History
4. INTO A NEW DECADE WITH EXPANDING POSSIBILITIES
Suomen Kansanmusiikkiliitto's fourth decade
The article series on the history of Suomen Kansanmusiikkiliitto reaches the present day in its final part.
Suomen Kansanmusiikkiliitto's fourth ten-year period began with a fierce contest, as no fewer than three candidates sought to lead the board: Anja Hinkkanen, Jukka Nuoranne and Pekka Turunen. Of these, the Southwest Finland physician and bass player Jukka Nuoranne won, and he served with distinction as chair for a full ten years. Since the beginning of 2008, the chair's responsibilities have been carried by Antti Koiranen from Lempäälä.
Suomen Kansanmusiikkiliitto has been strongly involved in folk music nationwide. As early as 1996, the Folklandia cruise was added to the palette of events; the association has been one of its background organisers from the very start. The event became the folk music and folk dance organisations' joint event for the start of the year. In October 1997, the office of Kansanmusiikin Keskusliitto (later the Centre for the Promotion of Folk Music and Folk Dance) was transferred into the care of Suomen Kansanmusiikkiliitto.
Two consecutive EU projects in central Uusimaa brought the association a great deal of new activity. The Tupasoitto project in 2002-2003, led by Riitta Huttunen, developed folk music services suited to rural areas and built lasting forms of cooperation between different actors. The project gave rise, for example, to the JuuriJuhla-RotFest event in Espoo. The village folk musician project in 2003-2005 took Pekka Pentikäinen and Jarmo Romppanen to more than three hundred gigs, courses and workshops in the region's various municipalities and towns.
Suomen Kansanmusiikkiliitto celebrated its 30th anniversary in style in connection with Samuelin Poloneesi in Helsinki in spring 1998, and the association's flag was also ceremonially nailed at the event. The flag consecration ceremony was held at St Paul's Church in Helsinki. Activists in South Ostrobothnia, for their part, brought about a memorial to the association's first chair Erkki Ala-Könni in Ilmajoki in spring 1998. For the association's 40th anniversary, an even more festive Samuelin Poloneesi was held in Pori in spring 2008, along with a summer anniversary concert at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival and an anniversary seminar in Helsinki in the autumn. The Pelimanni CD, compiled in honour of the anniversary, was the first one compiled and produced by Kansanmusiikkiliitto.
The cooperation agreement concluded with the folk music community of our southern neighbour Estonia also began to take concrete form through folk musician cruises and the Heimojuhlat and Suupillipäivät events as well as song and music festivals. The association has been involved in many large international projects. The major joint event Tanssipidot was held in Helsinki in summer 2000 and in Tartu in summer 2005. Nordic cooperation was maintained through the NORDLEK events and the Nordic folk music committee. Finland's own NORDLEK event was danced and played in Lahti at the turn of June and July 2009. International activity was also increased by various events organised within the framework of CIOFF and by sending a youth representative to the CIOFF youth. This role was filled with distinction by Juho Koiranen until his death in 2004. In 2007-2009 the association co-organised, together with the Finnish Music Information Centre and other partners, Arctic Paradise Live – a folk music export event in Finland.
The number of member organisations grows
From the beginning of 2000, the number of Suomen Kansanmusiikkiliitto's member organisations grew when Oulu Folk was accepted as a member. The membership, however, lasted such a short time that it never even made it into the list of member associations published in Pelimanni. Miehikkälän Pelimannipäivät (later the Kymenlaakso folk musician choir and orchestra association) joined as a member in 2001. New member organisations were gained at the end of the 2000s, when Suomen Huuliharpistit applied for membership in 2008 and a folk music association was founded in Kainuu the following year. Kaustisen Pelimanniyhdistys was also accepted as a member in 2009. The Kaustinen members took to the membership with great enthusiasm and undertook to organise Samuelin Poloneesi in 2010, succeeding splendidly. During the current year, the membership application of Suomen Sahansoittajat ry will also be considered.
The annual themes of Kansanmusiikin Keskusliitto were implemented with varying intensity. The 2002 theme year of spiritual music also brought more active cooperation with parishes to the activities of Suomen Kansanmusiikkiliitto and its member organisations. At least in Savo, Satakunta and Häme, folk musician performances in churches had already been organised fairly widely, but now the activity expanded to cover the whole country.
In December 2004, Suomen Kansanmusiikkiliitto's office moved next door to the Global Music Centre on Hämeentie in Helsinki. At the same time, Kanteleliitto also got office space there. Leaving the joint office with the Nuorisoseurat youth organisation by no means meant going separate ways; cooperation continues actively, for example within Kansalaisfoorumi and the national NORDLEK committees.
New content for the activities
The Pelimanni magazine got a new look and new content when the publication of the Folk Music Institute's Trad magazine was discontinued and Suomen Kansanmusiikkiliitto and the Folk Music Institute joined forces to produce an even better Pelimanni magazine from the beginning of 2007. A CD is published annually as a supplement to the magazine.
The folk music touring activity, begun within the framework of the folk music development project, became Suomen Kansanmusiikkiliitto's responsibility from the beginning of 2009. Dozens of folk music ensembles have eagerly applied to perform on tours around Finland. Performance venues include the Rahvaanmusiikin kerho in Tampere, the Viriä club in Seinäjoki, the Perinnearkku club in Helsinki and the Kuopio Folk Club (later Kaiken kansan klubi).
Suomen Kansanmusiikkiliitto has shown itself to be a necessary organisation for the whole folk music field – for both amateurs and professionals. For over 40 years, its training and concert events have brought together the best expertise to showcase our folk music. The flagships have remained the spring Samuelin Poloneesi, the summer KAMU camp and the winter folk music courses in Orivesi. The consignment sale of folk music material has grown steadily, and the association's office has become a true treasure trove for enthusiasts, offering the most important Finnish folk music products. The number of staff has grown, and as this is being written (in spring 2010), a third employee is already being hired to lighten the workload of the executive director and the project secretary.