Kalevala (project)

The Kalevala

The Kalevala is considered the national epic of Finland, it was compiled and edited by Elias Lönnrot while he was a district health officer in (then under the governance of Russia) eastern Finland. The poem consists of 50 runos or cantos and 22,795 lines of poetry. The poem tells the story of a people, from the very beginning of the world to the introduction of Christianity.

The Kalevala has been translated into about 48 languages and has been an important cultural inspiration for the Finnish people for many years.

Concept

Colossus (the magazine of the Finnish Progressive Music Association) invited the 30 bands to write, compose, perform and produce their own songs for the project, they were asked to perform in their native language or if they wished they could perform an instrumental piece.

The bands were pretty much free to do as they pleased, there was really only one restriction, and that was that the bands had to use vintage equipment, for the genuine 70's sound and feeling and were to use no programmed drums. If the track was sung in their own language they were also required to provide an English translation of their lyrics and of course a small piece of information about the band for the liner notes.

The project was coordinated by Marco Bernard, the editor of Colossus magazine.

Bands from the following countries participated:

Packaging

The 3 CDs are packaged in a standard wide CD jewel case along with a fairly comprehensive booklet containing introductory information about the Kalevala and a complete listing of tracks with lyrics (where appropriate) a synopsis of each track and pictures of the bands and general artwork.