Sleepy Sleepers - Finlandia-hymni (Sibelius) / Sibelius - 5th Symphony, Finale

Today we celebrate our home country's Finland's 90th independence day.

After traveling around I'm very proud of being born here. Weather's bad and class differences are gapping in a horrible speed but still we have e.g. heating in our houses. And clear tap water.

Well all of you Finnish know all about the past times. No need to start writing about them. Have to salute the veterans, they did the job and went through things that are too far away to become reality present. Or are they? Hope they are.

Television shows yet again Väinö Linna's Tuntematon sotilas (Unknown Soldier)directed by Edvin Laine. In National Theatre runs an adapted version of that story. It raised hell in press, I noticed, because it had to. Now it's forgotten. Interesting is always that when everything is calm we exorcise for storm. And vice versa. In war times art was light. And in peace time art wars through hell.

Yep, yep.

Well, today we usually play The National Anthem, of course, but also Jean Sibelius's The Jäger March and Finlandia. Sibelius also wrote quite nice symphonies. So here's a glimpse of high (and low) culture as we hear at first Finlandia performed by Sakari Kuosmanen of Sleepy Sleepers at Dinosaurock '88 and The Finale of Sibelius 5th Symphony conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.