Elonkorjaajat Exhibition in Tammisaari

Olli Lyytikäinen: Flygande Hamlet ("Flying Hamlet", 1976)


Elonkorjaajat ("Harvesters") was an artist group who started in Helsinki in 1971. Inspired by the underground movement of the day, the members of Elonkorjaajat featured such people as Pekka Airaksinen, J.O. Mallander and Peter Widén who were also part of The Sperm, a controversial music and performance group. Elonkorjaajat -- whose artistic range encompassed conceptual art, earth art, installations, performance and media art -- ran in Helsinki a gallery called Cheap Thrills (the name inspired by a Frank Zappa record of the same name). Finnish Green movement had its origins in the activities of the vegetarian restaurant Kasvis, run by some Elokorjaajat members who, alongside conceptual art and underground music & culture, embraced such interests as Zen Buddhism and macrobiotic diet.

The works of Elonkorjaajat can now been seen at the summer exhibition (29 May - 13 September 2009) taking place in the Elverket gallery of Tammisaari; featuring Airaksinen, Carolus Enckell, Antero Kare, Philip von Knorring, Mallander, Carl-Erik Ström, Ilkka Juhani Takalo-Eskola, Erik Uddström, Widén and Stuart Wrede. Also Olli Lyytikäinen who died in 1987 is featured with one piece.

Exhibition reviews in Finnish:

Helsingin Sanomat

Turun Sanomat

Uusi Suomi

Elonkorjaajat info in Finnish:

Kisko-Seura

Mustekala.Info

Skenet

Video clips:

Olli Lyytikäinen @ Yle Elävä Arkisto

J.O. Mallander @ Yle Elävä Arkisto

See also:

FinnScene: The Early Years @ pHinnWeb

Pekka Pohjola: 'Dancing in the Dark' (1981)

I recently wrote here about the death of bassist and multi-instrumentalist Pekka Pohjola, one of best known Finnish musicians internationally. Now YLE Elävä Arkisto presents a video clip of his 'Dancing in the Dark', taped in February 1981. The line-up is: Pekka Pohjola (bass), Seppo Tyni (guitar), Pekka Tyni (keyboards), Ismo Kätkä (drums), Esa "Nätsi" Rosvall (percussion).

Pekka Pohjola: 'Dancing in the Dark' - video link & background info in Finnish

Wigwam, Eero Koivistoinen and Seija Simola in 1969

Wigwam feat. Seija Simola & Eero Koivistoinen: 'Birthday Day' (1969)


Wigwam feat. Seija Simola & Eero Koivistoinen: 'A Girl I Knew' (1969)



Seija Simola, 1969. Image © YLE.

See the videos also here:

Wigwam & Seija Simola: 'A Girl I Knew'

Wigwam & Seija Simola: 'Birthday Day'

Info in Finnish on Wigwam and Seija Simola:
http://yle.fi/elavaarkisto/?s=s&g=5&ag=72&t=764&a=6483

An archive discovery from December 1969: Wigwam and Eero Koivistoinen present with chanteuse Seija Simola two rock numbers in a psychedelic setting for a "Luola" ("Cave") section of a YLE TV show called Tunti ("Hour"). Wigwam provided in 1970 the music for a TV drama called Grottan, though they are not featured in the play itself.

Wigwam is presented here by the original members Ronnie Österberg (drums), Mats Huldén (bass) and Vladimir "Nikke" Nikamo (guitar); with additional members Tuomo Tanska (keyboards) and Eero Koivistoinen (saxophone), the latter having been in the line-up of Blues Section with Jim Pembroke and Österberg. Pembroke and Jukka Gustavson who both joined Wigwam in 1969 are not involved. Seija Simola was heard on Koivistoinen's seminal Valtakunta album of 1968.

The songs played by Wigwam here are originally from the repertoire of Denmark's Savage Rose; with Finnish translations provided by Juha "Watt" Vainio, though only one of the translations is heard. Other topics of this Tunti episode were the "pop report" and "today's politics" (something that would never happen in a contemporary pop music TV show). Also a Czech short film was seen. This Wigwam performance is the only known remaining videotape of the band, pre-1974. (Info provided by Jukka Lindfors/YLE Elävä Arkisto).

More by Wigwam:


Wigwam: 'Colossus' (1976)

DJ Limpun Musiikkipläjäys

Unfortunately she doesn't appear on DJ Limppu's mix

You can find here the most peculiar musical performances of YLE Elävä Arkisto (the video/audio clip archive of Finnish Broadcasting Company), lovingly compiled by DJ Limppu.

Instruments feature among all cowbell, typewriter, thinking machine and icehockey legend Raipe Helminen's air guitar. With such legendary performances as 'NMKY' by Gregorius, a male choir rendition by Aikamiehet of Maukka Perusjätkä's punk anthem 'Säpinää', an aria inspired by ex-Foreign Minister Ike Kanerva's amorous SNS messages, Finnish news anchors rocking, and more.

