Fire in the North Sky Epic Tales from (Saatuja Sanoja) Nick Hennessey (storyteller, vocals) Anna-Kaisa Liedes (singer) Kristiina Ilmonen (flutes, percussion, vocals) Timo Väänänen (, pyngyr, vocals)

An Adverse Camber production Fire in the North Sky Epic Tales from Finland (Saatuja Sanoja)

Commissioned in association with mac birmingham and Beyond the Border Storytelling Festival with support from Sage Gateshead. Thanks to Arts Council England, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Finnish Music Foundation, Finnish Society.

The performance takes place in two halves with an interval.

02 Welcome to tonight’s performance and thank you for coming!

The poems and songs which are at the root of Fire in the North Sky are part of an enduring oral tradition stretching back for thousands of years. In 1828, when Elias Lönnrot set out to collect runo-song*, this tradition was particularly strong in , a remote, rural area, a borderland between Finland and Russia. Lönnrot gathered over 130,000 lines of runo-song and published two edited collections as The in 1835 and 1849. The work inspired many artists, led to more collecting, and is credited as the catalyst for Finnish national identity emerging at that time.

All four of the artists creating tonight’s performance have a deep, evolving and ongoing relationship with Kalevala source material. While drawing on this knowledge, they are also collectively reaching out for something new. The destination they’ve been working towards is the experience of performing to audiences. The presence of audiences reacting to the work is what truly makes the work come alive.

Thanks are due to so many people particularly our co-commissioners and funders and to you for being here. We’d love to hear your feedback, so please do get in touch.

Enjoy the show! Saatuja Sanoja!

Naomi Wilds Producer

*discover more about runo-song on p6-7 03 Ruvennenko laulamahe soanenko sanelomahe? Pankamas käsi kätehe sormi sormien välihe haka toisehen hakahe. Sana siulta, toini miulta

Sung by Arhippa Perttunen, Latvajärvi, Viena

04 Shall I start to sing shall I begin to recite? Come let us put hand in hand and finger in finger-gap each grip in the other’s grip. One word from you and one from me

05 This body of sung poetry was About sustained as a widespread, Kalevala : continuous tradition until early 1900 (and in some areas continues today). Songs The topics of poems were multiple and various. Some songs told epic and Story stories of ancient folk heroes, others Traditions were incantations and evoked rituals such as the bear hunt, others Between 2,500 and 3,000 years ago expressed personal emotions. In the groups of people living around the 19th Century, a keen folklorist and Gulf of Finland developed a unique medical doctor Elias Lönnrot, form of song, characterised by amongst other collectors, set about alliteration and parallelism*. This collecting these runo-songs. He singing tradition is ‘runo-song’, a gathered over a hundred thousand form which draws on the unique lines of poetry and edited them into cadences and rhythms of the publication we know as Kalevala . Finno-Ugric languages with their long vowel sounds and stresses on the Lönnrot famously said he had first syllable. Each line is the length of gathered enough material to make a breath, and sections are grouped seven different versions of the epic. with repeating elements from the first Out of the 23,000 published lines, line in the next, and so on. only 3% were added by Lönnrot, all the others were recorded from individual singers.

06 In Autumn 1833, Lönnrot stayed in Väinämöinen, a central figure in the a region where poems were still songs, was seen to be the symbol sung by both young and old. He of national rebirth. Artists across met a singer who sang to him for many different disciplines were two days, 800 lines in all. Among drawn to Kalevala ’s landscapes and these songs was the sequence of characters - as seen in I.K.Inha’s episodes relating to the , photography, ’s music a mysterious object which brings and Gallen-Kallela’s artworks infinite bounty. An elderly singer amongst others. Some streets and Vaassila Kieleväinen, guided corporations in Finland take their Lönnrot in making links among names from Kalevala. Kalevala , different themes. Vaassila’s considered the national epic of knowledge was a decisive factor Finland, has been translated into in the structuring of the first edition over 50 different languages, of Kalevala. influencing writers and artists across the world. Finland became an Kalevala ’s publication picked up on independent nation in 1917. a groundswell of interest in Finnish as a language and the distinctive *Alliteration - repetition of the first sound of the word. Parallelism - using words which culture of the people. (Until the late have the same meaning, sound or rhythm 19th Century, Swedish was the within a sentence. official language of Finland). Thanks to the Society - find more links at www.adversecamber.org

