It seems that today I finally decided what is my next musical project. I've always liked the poetry of Edith Sodegran. She wrote her poems in Swedish - and she is very much appreciated in Sweden even today. (Well, well I'm not going to compose her songs in Swedish. I do have some very good translations...) Now is my time to compose some of her great poems to songs. Tahdet (=Stars) is a miraculous story of stars falling and getting shattered in ones backyard. Please be careful not to hurt your feet!!

(Juha H.)

Musaa ja kuvia

Earlier today I added two songs - Lumista (=Snowy) and Valon pilkahdus (= Flicker of Light) - here. Now one circle of my doings is complete and I can go on... I also added some photos here.

Juha H.

Lake Keitele at dawn. (Juha H.)

Lake Keitele at sunset. (Juha H.)

Ice Feasts. (Juha H.)

Melting ice eats everything. (Juha H.)

Feather. The ice cover of Lake Keitele still holds. But even a feather is falling through... Jori visited. We - Jori, an accordionist and I - began rehearsing for a coming concert for mixed choir and us as accompanists... (Juha H.)

Mussiikki pelastaa

Music saved me from sickness. Actually during the night fever left me. And today while still resting every now and then I listened to Telamann and Haydn. What a blessing and joy is their music. And of course the playing, creating of music with flute, domra and recorder... I'm very happy to be well again.

Antti Sarpila Swing Band performed in Suolahtisali today. It's their 25th Anniversary Tour. We, Sini and I, were there. Very joyous experience for both of us. The band played swing and dixieland jazz quite exclusively and very brilliantly. Sarpila is a wonderful woodwind player. But for me the main reason to be there were the Petrescu Brothers, Marian and Mihai. Marian is the most excelent jazz piano-player. And Mihai is absolutely wonderful basist. It's a joy to listen to them. This would have been all the good things needed. But there were also Johanna Iivanainen, Leroy Jones...

At the concert tonight I realized how strongly jazz is my spiritual home. Most of the swing jazz is relatively easy to play - if you just can improvise. ( And of course it is quite clear that before you can do that you have to have somehow suitably weird frame of mind which can touch something intouchable - where the artistic ideas, items, thoughts reside. Or actually you just have to let go...) Improvisation is very much the most important thing... And thus I think that anything, any music with improvisation involved - that's where my spiritual home is... - Earlier today while listenind to Telemann I remembered how much as a youngster I liked Vivaldi's Mandolini Concertos. Today remembering that was like coming home.

It seems that I'm pretty happy to be back.

Juha H.

Machine Men

Sini, Hanna-Maaria and Pirjo (Toni's mother) went to Lutakko, Jyvaskyla. Machine Men are playing there tonight. Unfortunately I'm still way too sick to attend. Fever keeps on holding me... How sad. I wish them good gigging.

Juha H.

Kuume

For sixteen years no fever but now it's got me. The temperature is not very high but this sickness makes so tired. I can't play neither flute nor domra or do anything else musically meaningful. Luckily though I have the strength enough to read...

Juha H.

Sleet falling. Most of the evening I played domra. So nice. The bad weather won't matter much. (Juha H.)

Domraa koko ilta

All evening I've played domra. Maybe a bit more and then to sleep. Within a few months I intend to learn to play it fluently... Is it merely a grandioso dream?

Juha H.

Sini on a bridge. And the snow is melting fast. (Juha H.)

Dog named Paavo visited us. (Juha H.)

Talvi

Most of the evening I worked with the mastering of one of my musical projects - Talvi (=Winter) is thus ready. No more comments... I'm pretty happy, actually quite joyous because of all this!

Machine Men are in Lahti - for their next gig.

Juha h..

While trekkin' today. (Juha H.)

Kirkasta iltaa

Nothing much. Bright and starry night outside.

Earlier today I recorded some tracks of percussions and an improvised line with tinwhistle for my composition Viimeisen talvi-illan jami (= Jam for the Last Winter's Evening). Only Sini's singing is still missing. Hopefully she'll do it tomorrow.

Juha H.

Talvisota

Finnish Winter War ended 13th of March 1940. So today is its memorial day. The war had begun 105 days before in the end of November 1939 when Soviet-Russia attacked Finland. But this little country prevailed against all odds. There were so many Russians and so few Finns. They had so overwhelming amount of guns, tanks, airplanes... Finns had no battle worthy tanks at all against more than 1000 (one thousand). And the weather was so cold. But luckily Finland came out of the turmoil pretty much alive.

Before the war in August 1939 Nazi-Germany and Communist-Russia had made a pact and divided Eastern-Europe into spheres of influence according to which Finland belonged to Russia. And only after a few weeks later - when this Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact had been signed - Germany invaded Poland. And only after a few weeks of this Russia invaded Poland, too. Thus not only Nazi-Germany but the Communist-Russia was part of why the hell of a war broke loose...

But after some horrendously tumultous years around the Globe the war ended. And luckily Finland did keep its independence.

