Of heroes, maidens and squirrels: Reimagining traditional Finnish folk poetry in metal lyrics

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The Finnish folk epic Kalevala has inspired Finnish metal musicians. Charlotte Doesburg explores two case studies on lyrics by Kotiteollisuus and Mokoma.

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The Finnish folk epic Kalevala has inspired Finnish metal musicians. Charlotte Doesburg explores two case studies on lyrics by Kotiteollisuus and Mokoma.

Image courtesy of interviewee. January 12, 2024

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This video video discusses "Kalevala," Finland's national epic, published in its final form in 1849 by Elias Lönnrot. The Kalevala is a compilation of folk poetry collected from Finnish and neighboring Russian territories, originally sung by speakers of Finnish and related languages. Lönnrot traveled extensively to gather these poems in the 18th century, which heavily influenced the creation of the Kalevala as a cultural and national identity cornerstone for Finland during its period of rule by Russia.

The epic begins with creation myths, including a unique story about the world emerging from a duck's egg, and its middle section focuses on a mythical object called "Sampo," symbolizing prosperity but ultimately lost in a battle. The ending reflects the arrival of Christianity.

Culturally, the Kalevala has inspired various adaptations across different artistic forms, from classical music compositions by Jean Sibelius to contemporary songs in Finnish metal music. This video video analyzes two songs influenced by the Kalevala: "Lemon Gyn and Lalu" and "Iron From the Breasts." The first song retells part of a Kalevala story, addressing themes of Finnish masculinity and societal issues like alcoholism, ultimately framing them critically. The second song connects to folk imagery while promoting personal responsibility and autonomy.

Overall, these adaptations showcase both a connection to Finnish identity and a broader engagement with global metal themes, reinforcing the intersection of national culture and contemporary expression.

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I first talk a little bit about Ola,

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because that's, that's the, the big thing.

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Um, if you haven't heard about Ola

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before, it's time you did,

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it's Finland's National Folk epic.

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Um, and the final version

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of this epic was published in 1849,

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by its edit editor alias.

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Um, I'll tell him a little bit more about him later,

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but first, let me tell you that the epic consists

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of folk poetry that was collected in Finland

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and modern day Russia.

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Um, it was originally sung by Finns

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and other people who had come from the same

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language family as Finnish.

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So those are Ingrid's, Caran, Wesson, IANS, and Estonians,

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and they all live around the tic Gulf.

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Um, so in that corner up there, Finland to Estonia,

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that's where those people lived.

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And Ala Leonard himself traveled extensively throughout

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these regions, to collect the poetry.

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And he met loads and loads of singers there.

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Um, and this was in the 18th century.

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And some of these singers that he met such as Arthi Nan,

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they knew not just a couple of lines, but they knew loads

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and loads of poems, like their repertoire span, thousands

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of lines, and some

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of these poems interconnected with each other.

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And it is likely that Leonardo actually got the idea

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to create an epic for, for Finland, a newly

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so emerging nation at the time, from these encounters

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with these sinners singers.

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Um, so the Ola starts with the creation

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of the world from a duck's egg.

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So we have the God is called,

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and, a dog lays an egg on her,

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creates a nest on her knee and then lays an egg in it,

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and then she shakes her leg at some point,

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and the egg falls, and that's

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where the world is created out of.

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So I think the yolk becomes the sun

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and, you know, the stuff like that.

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And the middle of the Epic, is centered on the myth

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of the mysterious sample, which is this object

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that brings pres prosperity to its own.

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So obviously everyone wants to have the sample.

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Uh, unfortunately not everyone can have it

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and people are unable to share it.

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So at the end of the kola, unfortunately, the Samo,

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gets lost in a battle because there's a battle at sea

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and it falls off the boat into the water

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and breaks into thousands and thousands of pieces.

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Uh, so no one has it.

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And then finally, the end of the epic signals,

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the arrival with Christianity.

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So the main hero of the epic called Von,

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and I'm sorry about all the difficult words

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that I'm throwing around here,

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but you'll just have to go with it.

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So V Moon, and, he leaves, the world

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of Cala and the Christ child arrives.

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And why am I talking about this epic?

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Well, this epic has been super important for,

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the formation and subsequent evolution

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of Finnish national identity.

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So at the time when it was released,

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Finland was part of Russia.

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And, mainly scholars, were looking at

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and thinking about what actually is Finland,

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and how can we define Finland?

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And that's when the Colorado was, you know, published.

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And people saw that as a huge, you know, confirmation

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that that Finland could have its own identity.

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And, it has partially kept fulfilling this role

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of being a cornerstone of national identity,

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through adaptation across loads of cultural disciplines.

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So you might have seen paintings

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by national romantic painter, Alex Gal,

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or you might have heard compositions by Jean C,

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who's very popular in the uk.

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Um, or maybe you've even heard about the writings

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by this writer called Alexis Kiwi.

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But the Kalala isn't only, isn't only

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done in like this sort of official high

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proper culture, so to say.

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It's also done in popular culture.