07 In runo-song, melodies have a About narrow range - usually five notes Runo-Song: closely grouped together. The pattern of poetic beats is a trochaic instruments, tetrameter, now called Kalevala metre, four pairs where the stress traditions and falls on the first syllable of the pair.** new music The repetition from line to line, building on the regularity of the Although Kalevala as a text has a stresses and rhythms, creates a particularly strong association with meditative, hypnotic feel. The singer Finland and 19th Century folklore breathes life into the lines with collecting, runo-song traditions voice, body and musical stretch over a much wider expression, playing inventively geographic area and longer time within the boundaries of the form. period*. In Fire in the North Sky , melody The archives in contain and text from different sources and over 100 years of research on oral different time periods are combined, traditions across Finno-Ugric according to the intention and language speakers, which include instincts of the artists. Anna-Kaisa , Hungarians, Karelians and may sing the melody from an Estonians amongst others. There is Estonian runo-song, with words a similarly diverse body of research from a Finnish variation. Sometimes, on early melodies and instruments, when Nick is telling one version of particularly kantele, bowed lyre the story, Anna-Kaisa sings another, (jouhikko) and various wind there are multiple layers. Kristiina instruments. Contemporary incorporates the ancient music of traditional musicians, creating their shepherd flute traditions as well as own path as artists, benefit from imaginative percussion and her own these rich archives as well as the vocal improvisations. living traditions of master-apprentice transmission and an ethos which embraces invention and innovation as integral to traditional music.

08 Timo incorporates Karelian style kantele, as well as more contemporary styles in his performances. The movements between these different styles are seamless and vary from performance to performance, as a continuous, inventive flow.

Lönnrot, who was himself a singer and kantele player, took on a role similar to that of the traditional singer - piecing together the poetic lines he recorded into a particular order. While his order was set in the form of a publication, the oral singers would have picked and chosen different variations every time they sung.

The four artists who create Fire in the North Sky are similarly able to draw from a rich body of different layers and variations across the work. The piece is influenced by the responses of audiences, the fifth, multi-layered member of the ensemble.

*see map of Finno-Ugric language speakers on page 14.

**this contrasts with iambic pentameter more familiar to English speakers where stress falls on the second syllable of five pairs. 09 Hear me, bear In your dreams you will have me Your dreams will make me true I shall have your strength

10 Kuule minua, karhu Tulen sinun uneesi sinä uneksit minut todeksi minulla on sinun voimasi

11 Here are a selection of characters Characters you may hear stories about:

Elias Lönnrot compiled The Väinämöinen (Vai -na-moi-nen) Kalevala with attention to epics The central hero of Kalevala . An of other cultures as well as the old, wise man when the world was sequence order of the traditional created, in some versions he is the singers. For Western audiences son of the goddess , in other used to ‘beginning, middle and versions he created the world. ends’, the stories within He is a singer and made the first runo-songs offer less structure, kantele. His playing is so magical we drop into a story, immerse that when he plays, all of nature ourselves in it, and leave. Fire in comes to listen – bears, snakes, the North Sky gives audiences a even the Gods of the underworld. sample of different moments and He travels far and wide and has the freedom to forge your own notable encounters with many connections. other heroes, women and Gods.

Antero Vipunen (Ant -er-o Veep -oon-en) An ancient and ill-tempered giant buried deep underground, he possibly even forms part of the earth. This giant knows all the spells in the world.

