aldimeolaplaysthebeatlesandmoreattampereguitarfestival...

74 | Issue 63 | April 2014

STRINGS ATTACHEDAl Di Meola plays The Beatles & more,31 May – 8 June

Acoustic guitar music lovers will have agreat start of the summer during thefirst week of June at Tampere GuitarFestival. The happening will sport guitarclasses, workshops and church concertsalong with networking, camps and sales

events in seven municipalities acrossTampere.

Tampere Guitar Show is a two-day salesshow at the Tampere Hall, which is alsothe venue for the Momentous Concerts.Guitar Camp in Ylöjärvi offers profession-ally-guided lessons to amateur guitaristsand chamber orchestras, for both adultsand children over 11 years.

The acoustic guitar music includes a widerange of styles: from classical to fla-menco, fado, Argentinean tango andBrazilian choro. The festival concerts aredesigned for different tastes and the per-formers represent the top of their league.Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year,the festival’s live stage will be taken byone of the most prominent fusion gui-tarists, Al di Meola, and his trio, togetherwith a string quartet. This guitar masterhas an illustrious history with the likes ofPaco de Lucia, John McLaughlin, StanleyClarke and Chick Corea. The Al Di Meolaplays Beatles & more project is the mae-stro’s lifelong dream coming true.

www.tgf.fi

Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Cultural Finland

On the map of Finland, the Pirkanmaa region is the pocket on the Finnish maid’sdress. In this pocket, you will find a treasury of festivals: poetry, music, art, playful-ness and natural beauty. Summertime by the lake or hot spices in the city – it is allthere for you to choose from. And in the autumn, when the evenings get dark, it istime to get indoors, get together and just enjoy.

By Taina Värri | Press Photos

Can you festival?Al di Meola plays The Beatles and more at Tampere Guitar Festival.

2_0_ScanMag_63_April_2014_Text_Svetlana:Scan Magazine 1 28/3/14 14:08 Page 74

Issue 63 | April 2014 | 75

Also availableGuitar Train from Helsinki P119; packagefor four P109/person; with buffet, P149,for four P139/person.Hotel packages from P188.A 10th Anniversary Buffet will be servedbefore the concert in Tampere Hall.

PLAYTIMEAnnikki OFF, 4-6 JuneAnnikki Poetry Festival, 7 June

Annikki Poetry Festival in Tampere takesfresh views on poetry and puts togethersurprising combinations of performers,redefining the boundaries of poetry events.It is a non-profit event, run by volunteers,and takes place in a quarter of old woodenresidential buildings in Annikinkatu (An-nikki Street). The 100-year-old houseswere in bad shape, but the tenants lovedthe place and the community feel, tookinitiative and after some hair-raising turnsmanaged to save them from the bulldoz-ers. The houses and homes are fine nowand the Poetry Festival, the foremost inFinland, now celebrates 10 years.

Jenni Haukio, the First Lady of Finland,was the patron of the festival in 2013 withEarth as the main theme. This year, thetheme is Playtime: joy, humour and ex-perimentation. The pre-festival, AnnikkiOFF, sprawls around the city offeringdozens of cultural events put together byindependent event organisers.

The Annikki festival’s focus is still on po-etry, but it has expanded to include prose,music and visual arts. This year, Finnishperformers alongside visiting interna-tional guests such as Hasso Krull (Esto-nia), Ron Whitehead (USA), Gerður Kristný(Iceland) and Henry Bowers (Sweden) pro-vide a rich combination. There will also bea lot of special events for children.

www.annikinkatu.net/runofestivaali

JUST A MOMENT!Mantta Art Festival, 15 June – 31 August

The festival started with volunteers in1993 and has since grown to an event with10,000 visitors. Known for its bold and

brave selection of contemporary art,Mänttä is seen as a beacon for the state ofthe contemporary art scene in Finland. Anew curator every year keeps the festivalalive and surprising. There are no com-promises – only one personal vision.

The main focus at this summer’s MänttäArt Festival is in seizing the moment, andone way of doing the carpe diem thing isto go travelling. In and around the PekiloArt Center, artists will observe moments,create and immortalise them. Perform-ances and poetry collide with visual arts;the visitor will be taken from the Antarc-tica to Burma and from the rhythms of Ja-maica to the coolness of Norway’s Lo-foten archipelago. Mysterious trips to theland of coffee and the borders of death arealso on the itinerary.

