Runot jatkuvat

And again Maija P. was here. She recited and I recorded her reciting poetry of Vieno Hamara. I'm actually quite surprised how good poems Ms Hamara wrote during the 1940-ies. Then she was quite young and yet her texts are so mature. Unfortunately she wrote only one poetry book... Next it is my task to do some edits on the recordings of texts and to add the music - plus compose some more...

My fingertips are a bit sore after playing so much domra. But that's good.

Juha H.

Planeetat

I continued working with the poems of Edith Sodergran. Now my composition based on her story Planeetat (=Planets) is partially recorded - keyboards, some lines of Akai EWI and Yamaha WX5/VL70 are done. The rest of the music later...

But now it's late and I'm tired.

Juha H.

Peaceful day. (Juha H.)

Strawberry blossoms. Most of the day I worked with my music - composing, recording and blowing different woodwind instruments. Now my fingertips are sore after playing domra so much. Little pain is ok and actually necessary... (Juha H.)

Sorvasalo, Lake Keitele. PasunaPelimannit jammed here today - on the beach. Nice music that ranged from Finnish Folk to jazz. (Juha H.)

Rentukka. (Juha H.)

Ihmeellinen meri

I began to record my song Ihmeellinen meri (= Wonderous sea) composed around a poem written by Edith Sodergran... The sea can be beautiful and frightening at the same time - and both can be good... Keyboards are done and some samples.

Today was the first time this summer that I swam in the open water. The temperature of the Lake Suojarvi was approximately 15 Celcius degrees. That's not yet any warm - but it refreshes you nicely.

Juha H.

Looks like summer 2. (Juha H.)

Hoikkaset duo

Ensemble Hoikkaset played a nice little gig. The venue was very small but the audience extremely attentive. This time we were a duo - Eero Lahti (violin and mandolin) and me (flute). The music we played varied from Finnish and Russian folk music to mainstream jazz... And there was a very good sauna at the Lake Keitele, some tasty food and hilarious stories. All in all very nice. Afterwards I pedaled home with a happy grin on my face...

Juha H.

Looks like summer. (Juha H.)

Runoutta

Maija P. visited. We continued working with the poems of Vieno Hamara. Recordings proceeded quite well. Some real good poems. And at last Maija has got her voice back. The project is going to be relatively big - possibly two CDs filled with poetry and music.

Rest of the evening I worked with my Edith Sodergran-project.

Juha H.

Machine Men

Yesterday we, Sini and I, gave a party for Machine Men. There were some friends, too. Above Jani, J-V and Jarno jamming. (Juha H.)

Edith S

I just keep on working with the poems written by Edith Sodergran. Today I recorded most instruments for my composition of her text Animaalinen hymni (= Hymn for Animality...). It's once again a story of joy of living, of being alive and not caring of death and other miserable things in your personal world... Now there are four recorded and almost ready songs for Sini to sing. Hopefully she gets her voice soon back in order.

And now back to playing domra.

Juha H.

Lake Keitele once again - photographed today while trekking. (Juha H.)

Jadesoturi

Just watched the movie Jade Warrior - joint Finnish-Chinese venture. It took me by surprise. I knew it's a mixture of different times, legends and mythical stories. But the many-dimensionality of the story was a revelation, sort of. The whole can not be taken at face value - there are so many possible ways to inteprete it. It is NOT merely a fantastic adventure movie - with Chinese-Finnish swords and sorcery. It is quite introspective. This feature must come from Finland. The story is a mixture of Finnish legend of Sampo and Pandora's Box etc... The possibility to inteprete a story in myriad ways is always nice. - Music of the movie was written - probably very much of it was improvised - by Kimmo Pohjonen and Samuli Kosminen. Very nice.

Juha H.

Edith S

I continued working with poems of Edith Sodergran. Nocturne is taking its shape. Most of the instruments are recorded - only some percussions, one or two lines of Akai EWI and Sini's singing are missing. But I can't finish this and some other songs before Sini gets her voice well and good again. Some days it's still going to take. I can wait.