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Um, so there's a writer called Maori

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who has reimagined the epic with dogs instead of humans,

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in, a book called The Canine Kalala.

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And this book is aimed for children,

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but actually adults really enjoy it as well.

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And, if you know Donald Duck, the Disney character,

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so in Finland there's a periodical magazine

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that gets released every week.

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And one week in the 1990s, they had a special edition,

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that was based on the sample myth.

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So Scrooge McDuck, I think, went in search of the sample

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and also in music, the Kal has adapted quite often.

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So I've already talked about John Sibelius,

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but in popular music, artists such as Ismo Lanko

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and the Ben CMX, both sort of rock avantgarde music,

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they have both been inspired by the Epic as well.

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And what I look at is muscle music.

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And, that was the main subject of my PhD.

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And there's, there's so many songs in Finnish metal music

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that draw on, on the Kawa as well.

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The first of this, I'll,

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I'll talk about each song individually.

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So the first of these songs, is Lemon Geis and Lalo,

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or the Song of Lemon gyn.

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Uh, lemon GYN is one of the characters in in the Epic.

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Um, and the song that, I analyzed is by the band called

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and the band singer and, and lyricist Johnny Nan.

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And he's very often inspired by Finnish society

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and culture, including the Caala.

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And the interesting thing about Lemon Kai

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and Lao is that it really connects this inspiration taken

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from culture and is inspiration taken from

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society and puts them together.

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Um, so Kinin, like I said, is from the Kola.

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Um, he is the Donan

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or the Casanova, from the book.

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Uh, so he flirts with all the women

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and, you know, goes around

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and actually tries to, you know,

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find all these women everywhere.

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And, one day he, he finds this beautiful maiden got,

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and she lives on an island,

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which is very imaginatively called Island,

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because why would you name it anything besides island?

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Um, but yeah, he, he more

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or less abducts her gets married to her.

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So we can't say this is actually a consensual marriage,

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but, you know, Kamala times are different times,

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different things happened.

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Um, but Lemon Kin and is not a good husband at all.

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He breaks his marital files quite early on in the marriage,

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and he leaves Kki.

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And what does he do when he leaves her?

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It goes and flirts with other women as you do.

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And the story really,

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or the song actually really adapts this part of the story.

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So Lemon Geis

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and Lalu starts with the wedding, the Ill-fated marriage

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between Lemon GN and, and Kki.

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Um, and it doesn't just actually use Kawa,

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it also uses another poem by the writer Alexis Kiy,

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who I've mentioned, in the previous question.

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And, the poem that,

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that is used is called in Finnish s, which translates

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to sweetly the Little Squirrel.

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And this poem appears in a book,

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called The Seven Brothers.

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And this book,

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is considered Finland's first novel in Finnish,

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and it's a very well known classic in Finland

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that everything knows,

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and I'm pretty sure they all have

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to read it in school as well.

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So it, it's, it's very, very well known in Finland.

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And this poem lives a sort of half life outside of the book,

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where it's been adapted in music as well, and sung in music.

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And Le Kaizen Lalo also incorporates this poem as well

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as material from the Kola.

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So at the end of the first verse,

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there are two squirrels, sweetly sleeping,

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and this obviously refers to this poem,

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sweetly the Little Squirrel Squirrel.

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But these squirrels actually act as a metaphor

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for the couple as well.

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Um, in the chorus, we actually get to the, the, the,

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the meat of the wedding, so to say.

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Um, and it includes the priest.

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And this is very unusual in a way

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because, Leonard, the editor of the Kola, actually try

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to remove any traces of Christianity from the Epic,

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whereas Scott has decided to reintroduce them.

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And this is a first indication that, the Song of Lemon

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and Kin and is not just a simple retelling

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of Lemon Kin story from the Epic,

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but that it's trying to do a little bit more with that story

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and maybe updated for a modern audience.

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And we are told in the song

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that the priest in tongue's words to the wind.

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So there's this indication that maybe marriage isn't

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as important or not as sacred as we like

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to think of it, and then we get to the third,

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or this, the, yeah, the third verse of the song,

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which seemingly diverges even further from the epic.

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But it is also where this connection

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to modern society is really consolidated.

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So this, first details how Lemon Guy leaves

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and he goes to war,

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but it becomes clear that the war is not, you know,

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your typical tribe of warfare,

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but it's actually a metaphor

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for heavy drinking and pop rolls.

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And this becomes clear with lines such as he goes to the,

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the bars, tables and things like that.

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So he goes and drinks basically.

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And the metaphorical war in the lyrics has two effects.

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Like I said, firstly, it kind of updates them in kind

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of story to make it more accessible to a modern audience.

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So it's much more likely that you are familiar

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with drinking, perhaps losing some control,

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perhaps witnessing a bar fight,

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or maybe even taking part in one.

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Um, you're much more likely to be familiar with

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that than with actual warfare.

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So it just makes this story a bit more accessible

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to a modern listener.