A boat, made from recycledmaterials, willbe sailing between Tampere and Vilppula.

Through this work, three environmentally-conscious artists explore life as lake dis-trict nomads and comment on the state ofthe Baltic Sea. Kaarina Kaikkonen, aFinnish artist who creates touching in-stallations using old clothes, will collectshirts and coats from the people of Mänttäand use the old church wall as her canvas.

www.mantankuvataideviikot.fi

NINO ROTA MEETS THE ACCORDIONSata-Häme Soi Accordion Festival,Ikaalinen 1-6 July

The accordion reflects the Finnish soul,creating happiness, joy, and good ambi-ence. Founded in 1972, the annual Sata-Häme Soi International Accordion Festivalembraces the art of the instrument. Thinkhip hop, pop, jazz and rock, classical,modern and world music. Did we misssomething? If so, it will probably be cov-


LEFT: A live performance at the Annikki Poetry Festival in Tampere (Photo: Ville Koivisto). TOP RIGHT: Sata-HämeSoi Accordion Festival (Photo: Minna Plihtari). BOTTOM RIGHT: Visitors will be taken on a journey from theAntarctica to Burma at the Mantta Art Festival (Photo: Pekka Niskanen).


76 | Issue 63 | April 2014

ered in Ikaalinen. Add summer, add lakeand there you go: a perfect festival.

The happening takes place during the firstweek of July in the town of Ikaalinen, justone hour’s bus ride from Tampere andthree hours from Helsinki. The majorhighlights of the festival will be the GoldenAccordion Award (held since 1983), theSilver Accordion Award for children (since1986) and the Primus Ikaalinen Interna-tional Accordion Competition (since 2005),as well as dancing and getting togetherwith like-minded people – usually around30,000 of them.

Every year, individuals, whole families andsport club members serve the festival incapacity of volunteers for the joy of hear-ing music and meeting friends, old andnew. You never know: you could end upjamming with a lively Romani band duringthe bus ride from the airport...

The highlight this year will be world-famous French-Italian Richard Gallianowith his orchestra playing Nino Rota’ssoulful movie themes.

www.satahamesoi.fi

BLACK AND WHITE KEYS TO YOURHEARTMänttä Music Festival, 6-10 August

The only international annual pianomusicfestival in Finland brings together topnames in the realm of piano music aswell as domestic stars and young talents.In addition to piano concerts, the pro-gramme includes a children’s concert, anentertainment evening at Klubi with sur-prise artists, and a free-admission pro-gramme.

The brand new Gösta’s Pavilion, designedby Spanish MX_SI architecture studio, willserve as the main venue of the festival

from this year onwards. Due to the new lo-cation, this year the festival is held in Au-gust instead of July.

The five-day festival hosts ten concerts.The last one will present Paul Lewis (UK),who as a top performer follows earlieryears’ guest stars Cyprien Katsaris andMarc-André Hamelin. Opening the festivalare Anna Vinnitskaya (Russia), the winnerof the 2007 Queen Elisabeth piano com-petition, Laura Mikkola (Finland), and Sla-womir Zubrzycki (Poland). The latter playsthe viola organista, inspired by the draw-ings of Leonardo da Vinci.

MänttäMusic Festival brings several inter-national masters to the stage, but there isalso a strong emphasis on promoting andsupporting young, talented Finnish pianists.After all, these gifted musicians were theones who founded the festival in 1999.

www.mantanmusiikkijuhlat.fiwww.serlachius.fi/en

RED HOT AUGUSTOChilifest Finland, 15-17 August

The youngest and hottest festival of thePirkanmaa region is Chilifest Finland, ded-icated to, well, chilli peppers. The festivalis free and suitable for the whole family,from babies to grannies. This one and onlyFinnish chilli festival was born in 2010 andgathered 8,000 visitors in its first year.

Now situated in the very heart of Tam-pere, it has grown into a fiesta of nearly28,000 visitors, many of who wish to seeand taste new hot stuff and test their lim-its with chilli foods and other chilli pepperproducts, from seeds to ice cream andcider.

It will come as no surprise that the land ofcompetitive sauna bathing is also home tothe Naga Morich Chili Eating WorldChampionships. It has already become atradition, fulfilling the expectations of sus-pense and drama, fire and pain associatedwith chilli peppers.

