"You're so sadly neglected
And often ignored,
A poor second to Belgium,
When going abroad.
Finland, Finland, Finland ..."
Michael Palin, from the album "Monty Python's Contractual Obligation"
A lot has changed in Finland since Palin and the Python crew mercilessly ridiculed the country more than 20 years ago, not least of which is the emergence of the Helsinki Festival from a small classical music event to one of the major cultural festivals in Europe.
The annual Helsinki Festival, which gets under way on Aug. 23, should offer even the most cynical Python fan a good reason to make the trip over the border to a world of dazzlingly clean streets and European-priced beer for the more than two-week long cultural extravaganza.
The festival began in 1951 as the Sibelius Week of classical concerts, but in keeping with the turbulent atmosphere of the 1960s, the name and the format were changed in 1968. The newly christened Helsinki Festival turned what had been a staid classical music event into the rollicking international mixture of dance, music, theater, circus and visual arts that it is today.
The Lord Mayors' concert in centrally located Senate Square on Aug. 24 promises to be a highlight of the festival's opening weekend. The free performance includes international pop acts accompanied by the festival orchestra, which is composed of members of the Helsinki Philharmonic and Finland's UMO Jazz Orchestra.
The Huvila festival tent, situated near the Finlandia Hall, will offer a diverse program featuring everything from Iranian musician Sussan Deyhim and Norwegian Sami Mari Boine, who bases her music on traditional Lapp melodies, to the Evening With Living Poets, featuring notables such as Paul Auster.
The Finns can match their Russian neighbors with their penchant and tolerance for vodka, but visitors to Helsinki will not be able to escape the festival by slipping into a bar for a few glasses of Finland's finest. The Art Goes Kapakka program will bring culture to carousers in the form of musicians and performers trawling the city's watering holes and eateries. Expect Finnish national dress and loud traditional song to replace idle pub banter.
Russian baritone Dmitry Khvorostovsky, accompanied by compatriot Mikhail Arkadiyev, takes center stage at the Finnish National Opera on Aug. 28 for the Russian Romances concert. The performance, expected to be one of the best of the festival, is one of the few events that is already sold out, though standby tickets may become available.
Helsinki's Russian influences run a lot deeper than the traveling Russian artists at the festival, however. The vast Russian Orthodox Uspensky Cathedral dominates the downtown area around Market Square, and just a few meters away in the square itself, a double-headed eagle bears testament to the country's Russian imperial legacy. For Muscovites who find themselves missing home and pining for the grubby interiors and cheesy music of an average Russian bar, the Kaurism?ki brothers are happy to cater to that nostalgia with the Cafe Mockba at 11 Eeirnkatu. The makers of the zany 1986 film "Leningrad Cowboys Go America" have created a dingy bar complete with a samovar, an old gramophone churning out Soviet hits and a sign next to the cash register: "In Lenin We Trust; Others Pay in Cash."
For ticket reservations, call the festival's ticket office at (358) 600-900-900.
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