Erkki Kurenniemi: Electronics in the World of Tomorrow (1968)

Erkki Kurenniemi: Electronics in the World of Tomorrow (1968)

More Erkki Kurenniemi search results @ YouTube

Erkki Kurenniemi @ YLE Elävä Arkisto

Erkki Kurenniemi @ pHinnWeb

Maanalaista menoa - Finnish Underground 1967 - 1971

The notorious Mattijuhani Koponen performing with The Sperm, 1968

I missed the documentary series Maanalaista menoa (might translate as something like "Underground Happenings") on Finnish underground culture approximately during the years 1967-1971 (and beyond) when the digital channel YLE Teema showed it for the first time around last year, but gladly they now re-run it. You can also find the holy video and audio scrolls relating to the subject at YLE Elävä Arkisto archive:

http://www.yle.fi/elavaarkisto/?s=h&n=maanalaista+menoa&k=&m=

More:

FinnScene - The Early Years @ pHinnWeb

Pekka Airaksinen and Ponytail Albums on N&B Research Digest

From N&B Research Digest:

N&B Research Digest presents two new albums

Pekka Airaksinen (b. 1945) is best known as the musical mastermind behind the Finnish ultra-radical and scandalous performance group/proto-noise band The Sperm of the late 1960’s. During the new millenium he has also acquired international recognition as an early pioneer of electronic experimental music. On his new album "Mahagood" Airaksinen turns to his first musical loves – electronic music of the 1950’s and jazz – as sources for sampling. The result is an improvisatory collage in which his synthetic sound of recent years combines organically with layers of history.

You can listen to previews at:
http://www.nbresearchdigest.com/mahagood

Simultaneously N&B Research Digest re-releases the 2003 double-CD compilation "Madam I'm Adam" produced for Love Records as a download-only album. The compilation has one CD’s worth of Airaksinen’s work from 1968–2003 plus the same compositions remixed by Nurse With Wound (his first champion outside of Finland), Mira Calix, Philipp Quehenberger, Curd Duca, Simon Wickham-Smith, Es, Notchnoi Prospekt, Anton Nikkilä, and others. ”Madam I’m Adam delivers on its stated goals: a reasonably priced introduction to the history and continued influence of one of the underground’s most unique bodies of work.” (Jonathan Dean, Brainwashed, USA)

Ponytail aka Samuli Tanner is one of the bright young talents of Helsinki’s musical underground and is internationally probably best known as one half of the dubstep production team Clouds. Ponytail’s music could be called experimental dubstep or hip hop, but one that’s infused with a refined anti-musicianship and roughness that has similarities with Pekka Airaksinen's approach. In Ponytail’s case the resistance to commercial slickness originates in punk rock and Finnish agrarian folk music. Samuli spent most of his teens in punk groups, and he says that his music’s out-of-tuneness and wayward rhythms have first of all to do with punk spirit, but also the traditional ”pelimanni spirit” of Finnish folk music – Tanner’s family has spawned folk musicians for several generations. Charles Mingus and other jazz innovators of the past are sources of inspiration as well, and another trait shared with Pekka Airaksinen is the way both musicians borrow elements and sample liberally from an eclectic variety of electronic genres, but without paying dues to the conventions and meanings of the originals, which results in shockingly new and personal music.

Listen to previews of Ponytail's "Themes For Cops":

http://www.nbresearchdigest.com/themes

"Themes For Cops" and Pekka Airaksinen’s "Mahagood" are released as download-only albums by N&B Research Digest, but small CD-R print runs will be produced for the album launch concert held in Helsinki’s Lepakkomies club on June 10th. Other acts of the evening are Pasilian savut, whose live album will be released by NBRD in August, and DJ Anton Nikkilä.

More information:

http://www.nbresearchdigest.com

---

And:

N&B Research Digest järjestää Pekka Airaksisen ja Ponytailin uusien albumien julkaisukonsertin:
Release party for the new albums of Pekka Airaksinen and Ponytail:

Esiintyjät / Performers:
Pekka Airaksinen
Ponytail
Pasilian savut
DJ Anton Nikkilä

Liput 5 euroa / Tickets 5 euros

Tiistaina 10.6. klo 21 alkaen, ravintola Lepakkomies, Helsinginkatu 1 (”Piritorina” tunnetun Vaasanaukion laidalla, Sörnäisten metroaseman vieressä)
Tuesday 10 June, doors 9 pm, at Lepakkomies, Helsinginkatu 1, Helsinki (by Vaasanaukio, next to Sörnäinen tube station)

