Värttinä - Tupa täynnä tuppasuita

[dweml258]

This sounds to me like the most deep rooted music by Varttina that I have heard yet.

Early Varttina? Isn't the young lady on the right, the one who is  in seelonikoi, Oi dai, Aijo? years later? I can't speak Finnish, I have a friend over there. But I do have a musta koira.

[HenryBrosowski]

/watch?v=8ibesjPyObY

[Drbaconboy]

What is the name of the girl in the middle?

[EneriGiilaan]

@Drbaconboy Minna Rautiainen. The vid is quite probably from 1990 in Sortavala/Russia - she left the band a couple of years later as she didn't want to consider singing as a career. Actually she still occasionally followed the band - taking care of the children of the other band members during the gigs/rehearsals and such.

I think she had a genuine "rural" sound in her voice that suited perfectly to their material in that era.

[Drbaconboy]

@EneriGiilaan I agree completely. Listening to some of their stuff when it's just the four of them it sounds awesome still yet also like something is lacking.

[LittleBigIdeasMedia]

I love this version more than the album version, because not only is it Värttinä live, but it has more power in their voices, and it just has more emotion.

[laelamarie1]

This is fantastic!!! You GO SARI!!!!

[LittleBigIdeasMedia]

How come they pronounce "y" like "ai" instead of "uu"?

[EneriGiilaan]

@LittleBigIdeasMedia Why on earth would they pronounce it "ai" or "uu"? As a Finn I can assure you that they pronounce "y" as "y", the way God meant it ;)

Or if not exactly God, the very simple and straightforward rules of Finnish spelling: one sound - one letter, unambiguous match. Or if not exactly unambiguous, at least almost - there must always be an exception and there is also with Finnish, but only one (or two depending how you count) ;)

[IhanaPuhuaSuomi]

@EneriGiilaan

I've always heard it pronounced as a "oo" sound, like "goo". Weird, I suppose.

[EneriGiilaan]

@IhanaPuhuaSuomi I'm not a linguistic nor phoneticist - but anyways ;)

The sound in English "goo" matches Finnish long vowel "uu". I guess there is no English equivalent to Finnish "y" - it is close to German "ü" (über), Swedish "y" (ylle) or the "u" in French "une".

Here are some Värttinä examples (put the codes in YouTube search box):

watch?v=rd0LeCE4xOg "syyllistä" at 0:48

watch?v=Erf26tDccio "tuulta" at 0:30

At first it might be hard for an English speaker to even hear any difference?

[laelamarie1]

@EneriGiilaan .. I know this is not the linguistic I'm inquiring about; however, is that a dombeck (darbuka,tabla are other names) that I am seeing in the beginning? I have one such as this and recognize the logo on the head - Alexandria Egypt - besides recognizing the sound. HURRAH! I will have drummers when I come there!!! Love these Varttina!!

[EneriGiilaan]

@laelamarie1 They had a percussionist, Christer Hackman in their line up at this time - one of his listed specialties was indeed darbuka/tabla. So you must be right - this is of course not by any means a trad Finnish instrument, but depending on the level of purism neither is any other instrument here ;)

Alexandria - of course - and now the lighthouse depicted there also makes sense, thanks.

[IhanaPuhuaSuomi]

Beautiful voices.

[yapeget91]

amazing to see how Finnish folk music can be so modern... :D

[WakingRoom]

Beautiful and powerful voices~

[Maestrojosh87]

I love the arrangement and how the instruments enter little by little after each cycle, especially how the guitar and accordion enter on the second one ("teen mie ilon itsekseni")

[putinras100]

alcayata la alcayata

[EneriGiilaan]

Just noticed that the accordionist here must be Maria Kalaniemi - looks so much like her.

[fredericfranc]

...the elemental power of this kind of folk music makes me think right away of the compositions of Bela Bartok...but, hey, the Finns and the Hungarians, it is basically the same nationality,...you guys ever think of a FEDERATION?

