Trio

Shaping identities in choir competitions in Tanzania

Leena Lampinen — 2020-12-29

In this article, I explore choir competitions as sites for building, strengthening, and expressing identities in one diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. In addition to being events where the musical skills of the choirs and choir conductors can be demonstrated, these competitions are occasions in which sameness and difference become accentuated and various identities related to both groups and individuals are active. These identities include various components, such as musical, religious, and ethnic, among others. The competitions are occasions for strengthening and expressing these identities, but they also create a space for conflicts between the various aspects of identities.

Työtä ja työttömyyttä. Elokuvateatterien muusikot 1930-luvun vaihteen Turussa

Janne Mäkelä — 2020-12-29

Playing accompanying music for silent films was one of the most important sources of income for musicians in the late 1920s. This practice ceased to exist after the arrival of the sound film, and in Finland approximately three-hundred musicians faced unemployment. In Turku, for example, just before the changeover there were nine cinemas with approximately forty musicians playing for silent films, mainly on string instruments and piano. This article deals with how these musicians were understood as a group of professional performers, and how they survived a professional change that was made even more harsh by the concurrent world-wide economic crisis. The results show that the musicians who played this light classical music became a group that was forgotten both by the art music field and the emerging industry of popular music. New job opportunities were, however, found in cafeterias and restaurants. This became easier due to the tightening of legislation regarding foreign workers in 1930. The removal of the strict licensing rules in 1932 and the end of the economic depression also helped the situation.

Approaching Robert Kajanus´ three last works for violin

Sebastian Silén — 2020-12-29

This article explores Robert Kajanus’ (1856–1933) three last works for violin, Nocturne (1929), Menuet ancien (1930), and Spiccato (1931). These unpublished works show a largely unknown side of Kajanus as a composer. They highlight the fact that while Kajanus’ compositional output decreased after the 1890s he by no means stopped composing. The style of these works is also strikingly different from his national romantic works from the nineteenth century. The supporting material for all three works consists of several manuscripts, which include versions for both violin and piano, and violin and orchestra. These manuscripts sometimes include major revisions, and there are also sometimes differences between varying versions of the works. The interpretation of the available material therefore has a major role in how the music is presented. The works have initially been approached from a performer’s perspective, with the aim of bringing the works to the stage. Subsequently I have also become involved in an effort to publish Kajanus’ works for violin and piano. These two different perspectives have mostly complemented each other, but especially in the case of Kajanus’ Spiccato I have felt that my musician’s perspective has suggested different solutions than when approaching the work with an editorial mindset.

Lukijalle

Ulla Pohjannoro — 2020-12-30

Päätoimittajalta.

Ett vokalt perspektiv från 1800-talet till nutid

David Lundblad — 2020-12-30

In his doctoral degree, David Lundblad focused on the overtones of Swedish vowels and the correlation between spoken and sung Swedish language by comparing historical ideals with more modern research. Lundblad’s concerts related to his thesis were aimed at showing the connection between the language and the sound, as well as the repertoire and the sound. In his research he worked with choirs from both Sweden and Finland. This gave Lundblad the opportunity to experiment and emphasize Swedish vowel-sound with both Swedish and non-Swedish speaking singers. This ideal was illuminated in the five concerts given. The knowledge of Swedish vowels and singing tradition opens the door to a new understanding of how the so-called Swedish choir sound is created.

Välineiden välissä.

Timo Kaitaro — 2020-12-30

Arvostelu kirjasta Adaptation and Convergence of Media. ’High’ Culture Intermediality versus Popular Culture Intermediality. Aalto ARTS Books, Espoo, 2018.