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But interestingly, if we look at the folk poems

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that make up Lemon Kin

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and Story in the Ola, we find

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that those original folk poems, themes of warfare,

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seafaring, excessive drinking are recurring, you know,

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recurring in those poems.

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So in a way, the metaphorical war that is,

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that is mentioned in Lemon

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and Lalo, connects to the original poems that existed

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before the publication of the Kola.

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So you can see how this song actually uses loads

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of different little things and puts them all together

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to make a new story, as it were.

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And then the second song that I analyzed,

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for these articles, which means Iron From the Breasts,

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and it's by a band called Oma.

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Uh, and you might think that's a strange title for a song,

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iron From the Breasts.

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What, what does that even mean? Um, it's gonna make sense.

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So it's based again,

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on a story from the Caala, but FIA painting.

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So let me talk about the Caala first in the Caala,

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in one of the poems we learned

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that iron is created from the milk

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that flows from the rest of free maidens.

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And these maidens are the Dodge of Ko,

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and Ko is the supreme Dei and, god of rainy thunder.

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So if you know Scandinavian mythology, you know, Odin,

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he is sort of comparable to that in a way.

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And he creates these maidens,

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and the maidens all have different types of milk

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that flows into the earth, and that becomes iron.

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And it's very, this is a very powerful imagery

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that's created here in the Kola.

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And that inspired a painter, a painter, sorry,

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called Joseph Lenon.

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Um, and he painted the painting Tu the Birth of Iron

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in 1917.

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And this painting shows, the free maidens

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and their milk flowing into the earth, and the singer

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and lyricist from Mo, his name is Koana.

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He saw the painting in a museum at one point,

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and he had a really powerful reaction to it.

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He really liked it,

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and he decided to channel the feelings

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that he got from this painting into his lyrics.

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And that's where the song comes, comes from.

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So now the title makes a lot more sense.

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Um, when we look at the lyrics of Erta, it,

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it's not really about this story.

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It takes that line iron from the rest,

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but it does something completely different with it.

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So this song actually details how the protagonist

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considers themselves responsible for their own life,

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and, they renounce destiny as well.

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So they're saying like, you can't really lean on others.

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You can't really expect life to just happen for you to,

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good things to happen.

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You have to take control yourself.

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Um, so it's about finding your own power,

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which sounds really good and powerful,

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but at the same time, there's also this huge sense

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of isolation from others that comes from the song about

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how you can't really lean on anyone else.

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And this melancholic mood strongly resonates with the Epic,

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the Ola, but also with the Conar.

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And the Conar is, a sister collection to the Epic,

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and it contains a lot of poems as well on a range of topics

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that concerned everyday life in pre-modern Finland.

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So think about, poems that have to do about giving birth

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or getting married or falling in love,

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or a relative dying, things like that.

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Um, so things that to,

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to a huge extent still play a part in our,

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in our lives as well.

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So these poems are not connected to each other.

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They're loose poems on topics on, you know, on these topics

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that I just mentioned.

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And if you look at the titles of the poems,

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you can already see

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how their contents can be quite melancholic and sad.

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So there's for example, a poem called,

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which means Hopeless Love.

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And we've maybe all experienced some hopeless love

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at one point or another.

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And if we look a bit closer at the poems

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of the Consulate are, we find that a lot

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of these poems are also about nature.

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They're not specifically about like, I love the trees

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and I love the forest, and it's also beautiful,

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but nature performs a function to express something.

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And, we can compare to the, the

14:15.035 --> 14:19.285
with poem from the con called Sia, who, sorry,

14:19.285 --> 14:22.285
which means chaos or worries, sorrow.

14:23.145 --> 14:26.085
Um, and if we look at

14:27.465 --> 14:30.165
the narrator in the, in the chorus talks about

14:30.225 --> 14:32.165
how he seeks shelter from the shrubs,

14:32.475 --> 14:34.925
food from the bark iron, from the breasts.

14:35.145 --> 14:38.045
So they are constantly the narrator's talking about

14:38.955 --> 14:41.925
he's looking, he wants one thing from another thing

14:41.925 --> 14:43.725
that's mostly found in nature.

14:44.065 --> 14:46.925
So food from the bark, shelter from the shrubs,

14:47.865 --> 14:52.045
and in the narrator of that poem, speaks

14:52.045 --> 14:54.925
of having more worries than cones on a spruce

14:54.945 --> 14:56.605
and beard moss on a juniper.

14:56.985 --> 14:59.165
So again, we have this, there's one thing,

14:59.865 --> 15:01.725
and it's taken from nature as well.

15:02.865 --> 15:04.245
So in both the song

15:04.245 --> 15:06.765
and the poem, the narrator uses nature

15:06.785 --> 15:09.005
to really fully express their mood.

15:10.385 --> 15:13.405
Um, and that's what, does.

15:13.405 --> 15:16.525
So it's, it's a little bit different from leis and lalu.

15:16.715 --> 15:21.085
It's, it comes, it's inspiration comes from the kola,

15:21.145 --> 15:23.365
but in a sort of roundabout way, fiat painting.

