@ Riccardo Venturi
The terrible picture from 1869 on the album cover is quite well known in Finland. The two men in the picture are Antti Rannanjärvi and Antti Isotalo, two farmers from Härmä in Finnish Ostrobothnia. Known as puukkojunkkari or häjy they led a criminal gang called Isoo-joukko (Big Gang) from 1856 to 1867. In modern Finland, the two criminals are still remembered from the Song Isontalon Antti ja Rannanjärvi.
"Il canto di lamentazione è un'antica tradizione presso i popoli Baltofinnici. I lamenti venivano cantati, di solito da donne anziane, in occasione di funerali e matrimoni, e quando gli uomini partivano per la guerra. Il lamento era un antico modo di dare sfogo alle emozioni quando qualcuno si sentiva sopraffatto dalla pena, dalla tristezza o dalla collera. Il lamento abbonda di simbolismo ed usa raramente descrizioni esplicite. Le precedenti generazioni di cantori di lamenti sono scomparse, ma ne è sorta una nuova generazione in Finlandia, che conserva con passione le antiche tematiche tradizionali, adattandole ai tempi che corrono." [Juha Rämö]
In my opinion, it is really interesting to point out that the so-called “European Union” generally rejects all cultural issues that really unite it. The tradition of lament singing is one: I think it used to be, and still is, widespread in all European countries from Finland to Sicily and Greece, through French complaintes, British laments, Spanish llantos, Greek miroloya and so on. Lament singing must be something coming directly from people's heart; sadness, grief, pain or anger (and I add poverty and injustice) have no borders, not even language borders. I was really struck by the image of the old lament singer Paraskeva Mitronen, btw bearing an old orthodox Russian name (of Greek origin, Παρασκευή) and a Finnish family name: if you don't know she is from Finland, you could take her for an old lament singer from Southern Italy or Greece -except these old women were generally... (continuer)
Hear, hear! The European Union is not the first one of its kind in the history of the Finnish people. In the 15th and 16th century, we were a part of the Kalmar Union which came to a violent end in 1520 when the Danish king Christian II decided to attack union partner Sweden and have 80 people, including 2 bishops and 14 noblemen, beheaded or hanged in a massacre called the Stockholm Bloodbath. One can only hope that the end of the EU, that may well start with an imminent vaccine war, will be less bloody.
The terrible picture from 1869 on the album cover is quite well known in Finland. The two men in the picture are Antti Rannanjärvi and Antti Isotalo, two farmers from Härmä in Finnish Ostrobothnia. Known as puukkojunkkari or häjy they led a criminal gang called Isoo-joukko (Big Gang) from 1856 to 1867. In modern Finland, the two criminals are still remembered from the Song Isontalon Antti ja Rannanjärvi.