Written by Susanna Salokannel
What do Kaustinen's fiftieth anniversary folk music festival and the mobile by train? Susanna Salokannel, the production assistant for the games programme, who started work in May, laughs and says they are the same thing!
Guess how busy the party organisers were in May? At least a hundred and forty miles an hour, and at that speed I jumped on board the moving train, the production team. It was quite a leap, but working remotely from my home office here in Tuusula has been no problem at all.
Many of the players and their ensembles are already familiar from years of organising the Sewer's Playing Band Championships. I have been working with and practising folk music for 20 years, and have been visiting Kaustinen regularly and irregularly since 1995. My latest foray is folk dance, which took me there almost eight years ago. At these parties I also get to perform on the dance floor. Helvi Jukaraisen choreographies. Keep your eyes peeled for the sauna dance on Saturday at the Arena!
Is this Salla Seppä or Susanna Salokannel?
Salla Seppä has been doing a long and good job at this party, so it's no wonder that gamers are amazed by the new sound on the phone. And sometimes I wonder myself what all these questions can even be answered! We work together as a good team, and we are currently answering the same email and the hot line of the players, the phone. Next week, I'll be orienting myself to my new role as coordinator of the pelaman office.
So far, my working life has been full of putting bands on the map. I've tried to take into account the wishes of the times and places, but they don't always coincide, and then I've tried to find the best possible solution. And I have become familiar with the rush - you can't go on forever about the fate of one band. Compromises have had to be made, and we hope that the players will not get angry. Getting more than 500 bands in the right place at the right time is like playing with a cue ball.
The handicap programme lives on for smaller stages. There are many changes in the printed programme. The registration jungle has turned into a braid, where a schedule change for one group of players affects many others. The pelican tetris continues right up to the lime-lines. The most up-to-date information can be found on the notice boards next to the stages, on the website and on the eventmore mobile app.
Since the pelimannas are the heart of this party, we at the pelimannas office do our best to make sure that everyone is happy and that the party is a joyful place for the musicians and dancers as well as the audience.
I know that some players have been upset by the lack of a name in the handbook. We did our best, and this particular spring, with all its challenges, we got there. We didn't intentionally drop anyone, but in the time window given, not everything went like the famous Strömsö. The fact that it goes to the heart of the matter tells us about our love of the matter itself, namely the music of the pelican. With or without the name, you make the party and we appreciate it very much!
Once again, the happiest days of the summer are upon us, and I hope you'll come and see me at the Pelican Office!
The author is a long-standing cultural producer and a keen consumer of folk music and dance. His main job is as an entrepreneur (www.komea.me) and currently also the Executive Director of the Karelian Youth League. You can meet the dialect-loving coordinator of the Pelimann Office in Kaustinen for three weeks on both sides of the festivities.