There are, however, thousands of differentchillies: some that will make smoke come

TOP: Paul Lewis (UK) will headline the Mänttä Music Festival (Photo: Josep Molina/Harmonia Mundi). BELOWLEFT: The youngest and hottest festival of the Pirkanmaa region is Chilifest Finland. RIGHT: Anna Vinnitskaya(Russia), winner of the 2007 Queen Elisabeth piano competition (Photo: Gela Megrelidze).


Issue 63 | April 2014 | 77


out of your ears, yes, but also milder, mel-low types. Garlic is also invited to join theparty, so there will be quite a rush of sen-sual experiences among the BBQ stands.

The most recent addition to Chilifest Fin-land’s programme is Chilirock, introduc-ing young talents along with well-knownFinnish artists. Outdoor concerts com-bined with a picnic? Not a bad idea.

Chilifest Finland 2014 will be sizzling allover Keskustori, Tampere. Since thesquare is located in the very heart of Tam-pere, it is easy to access from everywhere.

www.chilifest.fi

SOLIDARITY THROUGH DOCUMENTARYPHOTOGRAPHYBacklight Photo Festival,5 Sep 2014 – 4 Jan 2015

September 2014 will see the internationaltriennial in photography for the tenth timein Tampere and Valkeakoski. The theme ofBacklight 2014 explores the tensions be-tween individuals, communities and soci-eties and the forces that both unite andseparate us: trust, love, fear, addiction,hope, suspicion, values, isolation, religion,poverty, shared history, self-indulgence,sense of safety, money, desperation...Themes focus on the phenomena of peo-ple’s solidarity (and the lack thereof), in-corporating individual as well as collectiveresponsibility. How do we picture trustand confidence in a world that mainlyseems to value money and power? Howare these issues represented throughcontemporary photography?

Photographic Centre Nykyaika startedthe festival in 1987, and in 1999 the eventwas given the name Backlight. Backlighthas exhibited more than 200 artists of atleast 30 different nationalities in theTampere region and internationally. Thefestival is rooted in documentary photo-graphy and open to innovative conceptsand approaches extending and updatingculturally-rooted perspectives on reality.Themes about migration, laughter, child-hood and identities have been in the spot-light at earlier festivals. Each Backlight

forms a new, unique entity, with socialthemes, a new, innovative structure, andchallenging content.

This year, five photographers from theMid-dle East have been invited to exhibit theirwork as part of Backlight’s theme at theTampere Art Museum. Curated exhibitionsfrom nearly 700 submissions from over 60countries will be shown in galleries andpublic spaces around the Tampere region.On the jury judging the open-call submis-sions are Tuula Alajoki (Finland), Miha Col-ner (Slovenia), Anahita Ghabaian Etehadieh(Iran) and Issa Touma (Syria).

During the festival, Backlight 2014 organ-ises a symposium, workshops, seminarsand a portfolio review in collaboration withBacklight’s local and international partners.Themain language of the festival is English.

www.backlight.fi

WELCOME TO THE JAZZ CLUB. NICE!Tampere Jazz Happening, 30 Oct – 2 Nov

The international programme of TampereJazz Happening, known for its warm at-mosphere and open-minded approach tomodern jazz, brings together the topnames and future trend-setters of modernjazz. Themost current Finnish performersand international top artists play and im-provise in the festival’s concert halls as

well as intimate club sessions until thesmall hours of the night. The main venue,the Old Custom’s House at the heart of thecity, plays its part in creating the warmatmosphere with its red brick walls.

The festival started in 1982 and has grownsignificantly since. The uncompromisingfocus on the selection of music has cre-ated a trust in the quality of the pro-gramme and keeps people coming backyear after year, even if they are not famil-iar with the artists beforehand. The lateclub concerts are now also temptingyounger audiences.

Tampere Jazz Happening provides a con-venient and hospitable melting pot formusicians, producers, event organisersand journalists in the backstage area,where discussions flow and new connec-tions are made.

The complete festival programme will bepublished inSeptember. Onceagain, the fes-tival promises a crowdof international stars,promising new talents and the most inter-esting performers of the Finnish jazz scene.

www.tamperemusicfestivals.fi/jazz

TOP LEFT: The theme of Backlight 2014 explores the tensions between individuals, communities and societies(Photo: Gohar Dashti/Iran). BELOW AND RIGHT: Tampere Jazz Happening brings together the top names andfuture trend-setters of modern jazz (Photos: Photo Maarit Kytoharju).

For more information, please visit:www.pirfest.fi


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