Pekka Airaksinen (s. 1945) tunnetaan suomalaisen 60-luvun undergroundin radikaaleimpiin ilmentymiin kuuluneen The Sperm -yhtyeen musiikillisena johtajana ja viime vuosina myös kansainvälistä tunnustusta saaneena kokeellisen musiikin pioneerina. Nyt julkaistava "Mahagood"-albumi aloittaa uuden vaiheen hänen urallaan. Airaksinen palaa ensimmäisten musiikillisten rakkauksiensa, jazzin ja 50-luvun elektronimusiikin pariin ja improvisoi niiden pohjalta kiihkeän sample-kollaasin, jossa hänen hänen 2000-luvun synteettinen saundinsa yhdistyy orgaanisesti historian kerroksiin. Airaksinen on viimeksi esiintynyt Helsingissä soolona vuoden 2003 Avanto-festivaalilla.

Näytteitä "Mahagoodilta" voi kuunnella osoitteessa: http://www.nbresearchdigest.com/mahagood

N&B Research Digest julkaisee samalla mp3-muodossa Love Recordsin kanssa yhteistyössä tuotetun "Madam I'm Adam" -kokoelma-tupla-CD:n, joka esittelee Airaksisen musiikkia vuosilta 1968–2003. Oleellinen osa Airaksisen ainutlaatuisesta tuotannosta, jonka harvinaisuuksia myydään nettihuutokaupoissa sadoilla euroilla, tulee näin ensi kertaa maailmanlaajuisesti saataville iTunesiin, Amazoniin ja muihin nettikauppoihin englantilaisen jakelufirma Diogenes Musicin kautta.

Ponytail eli Samuli Tanner (s. 1982) on Helsingin ”bassomusiikki”-skenen lupaavimpia nimiä: Tannerin ja Tommi Liikan dubstep-projekti Clouds on levyttänyt Englannissa ja Yhdysvalloissa ja keikkailee maailmalla. Hänen soolotuotantonsa, esimerkiksi nyt julkaistava Ponytailin nettialbumi "Themes For Cops", on kuitenkin ilmeisessä hengenheimolaissuhteessa Pekka Airaksisen rinnakkaismaailman kanssa. Jazz-klassikko Charles Mingusin diggailun ohella yhteistä näille tekijöille on häikäilemätön tapa käyttää elementtejä monista eri musiikinlajeista, kuten kokeellisesta hip hopista tai electronicasta (Ponytailin tapauksessa esimerkiksi Spectreltä tai Autechreltä) välittämättä vähääkään niihin alunperin liittyneistä konventioista ja merkityksistä, mistä on tuloksena täysin persoonallista ja shokeeraavan uutta musiikkia. Jos Airaksisella sävellysten kulmikkuus ja soiton hienostunut epämuusikkous ilmaisee 60-luvun undergroundin ylenkatsetta kaupallisesti sliipattua ilmaisua kohtaan, niin Ponytaililla ne ovat peräisin punkista ja suomalaisesta kansanmusiikista. Samuli on soittanut eniten juuri punkkia, ja hän sanoo, että Ponytailin epävireisyys ja rytminen holtittomuus on ennen kaikkea punk-henkeä. Toisaalta hän kutsuu sitä myös pelimannimeiningiksi, joka kulkee suvussa: Tannerit ovat useamman sukupolven ajan olleet kansanmuusikoita.

Näytteitä "Themes For Copsilta" voi kuunnella osoitteessa: http://www.nbresearchdigest.com/themes

"Themes For Cops" on Tannerin ensimmäinen laajempaan kansainväliseen levitykseen tarkoitettu soolotuotos. Sekä Pekka Airaksisen "Mahagood"-nettialbumista että "Themes for Copsista" teetetään julkaisukonserttia varten pieni CD-R-painos.

Tapahtuman kolmas esiintyjä, sykähdyttävänä livebändinä tunnettu Pasilian savut tuo ”grungejazzillaan” oman rock-näkökulmansa illan löyhästi muodostuneeseen teemaan. Yhteistä Airaksisen ja Ponytailin kanssa on paljonkin – omalakisuudesta, antimuusikko-asenteesta ja alleviivaamattomasta huumorista alkaen – mutta erojen löytäminen ja niistä riemuitseminen jääköön yleisön tehtäväksi. N&B Research Digest julkaisee elokuussa Pasilian savujen livealbumin.

Juhlakansaa viihdyttää lisäksi DJ Anton Nikkilä, joka pyörittää N&B Research Digestia yhdessä moskovalaisen Alexei Borisovin kanssa.

