Press release 19.6.2017
In addition to celebrating Finland's 100th birthday this year, Kaustinen is also celebrating the fact that the Folk Music Festival is now being held for the 50th time. The founder of the festival, Viljo S. Määttälä (1923-2016), is also worth celebrating.
The Kaustinen Folk Music Festival celebrates its centenary with a special issue of the Folk Music Magazine. ”The magazine deals with the festival and its history from a variety of angles,” says the editor of the special issue. Lauri Oino. ”Among others, Professor Emeritus Heikki Laitisen an essay on the history of the celebrations and memories of popular Kaustis celebrities. We also go behind the scenes to find out what the programme team does and what kind of recording takes place during the festival.”
The magazine's stories reflect the past and present in a fitting way, exploring for example the Romanian band Taraf de Haïdouks and the folk enthusiasts who were active at the first festival and are making a nostalgic return this year. This is how Heikki Laitinen sums up five decades of Kaustinen:
”Those decades have contained so much that it is not possible to sum it up in a few sentences. Everything has changed, and nothing has. The biggest change is probably that several generations have been born into a world where the Kaustinen celebration is taken for granted.”
The 52-page special issue (2B/2017) of Folk Music Magazine will be published on 19 June.
Pelimanni is also in a video game
The special magazine is complemented by a musical history, which can be enjoyed, for example, with a new publication by the Folk Music Institute, which presents the cornerstone of Kausti's pelican culture, the village bands.
The album features performances by Kaustinen village bands recorded at festivals from the early 1970s to the present day. The album has been compiled by VEurasian Curassow Ear and Mauno Järvelä.
Folk music history and nostalgia are also combined in the video game Pelimanni 8bit. The retro-inspired pelican adventure is a mobile platform game that pits young fiddle player Friiti against the master fiddler on his journey to becoming a master pelican. Friiti meets more skilled players than ever before and visits familiar festival landscapes. The game has been created by the Publications Officer of the Folk Music Institute Jimmy Träskelin and the music will be provided by a folk musician Antti Janka-Murros. Pelimanni 8bit is available on iOS and Android devices.
Celebrating Viljo S. Määttälä
The Kaustinen Folk Music Festival was founded by County Councillor Viljo S. Määttälä (1923-2016), who left his mark on the celebrations in many different ways. This year, a biography and a gala concert will be published in honour of the late Määttälä, who passed away last year.
”The idea is to make a concert that is multi-polar, upbeat and a little humorous,” says the person responsible for the planning of the concert. Kauppi Virkkala. ”The eulogies have been made, now it's time to celebrate!”
Viljo S. Määttälä was involved in many things: cultural policy, folk music policy, provincial policy, national education policy... In the field of music, he loved singing, singing was his way of expressing himself.
”The concert will of course include singing, including the Yölintu song, in which the audience can sing along.In the 1940s, Määttälä was active in a youth club, where he also had a band called Yölintu. We also want to highlight Toholampi, Määttälä's birthplace, and its talented performers.”
The concert will feature performances by the Toholamm Brass Band, Kaustinen Cantele, Ottoset and Tallari, among others. The Hääpelimannit and Purppuripelimannit will also be present, as they were Viljo S. Määttälä's trusted performers on many trips abroad.
”The Swedish players from Taalainmaa represent internationalism, and their playing was Määttälä's eternal love. He was also very much a man of the provinces, and at the festival he emphasised that there should be performers from all provinces. The people of South Ostrobothnia joined in from the very first festival, and in the gala concert they will be represented by Määttälä's trusted accompanist Risto Ala-Ikkelä in groups.”
The concert will culminate in a joint performance by the musicians, including the Kaustinen Wedding Choir and the Häälaulajat, a group of former wedding choir members.
”The founder of the festival could not have foreseen that the festival would be held for the 50th time,” says Kauppi Virkkala, who has participated in all the folk music festivals. ”But he was there until the last minute. Take good care of folk music, he urged in his last public appearance two years ago.”
Kaustinen Folk Music Festival also sees the publication of a new biography By speaking up for yourself. Viljo S. Määttälä as an influencer and networker. It must written by a post-doctoral researcher Pasi Saarimäki from the Department of History and Ethnology at the University of Jyväskylä, and the book is published by the Folk Music Institute.
”In Kaustinen the stones ring”, a gala concert in honour of the late Viljo S. Määttälä, Fri 14.7. at 12, Kaustinen hall.
For more information and interview requests:
Information Manager Tove Djupsjöbacka
p. 040-6585340
press(at)kaustinen.net