Juha H.

Flowing waters of springtime. (Juha H.)

Mother's Day. Hanna-Maaria decorated the cake. It's a bit rough looking but still tasty. That's what matters the most. (Juha H.)

Euroviisut

Soon the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 begins. Ordinarily I'm not interested in watching such shows. A year ago I did watch parts of it because there was quite a bit interesting heavy metal performer/band from Finland. And surprisingly Lordi won it all - overwhelmingly. There has been a saying here in Finland that the hell freezes over before Finns win the Eurovision Song Contest. And now Mister Lordi says: "It snows in hell!"

All day long I worked with my music. And thus most of the song Sanoja (=Words) based on a poem written by Edith Sodergran is done - recorded on Hard Disk.

Juha H.

Lake Keitele. (Juha H.)

Little pier waiting for boats to come. While waiting it's got a friend - small willow growing on it. (Juha H.)

Seagulls waiting the summer. (Juha H.)

Maija ja Toivomus

Maija P. visited once again. That was good. There's a new project forming. We're going to do a recording of Vieno Hamara's poetry - of her book Pukinjalkatanssi. And there's going to be some music. Most of it's going to be classical guitar. The guitarist was here, too. I'm going to record the poems and maybe add some sound-effects or even some musical instruments. And of course I'll mix the whole together... Today we could not do much because of Maija's sore throat.

Now the percussions of Toivomus (=A Wish) are done.

Yesterday evening the Blogger was down and I could not send any post. It was like banging your head on a block of wood. Thus the photo. Now all is well - even the sun is shining brightly. (Juha H.)

Machine Men ja muutakin

Earthshaker Roadshock Tour 2007 has been cancelled. At the moment Machine Men are flying back home to Finland. Possibly Tarot and Finntroll are on the same plane. The tour seems to have been quite a disaster. Earlier I've written very little about it: "Everything seems to be going on pretty well..." etc. Already very early on I did hear of the problems... But the gigs seemed to be going on quite ok. Music was good and fans liked the shows alot. Weird things happened. Much of the management seems to have been lousy - mildly said. After Forever wrote a simple and good little article of what went wrong. Apokalyptische Reiter has written lenghtly on the day-by-day basis of what really happened. All in all really frustratingly sad for all the bands and fans.

Some good things for the day though - I recorded percussions to my song Toivomus (= A wish). Two lines of them. Now only bass, Sini's singing and one solo instument - possibly J-V's guitar - are missing.

Now might be the time to begin to listen to all new Rush album - Snakes & Arrows.

Juha H.

Ja musaa taas

Woh! I keep on working with my music for what ever it's worth... And thus today I began recording my song composed "around" a poem written by Edith Sodergran... Keyboards, one line of Akai EWI and a couple of lines of Yamaha WX5&VL70 are done. I record mostly to a click so it's not of utter importance in which order I do the instruments. I really don't have to do them in the usual drums-bass-and-upwards-order... Toivomus (= A wish) is taking its shape. Again it's going to be some happy music - a simple wish of a sunny day, a sofa with a cat and a silently joyous letter in hand... A small and grand dream at the same time.

Juha H.

Hoikkaset jatkaa

Ensemble Hoikkaset played a gig in the festives of local veterans of WW II. We've performed so many times for these people that the situation was warm and nice - all smiling faces...

I mixed and bounced to Disk my song Salojarvi (= Lake in the forest). Edith Sodergran wrote this peaceful and happy poem almost ninety years ago and it still feels very fresh.

Juha H.

Trees still bare waiting for summer. (Juha H.)

Little Lighthouse, Lake Keitele, Finland. Today weather was quite nice - Sini and I could go rowing. I was able to take some photos. - J-V called from Berlin, Germany. That's were the Machine Men are playing today. Everything seems to be ok. (Juha H.)