Ralph and Jaana Tuttila discuss Finnish-American music and dance in the Upper Midwest and perform songs from the Songs of the Finnish Migration: A Bilingual Anthology (https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/5661.htm). Tom DuBois and Marcus Cederström, the book’s editors, offer insights into the significant contribution of songs to our understanding of the Finnish immigrant experience.
Jaana and Ralph (Rauli) Tuttila, members of the longstanding Finnish music group Finn Hall (www.finnhall.com), formed a second group, Laulua Aika (www.lauluaika.com/) in 2017 to recruit new performers of Finnish American music and dance. Jaana and Ralph also play together as a duo, singing and playing Finnish, Finnish American, Swedish and other Nordic folk dance music on Nyckelharppa (Avoin viulu), mandolin, harmonica, ukulele, and accordion.
Tom DuBois is a folklorist who focuses on Finnish, Sámi and other Nordic cultures. He has taught at both the University of Washington, Seattle, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a past Finlandia Foundation Lecturer of the Year and has a longstanding relation with FinnFest, having presented at many FnnFests over the years. Marcus Cederström is a folklorist working in the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic at UW-Madison as the community curator of Nordic-American folklore for the “Sustaining Scandinavian Folk Arts in the Upper Midwest” project. His research interests include immigration to the United States and Nordic and Nordic American folklife.
Co-sponsored by Finn Fest USA and the Nordic Folklife project at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the music series features noted performers and scholars of Finnish-American folk music. Register at the link below for this and future events. Links to the virtual program will be sent to your registered email address one day in advance of the event.
RSVP HERE: https://forms.gle/fLFEd5oSy7T5JohNA
(Get a sneak peek of some of the music performed from Songs of the Finnish Migration by Laulu Aika on our website!)
Although this event is free and open to anyone who can and wants to take part, we do hope you will consider donating to the Finn Fest USA organization, whose hard work and dedication makes events like this possible. If you have the ability to donate any amount of money to Finn Fest to support future programming, please visit their donation page here: https://finnfest.us/festival-financing. Thank you for your generosity.