Lisätietoa:

http://www.nbresearchdigest.com

Pekka Airaksinen info @ Avanto

Pekka Airaksinen biography @ Dharmakustannus

Pekka Airaksinen @ Yle Elävä Arkisto

Pekka Airaksinen @ Wikipedia

Pekka Airaksinen @ Finnish Wikipedia

Some Pekka Airaksinen & Sperm info @ pHinnWeb: Early Years of Finnish Electronic & Avantgarde Scene

Helsinki Street Piece 1963 Video Clips @ YLE Elävä Arkisto

YLE Elävä Arkisto presents rare archive films from 1963 when happenings and performance art were brought to Finland by Terry Riley and Ken Dewey, invited by Henrik Otto Donner. Featuring footage of "Helsinki Street Piece" and "Pasila Piece":

http://yle.fi/elavaarkisto/?s=s&g=4&ag=26&t=606&a=5332

Happening — Event as Art @ Kiasma

FinnScene: The Early Years @ pHinnWeb

Also at YLE Elävä Arkisto:

Electronic music and related audio excerpts from the 1960s

Dipoli Art Event 1968

YLE Elävä Arkisto features some black & white video clips on Dipoli's art event in March 1968, which took place at Dipoli Conference Centre in Otaniemi, Espoo. Featuring underground culture of the day and performance art, the controversial "sex space", Swedish underground rock band Baby Grandmothers, and more.

http://www.yle.fi/elavaarkisto/?s=s&g=4&ag=30&t=&a=5262

Finnish Futu-Pop & Goth-Rock Video Clips of the Early 80s

Yle Elävä Arkisto has compiled some video clips of Finnish "futu" synthpop, goth-rock bands and clubs of the early 1980s, featuring such acts as Tyhjät Patterit ("Empty Batteries"; of which I've never heard before, I have to admit), Stressi, Jimi Sumén, Hefty Load, Musta Paraati and Helsinki's Bela Lugosi club:

http://www.yle.fi/elavaarkisto/?s=s&g=4&ag=26&t=446

More info @ pHinnWeb:

FinnScene: The Early Years - Synthpop

FinnScene: The Early Years

Finnish Computer Music from the 1960s

Here you can find video clips on the 1960s Finnish computer music, as presented by YLE Elävä Arkisto from the archives of Finnish Broadcasting Company.

Featuring a computer-written tango which even took the tangomeister Toivo Kärki by surprise and computer music from the universities of Turku and Tampere. Also such experts as Erkki Kurenniemi and Pertti Jotuni sharing their views on computer music.

[video clips] Sähkökvartetti & Those Lovely Hulahands

Sähkökvartetti in action

Those Lovely Hulahands

YLE, Finnish Broadcasting Company, runs these days on their Website a huge archive of old video and soundclips, spanning the last hundred years of news events, politics, culture, entertainment, education and popular culture in Finland and around the world from a Finnish point of view. Called Elävä Arkisto ("The Living Archive"), at the time of writing this, 2618 audiofiles and 2343 videofiles can be found there. (Unfortunately for you non-Finns, most of it is in Finnish language only.)

Some excerpts from Elävä Arkisto (thanks for the tip to Jukka Lindfors):

Sähkökvartetti ("The Electric Quartet") was a late-60s electronic instrument for multiple players, built by Erkki Kurenniemi, an undisputed pioneer of electronic music in Finland. During live performances Sähkökvartetti was operated by the underground luminaries Tommi Parko, Peter Widén and Arto Koskinen, and as the vocalist was the legendary M. A. Numminen. Sähkökvartetti appeared at an international youth festival in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1968, created quite a havoc with their sonic anarchy ill-fitting to the official agenda of Socialist youth culture, and were subsequently banned from the festival. There is in existence only one remaining Sähkökvartetti song, 'Kaukana väijyy ystäviä' ("Far away lurk friends"), which has been featured on various compilations and M.A. Numminen's retrospective albums. Elävä Arkisto has here Sähkökvartetti's only performance on TV and also M.A. Numminen reminiscing this project in an audio interview.

Also representing Finnish underground culture of the day, Those Lovely Hulahands were quite a different entity from Sähkökvartetti, an arty and deliberately naivistic quintet with aspiring hippie spirit; playing recorders, violins, acoustic guitars, bass, kazoo and so on. Consisting of Timo Aarniala (best known as the court artist of Finnish underground with several comic books, record sleeve illustrations etc.), Meri Vennamo, Anne-Maj Aarniala, Raisa Vennamo and Tuomas Korvenoja (the last three only 13 to 14 years old at the time), the Hulahands songs were often thematic pieces, deriving their inspiration from Francois Truffaut's Jules et Jim, Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan books and comics to Korean and Chinese flute tunes. Here is a video excerpt of Those Lovely Hulahands performing their "chamber music" in Munkkiniemi, Helsinki. (Those Lovely Hulahands were also featured on the 2006 compilation Psychedelic Phinland - Finnish Hippie & Underground Music 1967-1974.)

More 60s underground @ Elävä Arkisto

The Early Years of FinnScene @ pHinnWeb