[fredericfranc]

@MinerWalt ...should not be regarded as a big deal, but...amazingly, I have relatives who are Finnish, and who are Hungarian, and all those people live in SWEDEN(!), can you believe that?, anyway, from the contact with all those relatives I get the impression that Swedish and English are rather remote, the Swedish language is like closer to GERMAN(?)...but the Finnish and the Hungarian, which are classified as the so called "Ugro-Finnish Group" are certainly perceptibly related...

[EneriGiilaan]

@fredericfranc As a Trinidadian linguistic ... :D But seriously - I have read that while Hungarian and Finnish are both Fenno-Ugric languages they are actually quite removed - about as close as English is to Hindi in the Indo-European side.

The perceptible similarity raises only because you have the vast sea of engulfing I-E languages to compare against - and they are both clearly distinct from those.

[fredericfranc]

@EneriGiilaan ...courtesy of Bela Bartok, I hear a lot of Hungarian choral...and now all this Finnish stuff...by the ear, hard to resist the idea that the two are unearthly in the same way...but gotta accept the lesson from a linguist, even if Trinidadian...

[EneriGiilaan]

@fredericfranc AFAIK Bartok studied and used much of trad music from areas in and near Hungary in his own compositions? I guess that would mean 'Non-West-European' constructs, harmonies etc. Finnish music, especially the part based on Karelian tradition, is also NWE and melts with traditions further East and S-E. So for all I know there might indeed be much in common here.

[fredericfranc]

@EneriGiilaan ...only a linguist...from...TRINIDAD(!!?­?)...would know stuff like this...see what I mean?...

[EneriGiilaan]

@fredericfranc Did I say Trinidadian? Surely I meant Trimalchian ... or was it Tritonian ... or ;)

[EneriGiilaan]

This could be from 23.6.1990, Song festivals in Sortavala, Russia.

[MinerWalt]

@EneriGiilaan The date and location you suggested are probably both correct. Dates for the tour that year were as follows, extracted from Sirpa Reiman's CV:

17.6.1990 Russia, Mari El Republic, Medvedevo

17.6.1990 Russia, Mari El Republic, Azanevo

18.6.1990 Russia, Mari El Republic, Yoshkar-Ola

19.6.1990 Russia, Mari El Republic, Sernur

20.6.1990 Russia, Mari El Republic, Morki

23.6.1990 Russia, Republic of Karelia, Sortavala

[xxx777x99y]

a lot of pug-ugly women

[jaaap07]

What kind of percussion instrument is used in the beginning? Where you see the hand of the player through the drumhead... I'm just wondering.

[jaaap07]

What kind of percussion thing is used here in the beginning? You see the hand of the player through the drumhead... I was just wondering...

[Skaldmatte]

who knows the meaning of the word "Latunenä"? it should be "pathnose", but it doesn't make any sense..

[khundar]

I'm not a Finn, but "nenä" is nose and "latu" means (according to dictionary) ski track, path or track. I don't believe it's "pathnose" but it will be combination of these two words ;o) Find the metaphor for yourself, I don't get the meaning either xD

[Skaldmatte]

@khundar : I thought it might be something like "pathfinder"...:D i've been told that's not right though, actually no one seems to know what it means :D

[khundar]

@Skaldmatte: Well, here you go, mystery unraveled xD

[Skaldmatte]

@khundar : sigh, too bad :) this impedes me to know finnish perfectly :D :D (that was already kinda impossible even before!)

[Numecci]

@khundar Well, by the title the song is about supine people, and "latunenä" (or ladun nenä correctly) then the most certainly represents some kind of leader in this context) .

latu = the path for cross-country skiing, and one has to make it so he is the nose of that path... I guess one has to go ski outside of public paths in a group to really understand this. There are many proverbs about this.

