There's something self-defeating about these national musical showcases, reeking as they do of public subsidy. We all know that the music industry has as much to do with hype and marketing machinations as with organic or 'authentic' audience development. But the deal was that, if the industry would maintain the pretense — often through massive publicity campaigns centred on narratives of fan power (cf. Arctic Monkeys, Sandi Thom) — then we could feel better about ourselves for not being marionettes. This Cool-Britannia-style boosterism seems to break that deal.
What makes this example doubly self-defeating is that only one of the songs sounds Finnish. The one by Värttinä — see live version below. All the rest — even the one with Jimi Tenor on — are facsimiles of Anglo-American indie/rock/soul/retro.
Thing is, Värttinä are the only act on the CD I've ever heard of. I suppose it's possible I've heard one of the others, but I would have forgotten them immediately. Whereas Värttinä, whom I guess I must have heard somewhere on Radio 3, stuck. Aside from them, the other Finnish acts that spring to mind are Paavoharju, Islaja, the other Fonal acts — and Jimi Tenor, of course.
I'd take more notice if Finland just put out a Fonal sampler. But then, this CD isn't aimed at me, is it? What the Finnish institute actually did was subsidise the Fonal showcase that my friend Eric put on in London a few years back. That was almost certainly a better way of reaching the audience that I'm part of. So I should quit chastising, and leave them to it. They've got a better handle on tactics than I have.
Discogs entry for this album
Listen to this album in full at Last.fm
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