Juha H.

Talvi-ilta

Warm weather keeps on melting the snow. And I keep on writing and recording my music. Keyboards and a couple of woodwinds are recorded for my composition Viimeisen talvi-illan jami (=Jam for the Last Winter's Evening). After this piece of music is ready and done I intend to go back to create something else - back to Ari Liimatainen's stories accompanied with Improvisages. This I've postponed for much too long...

Juha H.

Ulkoilua

Lots of trekking today. It's good to have a day - more or less - off every now and then. I didn't even have my camera with me. That was probably a bit stupid but that's the way things go sometimes...

Sini sang and I mixed and bounced to Disk my composition Lumi sulaa (=Snow's melting).

Juha H.

Lumi sulaa

Thaw seems to prevail - the snow is melting fast. This is ok. I wrote three compositions today and two of them are called Lumi sulaa (= Snow's Melting) - numbered 1. and 2. And Ive already recorded the number two of those snow-songs - with the exception of Sini's singing.

Quite right now Machine Men are beginning to play their gig in Seinajoki, Finland. I wish them good playing! Yesterday they did a gig in Kuopio. And today while travelling across the Finland Toni and J-V visited us - for sauna and dinner. That was nice. Them boys were in pretty good shape, though a bit tired after partying with their friends from East-Finland.

Juha H.

Toppatakki ja talvi loppuu...vai...

The weather has chanced alot - right now and in the middle of the night outside - the temperature is + 2 Celcius degrees. This is somewhat strange and not so ordinary... And the weather seems to get warmer and warmer... Well, the climate seems to chance ... I'm waiting for the Spring.

Earlier this evening I mixed and bounced to Disk my compodition Toppatakki (=Parka). Everything is ok... Music goes on.

Earlier this evening Sini and I watched the movie - War of the Worlds.

Juha H.

Toppatakki taas

Now I've recorded my composition Toppatakki (=Parka). Earlier this evening Sini sang it and the whole is almost mixed. Three-voiced melody, mixture of overtone and major scales. Though nothing complicated. Easy and relaxed music is so much easier to do - to play and record - than fast and furious complexities. Luckily overtone scale with not so conventional chord changes makes the composition not-so-easy listening music...

Juha H.

Tallinn, Estonia. (Juha H.)

Toppatakki

All evening I worked with my composition Toppatakki (=Parka). Most of it is done. I think that only flute, some percussions and Sini's singing are missing. Later this week I'll finish the whole though probably not tomorrow. There are already too many other obligations for the next few days.

Ari Liimatainen, Peeter Allik and Priit Pajos are having the opening of their Art Exhibition in Galleria Dix, Helsinki. Sini and I got the invitation but - alas - we could not go there. We live some 400 kilometers from Helsinki. And to go there and back just within a few hours would have been a bit too much time stretching.

Juha H.

Machine Men jatkaa

Yesterday I added here some photos taken at the Machine Men Concert in Aanekoski, Finland.

Today I played for 4-5 hours flute and domra. So nothing much.

Juha H.

Machine Men after the gig...

Machine Men immediately after their gig at Aanekoski, Finland. The band played excelently! Most of the material was from the new album, Circus of Fools. Shadow Gallery - LIVE version - was quite a positive surprise... But they did perform some older material, too. Apathy was wonderful.

In the picture J-V showing his brand new Gibson Flying V.

Juha H.

Machine Men

Tonight Machine Men are going to play LIVE in Aanekoski, Finland. Sini and I are going there. And I'll take my camera with me.

Earlier today Sini sang and I played flute for my composition Tuli hiipuu (=Fire slowly dies down). Now the whole is mixed and bounced to Disk.

Juha H.

Tuli hiipuu

All evening I worked with my song Tuli hiipuu (=Fire slowly dies down). It's a happily sad ballad for Sini to sing. The words tell of sitting alone in the still of the night at a dying-down campfire and feeling happy... and all of it fades away... Percussions, bass guitar, keyboards and some woodwinds are done. Only singing and something else - a solo guitar/domra? - is missing.

Now something else. Hanna-Maaria and I are going to watch a movie from DVD - Snakes on a Plane.

Juha H.

Hoikkaset taas, tavallaan - ja Mao

We played a small gig. Ensemble Hoikkaset - as trio this time (Eero Lahti, violin; Kyosti Jarvikallio, guitar; and JH, flute) with added musicians Heikki Lahti (mandolin) and Katja Lampinen ( accordion) - performed for local veterans of WW2. Finnish folk music for the most.

While travelling to Tallinn I began reading Mao the Unknown story written by Jung Chan and Jon Halliday. One more horrendous dictator to get to know some more. Hitler was bad, Stalin was probably worse but Mao was the worst. He killed the most and according to authors was an utterly selfish person. To be a leader for merely one's own grandiousness... Mao seems to have been a person who didn't care how much other people suffered.

Juha H.