12 (Ain -o) (Ill -mar-in-en) A beautiful young woman. She is A mighty blacksmith, ‘the God-created described as fragile as a flower; one’. He has the ability to forge and yet Aino has great inner anything he chooses, and he forges strength and refuses to be tied the Sampo, a mysterious, mystical down by any man, even when object that brings infinite wealth and wooed by Väinämöinen. The story bounty. Ilmarinen and Väinämöinen are of Aino and Väinämöinen is the often shown as great friends, but also subject of a much-loved 1891 attempt to trick one another in rivalry. tryptich painting by Akseli Gallen-Kallela, on display in the (Lov -ee-ah-tar, also National Museum of Art in Helsinki. sometimes called ) The daughter of the god of Death Louhi (Loh -hee) and the underworld deity The hag of the far North, the land Tuonetar. Loviatar is the goddess of known as . A mighty witch, disease. Her name occurs in spells she has shape-changing powers where diseases are banished. and can weave amazing enchantments. She has a number Lemminkäinen (Lem -in-kai-nen) of beautiful daughters who the male A handsome and foolish youth, forever heroes try to win but are often set setting out northwards on his skis to amazing tasks before they are woo women. One of Kalevala’s most approved. In some versions, Louhi famous stories is his mother’s quest and Loviatar are interchangeable. to find and revive him on the banks of the river of Death, also captured in a painting by Gallen-Kallela. His story is also the subject of Sibelius’ ‘Lemminkäinen Suite’.

13 14

Eastern Sami

Western Sami

Karelian

Finnish Vepsian Southern Sami Ingrian Estonian Karelian Hil Me Livonian

Hungarian Komi Khanty Mansi

Udmurt ll and Meadow Mari eadow Mari Erzya Moksha

Sharing culture across borders - the Finno-Ugric Languages map

The musical traditions and mythology of ancient runo songs, epic poems, lyric poems and sung spells, some of which are recorded in Kalevala , are a common cultural heritage for many speakers of Finno-Ugric languages, as shown on this map. 15 Nick Hennessey Nick has been telling stories from Storyteller/Vocals Kalevala for the past fourteen years both in Finland and England. He Nick Hennessey is widely is the only international entrant acknowledged as one of the UK’s to win the Runolaulu (runo-song) leading contemporary storytellers. singing competition in Espoo near He has performed at London’s Helsinki (2000). In 2010 he was South Bank Centre and the Royal commissioned by BBC Radio 4 Albert Hall and extensively at folk, to create a documentary about storytelling, and literature festivals Kalevala . throughout the UK and internationally. He has published Listen to Nick’s Radio 4 three solo albums as a singer and documentary on the storyteller, the most recent of which Adverse Camber website. ‘A Rare Hunger’ received critical acclaim with plays on BBC Radio 3. www.nickhennessey.co.uk

16 Anna-Kaisa Liedes She has composed and performed Singer music for film and theatre and recorded numerous albums both Anna-Kaisa Liedes is an integral solo and with different ensembles. part of the development of the modern experimental Finnish folk Besides Finno-Ugrian song tradition music scene. She is currently Head and kantele playing, Anna-Kaisa of the Sibelius Academy Folk Music specialises in vocal improvisation Department at the University of the exploring the emotional and Arts Helsinki and Senior Lecturer in expressive limits of the human Folk Song. voice.

Anna-Kaisa performs worldwide myspace.com/annakaisaliedes as a solo artist and with numerous groups, including Suunta with Kristiina Ilmonen and Timo Väänänen.

17 Kristiina Ilmonen She has toured worldwide, plays on Flutes, Percussion, Vocals 30 CDs and performs solo and with various ensembles, of which currently Among the pioneers of the Finnish active are Wind on Wind, Sysihai, contemporary folk music movement, Subsonic, Ural Pop and Suunta. Kristiina Ilmonen is a musician, She is a long-time teacher and composer, teacher, researcher and current Professor at the Sibelius folk music professional with three Academy Folk Music Department decades’ experience in improvisation, of the University of the Arts Helsinki. cross-artistic collaborations and unusual performance arenas. She www.kristiinailmonen.com specialises in archaic woodwind instruments, percussion and vocal improvisation.

