Inspired & encouraged by blogs on Japanese / Australian / Italian / etc prog, I feel I ought to do my own thing on Finnish prog history. To share information for proggers around the world!
(I'm having a project which should result as a book, probably in 2016 or 2017. In 2013 I published a book on British, European and North American prog in the timeline of 1967-1979. It has received a warm reception among prog listeners of my country.)
Since last winter I have listened to myriads of Finnish artists that can be associated with the prog genre. I have intensively expanded my music library, with the valuable help of libraries and artists themselves. As a side product I have reviewed a lot of Finnish albums here. (The reviews are
NOT material to be recycled into the book, as a review's function is totally different, but they are nevertheless a helpful part of the whole project.)
The idea for this blog just came into my mind. Actually, it hardly becomes a real blog with updating and continuity at all. Closer to truth, it will just be a running through the decades picking artists and their albums and making general remarks, not an essay with higher goals. The bands / artists will be typed in CAPS and marked with (-) if they're not in the PA database. I probably won't do links, as useful as they would be in this sort of context.
The sixtiesThe formation of the Finnish prog scene was, to a large degree, made possible by the new forward-looking record company Love Records that started in 1966. One of the founders was OTTO DONNER (-), a notable figure in the Finnish jazz history. The label released jazz, lyrically oriented albums of the new (left-wing) song movement and eventually also rock, including the pioneering prog acts.
The first Finnish "prog" rock album is without a doubt the eponymous 1967 album by BLUES SECTION (-). It featured the English immigrant JIM PEMBROKE (-) as vocalist. Saxophonist EERO KOIVISTOINEN (-), another important jazz composer, was their member too, and Hasse Walli was the first notable Finnish rock guitarist.
The disbanding of Blues Section led to the founding of WIGWAM. Their debut Hard N' Horny (1969) was half written by organist-vocalist JUKKA GUSTAVSON (who was heavily influenced by Traffic's Stevie Winwood), half by Jim Pembroke, the more pop oriented of them. 1969 saw also the debut of TASAVALLAN PRESIDENTTI which featured another British vocalist, Frank Robson. TP's music is mostly jazz-rock, sometimes with blues flavour. The young virtuoso guitarist JUKKA TOLONEN, TP's central composer, started his succesful solo career emphasizing on instrumental Fusion two years later.
A very unique album worth noticing is Eero Koivistoinen's Valtakunta (1968) which he composed for modern Finnish poetry. Vocalists included Eero Raittinen, who by the way replaced Robson in TP for the albums Lambertland (1972) and Milky Way Moses (1974).
A band called CHARLIES (-), which was not on Love Records, is said to be Finland's first heavy rock band. Musiikkia elokuvasta Julisteiden liimaajat (1969) was made for a low-budget film which was never shown in public. Their English-language music was influenced by the British heavy pioneers and Jethro Tull.
And there were also the Underground movements of Helsinki and Turku. The former included the group SPERM (-) whose PEKKA AIRAKSINEN has later made a large solo discography of electronic music.
The early years of Finnish prog were very much dominated by the two legendary bands, Wigwam and Tasavallan Presidentti. They were highly respected and got some recognition abroad too, but their albums weren't any bestsellers. Right from the start Finland's prog had its own personality, ie. there weren't followers of bands like Genesis, Yes or ELP.
Edited by Matti - June 27 2014 at 03:44
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Finnish Prog History in a Nutshell
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Very interesting. Thank you.