15:23.625 --> 15:26.805
And then in a way, when you first look at it, you're like,

15:26.805 --> 15:27.925
well, this has nothing to do

15:28.085 --> 15:29.965
with like the folk poetry anymore.

15:30.145 --> 15:32.245
But then if you look a bit deeper, you find out

15:32.245 --> 15:36.125
that the mood and the way that nature is used to express,

15:36.665 --> 15:39.925
you know, express the story to really,

15:40.675 --> 15:41.885
make it very poetic.

15:42.305 --> 15:45.805
That's actually very similar to what the, the focusing

15:45.805 --> 15:49.725
as would have done in, you know, in those days when,

15:50.035 --> 15:52.525
when folk poetry was still sung as an active genre.

15:52.995 --> 15:54.205
It's quite interesting, really,

15:54.205 --> 15:56.245
because I just talked about these songs and,

15:56.265 --> 16:01.125
and paid huge sort of, placed a lot of emphasis on

16:01.145 --> 16:02.685
how they are connected to Finland

16:02.785 --> 16:05.165
and what types of Finnish culture

16:05.385 --> 16:08.205
and, you know, what, what, what,

16:08.395 --> 16:09.805
what they take from Finnish culture,

16:09.985 --> 16:12.045
and also how they sort of comment upon

16:12.595 --> 16:13.885
society in some cases.

16:15.145 --> 16:19.845
Um, but at the same time, there are many connections made

16:19.845 --> 16:21.405
to metal music worldwide.

16:21.505 --> 16:24.085
So the first thing we can talk about is masculinity,

16:24.135 --> 16:27.365
which plays a huge role in, lemon Kaizen Lalu

16:27.785 --> 16:29.205
or the Song of Lemon gyn.

16:29.585 --> 16:31.125
So in that song, we can really see

16:31.125 --> 16:33.045
that Lemon Gyan becomes representative

16:33.425 --> 16:35.405
of mostly Finnish masculinity.

16:36.465 --> 16:40.285
Um, the Ben again, the Ben lyricist y nan,

16:40.485 --> 16:42.285
I conducted an interview with him

16:42.505 --> 16:45.965
and, I talked to him about this, this particular song

16:46.705 --> 16:50.565
and asked him like, is Lemon gyn representative

16:50.785 --> 16:51.925
of of Finnish men?

16:51.925 --> 16:54.005
And he was like, yes, yes, it totally is.

16:54.265 --> 16:58.645
Um, and he discussed with me how Finnish men are,

17:00.115 --> 17:03.365
have a difficulty maybe prioritizing properly.

17:04.185 --> 17:06.685
Um, so they make the mistake of choosing work

17:07.105 --> 17:09.685
and drinking, going out overstaying

17:09.745 --> 17:10.845
at home with their family.

17:12.025 --> 17:13.645
And, Hinan

17:13.645 --> 17:15.645
and himself considers that the nuclear family.

17:16.025 --> 17:19.245
So you, your, you know, if you're a man, your wife or,

17:19.465 --> 17:21.445
or your husband, very possible,

17:21.985 --> 17:25.325
and your children are what is the most important thing

17:25.425 --> 17:28.885
and work, and, you know, going out with friends and drinking

17:28.985 --> 17:31.885
and all of that is, is less important.

17:32.105 --> 17:33.845
But he observes that he himself,

17:33.905 --> 17:38.845
but also other Finn men have this, you know, have this,

17:39.195 --> 17:42.165
have this problem with setting that, that as a priority.

17:42.185 --> 17:44.565
And instead they go to work and they go and drink,

17:44.625 --> 17:47.005
and they, they kind of leave their, you know,

17:47.005 --> 17:49.685
their spouse alone at home with the children.

17:51.105 --> 17:53.445
Um, but if we look at a global context,

17:53.555 --> 17:56.245
obviously there are many metal songs about alcoholism.

17:57.025 --> 17:59.685
Um, it really is a recurring theme.

18:00.065 --> 18:04.565
And, at the same time, it's interesting

18:04.565 --> 18:07.725
because in a lot of those songs about alcoholism

18:08.465 --> 18:11.485
or about alcohol is kind of glorified to drink a lot

18:12.425 --> 18:13.565
and celebrate it.

18:13.565 --> 18:14.765
Whereas in Lemon, Kais

18:14.765 --> 18:17.325
and Lalo, it's very clear that,

18:17.635 --> 18:18.925
it's not such a good thing.

18:19.265 --> 18:23.405
And, the song actually, ends with,

18:23.475 --> 18:24.805
with the metaphor of a squirrel

18:25.625 --> 18:28.205
and the, in this, so I told you that the squirrel,

18:28.205 --> 18:30.285
there are two squirrels initially in the song,

18:30.385 --> 18:31.645
and they're sweetly together.

18:32.225 --> 18:34.885
And at the end of the song, there's only one squirrel,

18:34.945 --> 18:36.725
and it lies underneath the black earth

18:36.755 --> 18:37.965
instead of on top of it.

18:38.065 --> 18:39.085
So it's very sad.

