:: Väin yks viikko Suomessa ::

Valitettavasti, pidää lähten...
There is only one week left in Finland and it seems like i have been here already a month. Today the sun was shining bright and transmuted the snow cover into a sparkling mantle. Wandering bikes tear the silence with crisp meandering stutters, the tires crushing the brittle compact snow on the bike/pedestrian tracks that zigzag through Oulu kaupunki...

The time frame has been compressed and i don't even know if everything will fall into place. It always happens that the things that i SAY i will do are done at 80 % because there is always this variable in my life at some point where i cannot meet the self-imposed deadlines.

Last Thursday i wanted to meet Kauko Röyhkä, the Finnish singer (and now award-winning writer with his novel Miss Farku Suomi) and so i did. It was my first night out in Oulu, at the 45 Special where i got to talk with the nice owner, Harri. Well, Kauko had a nice gig. Unlike the opening act, that sounded like 15-16 year old playing songs but in 30-40 year old men bodies. K. Röyhkä's act had more class, was more organic but i still can't get over his 2001 performance (at the same venue).
It was quite a thrill to meet the man behind Miss Farku Suomi, especially someone who has been in the Finnish music business for 25 years now. Quite a feat also given his "particular" relationship with the city where he grew up. Sitting besides him i felt somewhat privileged but at the same time saddened that he didnt get the recognition he deserved from his fellow citizens. Must be the price to pay when you decide to do your own thing in Finland... Still, reminiscing about the relations he has with people from Oulu, it comes to no surprise he has written a song entitled "paskakaupungi" (litt. Shitcity).
But he holds no grudges and, as if to alleviate, the actresses playing the roles in the theater adaptation of his novel were there, like a flock of groupies. I wished i had met with the bass player, Lars Huldén... He and his father have been translating the Kalevala in Sanskrit. Now that's weird...

Friday i was too pooped to do anything so i didnt go out but Saturday i went to the countryside, in Ruukki, to have a second try at savusauna, the REAL thing. Finns have said that i can't miss the opportunity to be in there and, well, after a while, i did. The heat of the sauna is not so dry like the modern electric sauna. The other element is the smoke, which leaves a different smell on your skin. We had to fetch the water at another house nearby, and clean the whole place. Also, the savusauna takes FOUR hours to heat up.

Well, anyway the steam and the heat were fantastic... Just sitting there... and the löyly... whoa. I was in some kind of sorcerer's cabin and we were getting all the dirt out of our bodies. I washed myself and never felt that clean, except when i do sauna of course.

I didn't miss the last train from Vihanti (17 km from Ruukki) to Oulu and arrived just in time to catch my good friend Heidi who just came back from Spain.
I found myself again at the 45 special and i danced a bit. But eventually i went to Heidi's place and we talked until the wee hours about going to foreign places, the Spanish, university work, etc.
Fell asleep at 7, woke up at 14.

Hm. I guess I'll be on my way then...

Posted by phonono at mars 08, 2005 05:42 PM