18 Timo Väänänen Timo performs solo and with the Kantele, Pyngyr, Vocals bands Suunta, Ontrei, Mitrej and Taith. Timo is a part-time lecturer at Timo Väänänen plays the kantele, the Sibelius Academy Folk Music from the smaller traditional models to Department at the University of the the modernized 39-string electrical Arts Helsinki. His doctoral work version, which he has designed in explored stereotypes and symbolism collaboration with the instrument of the kantele. maker. He is known for playing both traditional and new music and for his timo.maanite.fi explorations on sound effects and live looping systems.

Timo has toured and recorded extensively. In 2005, he was a featured soloist in the Disney film ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. He performed the kantele concerto by Gillian Stevens with Mikkeli orchestra in 2009.

19 Creative Team Technical Managers Gethin Stacey (Sound) and Director: Paula Crutchlow Matt Blackmore (Lighting) Paula Crutchlow is an independent Gethin Stacey runs Sound Hire artist and performance maker who Wales, and is based in West Wales. co-authors and directs live events Matt Blackmore, based in across a variety of forms. She has Yorkshire, works with Northern been working as a director and Ballet Theatre and on a wide range dramaturg with storytellers, of medium to large scale musicians, dance artists and new productions. Gethin and Matt writing projects for nearly twenty provide responsive sound years. Paula’s work with artist engineering and lighting which collective Blind Ditch creates evolve with the performance as it collaborative and unexpected unfolds. www.soundhirewales.co.uk happenings in everyday spaces; often using participatory Clothing: Outi Karikivi approaches and digital media to Outi Karikivi, based in Porvoo, engage varied publics as active Finland, creates clothes which spectators and citizen artists in the combine natural and second-hand becoming of the event. Paula was materials, hand-dying all the fabrics an Associate Lecturer in Theatre at she uses. For this performance, Dartington College of Arts, Devon Outi has made men’s shirts from 2001-10, and is now an ESRC dyed, old damast tablecloths and funded PhD Researcher in Critical wrist warmers from recycled Human Geography at the University t-shirts. She has combined of Exeter. www.blindditch.org second-hand materials with Finnish lamb’s wool, silk chiffon and linen, using old lace curtains and sheets. Her clothes respect handicraft traditions and the individuality of the wearer. www.willatar.fi

20 Photography: I.K. Inha Producer: Naomi Wilds and Timo Väänänen Naomi Wilds founded Adverse We are showing a selection of Camber in 2006. She has I.K.Inha’s archive photographs produced seven national tours for with kind permission of the Finnish the company, raising substantial Literature Society. I.K.Inha’s funds for artistic and organisational (1865-1930) photography grew out development. of the upsurge of interest in Finnish identity which grew following In 2009, Naomi was one of four publication of Kalevala . His portfolio East Midlands producers to receive of over 200 photographs of the a bursary from Arts Council England Karelian region, gathered on a five in recognition of her work. Naomi month trip, are considered a studied at the national asset. University of Leeds, gaining an MA by research on narrative Timo Väänänen’s camera is an strategies. Following work for integral piece of equipment in his various arts organisations, she work as a contemporary musician. specialised in literature development He often finds inspiration in the from 1999-2008 as part of the detail or atmosphere of landscape East Midlands Literature Network. and uses his camera to capture www.adversecamber.org this, to assist the process of composition. Timo’s contemporary Finnish landscapes support the pathway the performance creates from past, to present and beyond.

21 Where culture meets landscape: more about Finland

Winter and Summer Northern Lights In Finland, seasons are distinguished When summer sunshine gives way by temperature variation. Winter to dark winter, the Northern Lights (where the mean temperature is can appear like magic. Going further below zero degrees) usually begins north increases your chances of mid-October in Lapland and in spotting the Aurora Borealis, which November for the rest of Finland. can appear on up to 200 nights a Winter is the longest season, year in Finnish Lapland. between 100 to 200 days . North of the Arctic Circle there is the Polar Forest Night, where the sun does not rise Over 77% of Finland is taken up by forest. above the horizon. Elsewhere, it The forest in Finland is a place of life, provision, a natural gets dark from 3pm. Permanent habitat which people are still very snow covers open ground around much in touch with. two weeks after winter begins. Summer is intoxicatingly beautiful, Water while heartbreakingly brief. In the Finland has 188,000 lakes, the northernmost land, Midnight Sun most water in relation to landmass can last for two months. of all countries. Väinämöinen’s name comes from the Finnish word väinä, meaning stream pool .