18:39.865 --> 18:43.565
Um, and again, I was like kind of wondering myself,

18:43.785 --> 18:46.045
is it about lemon kin?

18:46.105 --> 18:47.845
Who has died? Is it who has died?

18:47.845 --> 18:49.005
And then when I was talking to Yo

18:49.305 --> 18:51.205
and he said, actually, it's a, it's a metaphor

18:51.205 --> 18:52.765
for their love that has died.

18:53.745 --> 18:55.925
Um, so it's really the alcohol

18:55.925 --> 18:58.525
that has destroyed their marriage, basically.

18:58.825 --> 19:02.565
So it's interesting that it, it does use that global idea

19:02.565 --> 19:05.685
of alcoholism, but then adds this idea that, hey,

19:05.685 --> 19:08.445
it's not actually a good thing to drink that much.

19:08.585 --> 19:11.205
And, and you should, you know, take care of your family.

19:13.385 --> 19:17.405
Um, and at the same time, it's a criticism of society where,

19:17.615 --> 19:18.965
where people do these things.

19:19.745 --> 19:22.805
And again, that's a recurring theme in metal music

19:22.835 --> 19:27.005
that it's very often critical of, of society around us.

19:27.745 --> 19:31.165
Um, and especially lately, I, I noticed that a lot

19:31.165 --> 19:33.245
of songs are, for example, about climate change

19:33.465 --> 19:35.245
and, things like that as well.

19:37.225 --> 19:41.605
And, when I talked about Erta,

19:41.605 --> 19:43.005
I made this connection to nature,

19:43.105 --> 19:45.085
and especially when it comes to,

19:45.625 --> 19:47.125
the Baltic Finnish folk poetry.

19:47.785 --> 19:50.525
But nature is really important in a lot of metal songs.

19:50.625 --> 19:53.045
If you look at the, the genre of Viking metal,

19:53.095 --> 19:56.205
which is huge in Scandinavia, mainly, I mean,

19:56.205 --> 19:59.805
there are American bands in British bands that also sing or,

19:59.905 --> 20:01.405
or make, make Viking metal.

20:02.145 --> 20:05.965
Um, they also very often use nature to,

20:06.265 --> 20:07.365
you know, set the scene.

20:07.365 --> 20:10.085
Basically they talk about the forests and,

20:10.225 --> 20:12.125
and the mountains and things like that.

20:12.705 --> 20:16.885
So, you know, nature is, is a global topic,

20:17.345 --> 20:19.685
but at the same time, it's also a very finished topic.

20:20.065 --> 20:23.045
Um, so like I mentioned,

20:24.345 --> 20:28.525
Ola the Painter, he has so many paintings that are,

20:29.065 --> 20:31.365
you know, that he, he has made when he was

20:31.475 --> 20:32.765
traveling through Finland.

20:33.185 --> 20:36.165
Um, so it's, it's trees and the lakes

20:36.165 --> 20:39.445
and, you know, these, these really quintessential,

20:39.665 --> 20:44.325
finish, finish paintings, finish trees like spruces

20:44.385 --> 20:46.845
and pines and birches, the

20:46.845 --> 20:48.285
Trees you see a lot in Finland

20:48.425 --> 20:50.445
and in these huge landscapes.

20:50.625 --> 20:52.125
He, he painted those a lot.

20:53.905 --> 20:56.245
Um, so it's kind of interesting

20:56.405 --> 21:00.685
'cause uses like this, this nature, and you can say, wow,

21:00.685 --> 21:03.125
but that's kind of a global thing in metal

21:03.135 --> 21:04.205
music to use nature.

21:04.265 --> 21:07.085
And it is, but I think it, what makes it so Finnish

21:07.905 --> 21:09.605
is not just the depiction of nature,

21:09.865 --> 21:11.165
but how it combines this

21:11.165 --> 21:13.445
with this really glooming melancholic mood

21:13.865 --> 21:16.325
and also this lexical similarity to,

21:16.665 --> 21:18.245
to the poem I just mentioned,

21:19.425 --> 21:22.485
and it's kind of funny how it, how both songs play

21:22.555 --> 21:26.885
with this is, this contrast

21:26.885 --> 21:28.685
between global themes and metal music,

21:28.865 --> 21:31.125
and then also connecting it to finish

21:31.675 --> 21:33.325
Finn national identity as it were.

21:34.065 --> 21:36.565
Um, so we could say that these songs are, you know,

21:36.565 --> 21:38.605
on the one and typically Finnish,

21:39.105 --> 21:43.405
yet they are connecting to the wider metal scene, as,

21:43.465 --> 21:46.645
as the, the themes are, are recurrent in that as well.

21:48.945 --> 21:52.045
And what makes them then typically finish is obviously the

21:52.045 --> 21:55.205
adaptation of the ola, the, the sister collection,

21:55.575 --> 21:58.365
these other sources of, Finn, you know,

21:58.365 --> 22:00.845
finish literature, finish arts, like the painting and,

22:00.905 --> 22:02.725
and the book by Alexis Keve.