[TK8866275]

@Skaldmatte . It means snotnosed small child, toddlers who are crawling on all fours on the floor (lattia). If you think two nostrils running mucus it is quite obvious resemblance of ski track. XD

[Skaldmatte]

@TK8866275 Thanks for the info.. but does it make any sense with the rest of the song?? =) Anyway, here we see how Finnish is actually a perfect language.. there's even a word to say "snotnosed toddler" :D

[MinerWalt]

@Skaldmatte It makes better sense if you know the song only contains a part of the original text. According to some notes I have, left by my grandfather who was a linguist (and half karelian) it goes something like this:

Tupa täynnä tuppasuita,

pöytä pitkä pörröpäitä,

lattia latuneniä;

ei ole virren virkkajoa,

ei ilon aloittajoa.

Room full of silent mouths /Long table of bushy heads /Floor of runny noses /No singer of songs /No beginner of joyance

[EneriGiilaan]

@MinerWalt Interesting info - and you are right, 'your' lyrics make more sense. Thanks.

[Skaldmatte]

@MinerWalt Thank you very much for the info! it will be very useful, since i would like to become something like your grandfather some day, even though it's going to be difficult ^^

[gwhitehe]

G'day All: What a great version of this song - better than the original on Oi Dai (although both are wonderful).

Geoff

[LeslieWolf71]

Hei Finland! We love YOU in Hungary! Great band! Beautiful country and awesome music!

[socooldogs1]

whats tuppasuita mean?

[reijokin]

'tuppasuu' means the same as 'tuppisuu', a person that speaks rarely ~tongue-tied or something like that

[Awesomedude5721]

Beautiful song!!! Tears in my eyes!  I love Varttina.

[SeinaSeea]

Ööö, ei taia olla ihan tuoreinta matskua :D

[xxx777x99y]

Was für häßliche Entchen ;-)

[Awesomedude5721]

1989

[Kilu71]

Onks tuo kitaristi Tommi Viksten J. Karjalainen Electric Saunasta?

[OguzKhanTuran]

this is a very nice song i like it :))

[LaiskaKettu]

tää on iso!

[spikkel70]

supergaaf

[manikase27]

veri good folk!!

[duckmom6]

when was this video shot?

[no16na39]

Best guess is the late 80's somewhere in Karelia, if you look at the surroundings. They must have performed in some festival in Karjala.

[zaskvara]

O shit, bad click:-(

i want to reply to Chicagoan444.

[Chicagoan444]

Love the harmonies. Don't understand even one word, and don't care.

[gurrmirror]

i'm typing this while standing

up

to give these folks

Props of the highest order

[ivanfan101]

this song is funny

[ulf2345]

Absolut toller Song. Der kräftige, energiegeladene Gesang, die Jazz angehauchte Instrumentbegleitung ... Ich bin total fasziniert und begeistert!!

[firashameed]

رامي يلعب

[dibrasaga25]

la suya, la tuya de todas ustedes....

[bizzwriter]

oooooooo -- early Varttina -- LOVE IT! More please!

[kubanasis]

Love it, love it

[magyarfinncsaj]

Every time I see Finnish people singing folk songs I realise how beautifully can they do it...

[alexandernaepolean]

**clapping**

[vesisotku]

Loistavaa!

[kiekenzonder]

kaunis!!

[Bombichabs]

can anybody tell me what does the song means?

[MisLuck]

It tells about typical finish people; bunch of people gets together, no one says a thing and no one smiles. And the rest is telling how hard life has one had.

[kal3vi]

Ei saa yleistää :) It's ill-advised to generalise like that, don't you think?

[MisLuck]

Ka sehän on ihan kuinka sen lukkoo. ironialla vai ei. Eihän sitä näitäkkää kappaleita suu mutrussa ole esitetty tai tehty.

[sgtka]

Which album is it taken from?

[pidzej78]

It's from the album "Oi dai" from 1991, but this video is older.

[sgtka]

Very good song:)