22 Cultural Features

Runo-song has been part of everyday Facts about the Finnish life in this extreme climate for language: thousands of years, easily accessible entertainment for the long winter • There is no grammatical gender - months, through which people share both male and female are referred stories, poetry and the beauty of to with the same pronoun ‘hän’ language and music. The stories and poems at the root of Kalevala and • There are no articles (a/the) wider runo-song traditions express the culture of the people. • Finnish is the only European language in which normal text In most homes and many public contains more vowels than buildings in Finland, you reliably find consonants, this adds to its a sauna (pronounced sow-nah). melodiousness. The sauna is a place which can raise your core temperature, it’s also a • There is a clear relationship place for communal relaxation and between how words are written and leisure and a sterile environment pronounced, there are no changes where, in the past, many women gave in pronunciation based on context. birth. The elements of wood, stone, water, fire and air offer relaxation and cleanliness, conversation is relaxed and arguments or controversy are avoided.

23 Adverse Camber supports the ambitions of mid-career UK storytellers who are reaching for new horizons in their work. We work closely with partner venues to reach out to more diverse audiences, transporting people into About Adverse the incredibly diverse soundscapes Camber: how and imaginative material of these rich the show was oral tales. made We are inspired by the work of artists across many cultures for whom oral Adverse Camber is an independent traditions are fundamental source production company, based material for their own creativity. amongst the historic mills of Cromford, Derbyshire. We act as Working on Fire in the North Sky , a catalyst, bringing artists, partners, we have frequently found ourselves venues, audiences and funders talking about layers - the different together to create and enjoy time periods which inform the artists’ outstanding works of storytelling work, the layers of different and music. We are energised by the languages which have gone into feedback of audiences at our tours, the piece - whether Finnish, English so please do get in touch and let us know your responses to the show.

24 or Estonian, and the languages of Many people are surprised to storytelling, music, performance, discover that in oral traditions, the lighting, sound, marketing and work is not scripted or written down. producing all of which have been In this piece, improvisation is also at part of the process. As with all the heart of much of the music, as Adverse Camber shows, the the artists play with the many layers ‘authoring’ artists are at the heart of of the runo-song form. the creative process, working with a team who support the work as it Adverse Camber is passionate about develops. Thanks to Paula Crutchlow stories and music and we takes risks for leading this creative work so on behalf of new creative work. expertly, enabling everyone to give of This programme illuminates the their best, it has been a fascinating source material and craft which process. has gone into creating the piece, but the destination we’ve been Variation is a motif running through working towards is simply the this work - there is never a definitive experience of sharing the event version of a character, poem, or story with audiences. We really hope you in runo-song. This body of stories enjoy the experience, and join us for and music will continue to grow and more Adverse Camber tours. Please change as the show tours, through like us on Facebook, follow us on the ongoing conversation with Twitter and sign up for our email audiences. newsletters to be the first to hear Adverse Camber news.

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Acknowledgments

Special thanks to our funders Arts Council England and the National Lottery to whom we are exceptionally grateful, our venue partners, and everyone in the growing Adverse Camber team.

Adverse Camber Team Producer Naomi Wilds Artistic Advisor Paula Crutchlow Marketing Associates Jenny Babenko and Palmer Squared Associate Producer Louisa Davies Assistant Producer Amy Marsh Participation Associate Jan Reynolds Adverse Camber Board Nick Cutts and Amanda Wilde

With thanks for support on Fire in the North Sky : Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Finnish Music Foundation, Finnish Literature Society, mac birmingham, Beyond the Border Storytelling Festival, Sage Gateshead, Square Chapel Centre for the Arts, Arts Council England.

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/adversecamberstories @adversecamber20 www.adversecamber.org