22:03.225 --> 22:05.445
Um, but also the manner in which the themes are,

22:05.465 --> 22:06.725
are treated in the songs.

Quick Answers

Exploring Finland's National Folk Epic, Kalevala

00:00:00 - I first talk a little bit about Ola, because that's, that's the, the big thing. if you haven't heard about Ola before, it's time you did, it's Finland's National Folk epic. and the final version of this epic was published in 1849, by its edit editor alias. I'll tell him a little bit more about him later, but first, let me tell you that the epic consists of folk poetry that was collected in Finland and modern day Russia. it was originally sung by Finns
00:00:34 - language family as Finnish. So those are Ingrid's, Caran, Wesson, IANS, and Estonians, and they all live around the tic Gulf. so in that corner up there, Finland to Estonia, that's where those people lived. And Ala Leonard himself traveled extensively throughout these regions, to collect the poetry. And he met loads and loads of singers there. and this was in the 18th century. And some of these singers that he met such as Arthi Nan,
00:01:07 - and loads of poems, like their repertoire span, thousands of lines, and some of these poems interconnected with each other. And it is likely that Leonardo actually got the idea to create an epic for, for Finland, a newly so emerging nation at the time, from these encounters with these sinners singers. so the Ola starts with the creation of the world from a duck's egg. So we have the God is called,
00:01:38 - creates a nest on her knee and then lays an egg in it, and then she shakes her leg at some point, and the egg falls, and that's where the world is created out of. So I think the yolk becomes the sun and, you know, the stuff like that. And the middle of the Epic, is centered on the myth of the mysterious sample, which is this object that brings pres prosperity to its own. So obviously everyone wants to have the sample. unfortunately not everyone can have it
00:02:07 - So at the end of the kola, unfortunately, the Samo, gets lost in a battle because there's a battle at sea and it falls off the boat into the water and breaks into thousands and thousands of pieces. so no one has it. And then finally, the end of the epic signals, the arrival with Christianity. So the main hero of the epic called Von, and I'm sorry about all the difficult words that I'm throwing around here, but you'll just have to go with it. So V Moon, and, he leaves, the world
00:02:42 - And why am I talking about this epic? Well, this epic has been super important for, the formation and subsequent evolution of Finnish national identity. So at the time when it was released, Finland was part of Russia. And, mainly scholars, were looking at and thinking about what actually is Finland, and how can we define Finland? And that's when the Colorado was, you know, published.

Influence of Kalevala on Finnish Identity

00:03:13 - that that Finland could have its own identity. And, it has partially kept fulfilling this role of being a cornerstone of national identity, through adaptation across loads of cultural disciplines. So you might have seen paintings by national romantic painter, Alex Gal, or you might have heard compositions by Jean C, who's very popular in the uk. or maybe you've even heard about the writings
00:03:44 - But the Kalala isn't only, isn't only done in like this sort of official high proper culture, so to say. It's also done in popular culture. so there's a writer called Maori who has reimagined the epic with dogs instead of humans, in, a book called The Canine Kalala. And this book is aimed for children, but actually adults really enjoy it as well. And, if you know Donald Duck, the Disney character,
00:04:18 - that gets released every week. And one week in the 1990s, they had a special edition, that was based on the sample myth. So Scrooge McDuck, I think, went in search of the sample and also in music, the Kal has adapted quite often. So I've already talked about John Sibelius, but in popular music, artists such as Ismo Lanko and the Ben CMX, both sort of rock avantgarde music, they have both been inspired by the Epic as well.
00:04:49 - And, that was the main subject of my PhD. And there's, there's so many songs in Finnish metal music that draw on, on the Kawa as well. The first of this, I'll, I'll talk about each song individually. So the first of these songs, is Lemon Geis and Lalo, or the Song of Lemon gyn. lemon GYN is one of the characters in in the Epic. and the song that, I analyzed is by the band called
00:05:20 - And he's very often inspired by Finnish society and culture, including the Caala. And the interesting thing about Lemon Kai and Lao is that it really connects this inspiration taken from culture and is inspiration taken from society and puts them together. so Kinin, like I said, is from the Kola. he is the Donan or the Casanova, from the book. so he flirts with all the women and, you know, goes around
00:05:49 - find all these women everywhere. And, one day he, he finds this beautiful maiden got, and she lives on an island, which is very imaginatively called Island, because why would you name it anything besides island? but yeah, he, he more or less abducts her gets married to her. So we can't say this is actually a consensual marriage, but, you know, Kamala times are different times, different things happened. but Lemon Kin and is not a good husband at all.

