JulkaisiJa Helsingin kaupunki Publicerad av Helsingfors stad Published by tHe City of Helsinki
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a vi
clos
?The
en
ic co
two
ter o
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T
laun
sink
ister
Tuom
way
ber
relat
of th
730and
?F
shar
ests
High
Kevään yhteishaku
Hakeminen International
Business -koulutukseen 7.?27.1.2015
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am
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