Modern Adaptations of Finnish Folk Themes

00:06:21 - and he leaves Kki. And what does he do when he leaves her? It goes and flirts with other women as you do. And the story really, or the song actually really adapts this part of the story. So Lemon Geis and Lalu starts with the wedding, the Ill-fated marriage between Lemon GN and, and Kki. and it doesn't just actually use Kawa, it also uses another poem by the writer Alexis Kiy,
00:06:53 - And, the poem that, that is used is called in Finnish s, which translates to sweetly the Little Squirrel. And this poem appears in a book, called The Seven Brothers. And this book, is considered Finland's first novel in Finnish, and it's a very well known classic in Finland that everything knows, and I'm pretty sure they all have to read it in school as well. So it, it's, it's very, very well known in Finland.
00:07:26 - where it's been adapted in music as well, and sung in music. And Le Kaizen Lalo also incorporates this poem as well as material from the Kola. So at the end of the first verse, there are two squirrels, sweetly sleeping, and this obviously refers to this poem, sweetly the Little Squirrel Squirrel. But these squirrels actually act as a metaphor for the couple as well. in the chorus, we actually get to the, the, the,
00:07:58 - and it includes the priest. And this is very unusual in a way because, Leonard, the editor of the Kola, actually try to remove any traces of Christianity from the Epic, whereas Scott has decided to reintroduce them. And this is a first indication that, the Song of Lemon and Kin and is not just a simple retelling of Lemon Kin story from the Epic, but that it's trying to do a little bit more with that story and maybe updated for a modern audience.
00:08:29 - that the priest in tongue's words to the wind. So there's this indication that maybe marriage isn't as important or not as sacred as we like to think of it, and then we get to the third, or this, the, yeah, the third verse of the song, which seemingly diverges even further from the epic. But it is also where this connection to modern society is really consolidated. So this, first details how Lemon Guy leaves
00:09:00 - but it becomes clear that the war is not, you know, your typical tribe of warfare, but it's actually a metaphor for heavy drinking and pop rolls. And this becomes clear with lines such as he goes to the, the bars, tables and things like that. So he goes and drinks basically. And the metaphorical war in the lyrics has two effects. Like I said, firstly, it kind of updates them in kind of story to make it more accessible to a modern audience. So it's much more likely that you are familiar with drinking, perhaps losing some control,

Connections Between Folk Poetry and Modern Songs

00:09:31 - or maybe even taking part in one. you're much more likely to be familiar with that than with actual warfare. So it just makes this story a bit more accessible to a modern listener. But interestingly, if we look at the folk poems that make up Lemon Kin and Story in the Ola, we find that those original folk poems, themes of warfare, seafaring, excessive drinking are recurring, you know,
00:10:02 - So in a way, the metaphorical war that is, that is mentioned in Lemon and Lalo, connects to the original poems that existed before the publication of the Kola. So you can see how this song actually uses loads of different little things and puts them all together to make a new story, as it were. And then the second song that I analyzed, for these articles, which means Iron From the Breasts,
00:10:34 - and you might think that's a strange title for a song, iron From the Breasts. What, what does that even mean? it's gonna make sense. So it's based again, on a story from the Caala, but FIA painting. So let me talk about the Caala first in the Caala, in one of the poems we learned that iron is created from the milk that flows from the rest of free maidens. And these maidens are the Dodge of Ko, and Ko is the supreme Dei and, god of rainy thunder.
00:11:09 - he is sort of comparable to that in a way. And he creates these maidens, and the maidens all have different types of milk that flows into the earth, and that becomes iron. And it's very, this is a very powerful imagery that's created here in the Kola. And that inspired a painter, a painter, sorry, called Joseph Lenon. and he painted the painting Tu the Birth of Iron
00:11:38 - And this painting shows, the free maidens and their milk flowing into the earth, and the singer and lyricist from Mo, his name is Koana. He saw the painting in a museum at one point, and he had a really powerful reaction to it. He really liked it, and he decided to channel the feelings that he got from this painting into his lyrics. And that's where the song comes, comes from. So now the title makes a lot more sense.
00:12:09 - it's not really about this story. It takes that line iron from the rest, but it does something completely different with it. So this song actually details how the protagonist considers themselves responsible for their own life, and, they renounce destiny as well. So they're saying like, you can't really lean on others. You can't really expect life to just happen for you to, good things to happen. You have to take control yourself.

Exploring Melancholy in Finnish Poetry and Song

00:12:40 - which sounds really good and powerful, but at the same time, there's also this huge sense of isolation from others that comes from the song about how you can't really lean on anyone else. And this melancholic mood strongly resonates with the Epic, the Ola, but also with the Conar. And the Conar is, a sister collection to the Epic, and it contains a lot of poems as well on a range of topics that concerned everyday life in pre-modern Finland.
00:13:13 - or getting married or falling in love, or a relative dying, things like that. so things that to, to a huge extent still play a part in our, in our lives as well. So these poems are not connected to each other. They're loose poems on topics on, you know, on these topics that I just mentioned. And if you look at the titles of the poems, you can already see how their contents can be quite melancholic and sad.
00:13:43 - which means Hopeless Love. And we've maybe all experienced some hopeless love at one point or another. And if we look a bit closer at the poems of the Consulate are, we find that a lot of these poems are also about nature. They're not specifically about like, I love the trees and I love the forest, and it's also beautiful, but nature performs a function to express something. And, we can compare to the, the
00:14:19 - which means chaos or worries, sorrow. and if we look at the narrator in the, in the chorus talks about how he seeks shelter from the shrubs, food from the bark iron, from the breasts. So they are constantly the narrator's talking about he's looking, he wants one thing from another thing that's mostly found in nature. So food from the bark, shelter from the shrubs,
00:14:52 - of having more worries than cones on a spruce and beard moss on a juniper. So again, we have this, there's one thing, and it's taken from nature as well. So in both the song and the poem, the narrator uses nature to really fully express their mood. and that's what, does. So it's, it's a little bit different from leis and lalu. It's, it comes, it's inspiration comes from the kola,
00:15:23 - And then in a way, when you first look at it, you're like, well, this has nothing to do with like the folk poetry anymore. But then if you look a bit deeper, you find out that the mood and the way that nature is used to express, you know, express the story to really, make it very poetic. That's actually very similar to what the, the focusing as would have done in, you know, in those days when, when folk poetry was still sung as an active genre.

Exploring Finnish Masculinity in Metal Music

00:15:54 - because I just talked about these songs and, and paid huge sort of, placed a lot of emphasis on how they are connected to Finland and what types of Finnish culture and, you know, what, what, what, what they take from Finnish culture, and also how they sort of comment upon society in some cases. but at the same time, there are many connections made to metal music worldwide. So the first thing we can talk about is masculinity,
00:16:27 - or the Song of Lemon gyn. So in that song, we can really see that Lemon Gyan becomes representative of mostly Finnish masculinity. the Ben again, the Ben lyricist y nan, I conducted an interview with him and, I talked to him about this, this particular song and asked him like, is Lemon gyn representative of of Finnish men? And he was like, yes, yes, it totally is.
00:17:00 - have a difficulty maybe prioritizing properly. so they make the mistake of choosing work and drinking, going out overstaying at home with their family. And, Hinan and himself considers that the nuclear family. So you, your, you know, if you're a man, your wife or, or your husband, very possible, and your children are what is the most important thing
00:17:28 - and all of that is, is less important. But he observes that he himself, but also other Finn men have this, you know, have this, have this problem with setting that, that as a priority. And instead they go to work and they go and drink, and they, they kind of leave their, you know, their spouse alone at home with the children. but if we look at a global context, obviously there are many metal songs about alcoholism.
00:18:00 - And, at the same time, it's interesting because in a lot of those songs about alcoholism or about alcohol is kind of glorified to drink a lot and celebrate it. Whereas in Lemon, Kais and Lalo, it's very clear that, it's not such a good thing. And, the song actually, ends with, with the metaphor of a squirrel and the, in this, so I told you that the squirrel,
00:18:30 - and they're sweetly together. And at the end of the song, there's only one squirrel, and it lies underneath the black earth instead of on top of it. So it's very sad. and again, I was like kind of wondering myself, is it about lemon kin? Who has died? Is it who has died? And then when I was talking to Yo and he said, actually, it's a, it's a metaphor for their love that has died. so it's really the alcohol that has destroyed their marriage, basically.

Alcoholism and Nature in Finnish Metal Music

00:19:02 - of alcoholism, but then adds this idea that, hey, it's not actually a good thing to drink that much. And, and you should, you know, take care of your family. and at the same time, it's a criticism of society where, where people do these things. And again, that's a recurring theme in metal music that it's very often critical of, of society around us. and especially lately, I, I noticed that a lot
00:19:33 - and, things like that as well. And, when I talked about Erta, I made this connection to nature, and especially when it comes to, the Baltic Finnish folk poetry. But nature is really important in a lot of metal songs. If you look at the, the genre of Viking metal, which is huge in Scandinavia, mainly, I mean, there are American bands in British bands that also sing or, or make, make Viking metal.
00:20:06 - you know, set the scene. Basically they talk about the forests and, and the mountains and things like that. So, you know, nature is, is a global topic, but at the same time, it's also a very finished topic. so like I mentioned, Ola the Painter, he has so many paintings that are, you know, that he, he has made when he was traveling through Finland.
00:20:36 - and, you know, these, these really quintessential, finish, finish paintings, finish trees like spruces and pines and birches, the Trees you see a lot in Finland and in these huge landscapes. He, he painted those a lot. so it's kind of interesting 'cause uses like this, this nature, and you can say, wow, but that's kind of a global thing in metal music to use nature.
00:21:07 - is not just the depiction of nature, but how it combines this with this really glooming melancholic mood and also this lexical similarity to, to the poem I just mentioned, and it's kind of funny how it, how both songs play with this is, this contrast between global themes and metal music, and then also connecting it to finish Finn national identity as it were. so we could say that these songs are, you know,
00:22:05 - yet they are connecting to the wider metal scene, as, as the, the themes are, are recurrent in that as well. And what makes them then typically finish is obviously the adaptation of the ola, the, the sister collection, these other sources of, Finn, you know, finish literature, finish arts, like the painting and, and the book by Alexis Keve. but also the manner in which the themes are, are treated in the songs.

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