Celebrate the springtime tradition of Vappu with the Finnish American community!!
Doors open at 3:00 pm
Fun for the whole Family!
Kids Crafts Tables
Finnish Folk, Pop, Rock, Hip Hop and beyond with DJ Renttu
Food, Drink, and Balloons
5:00 pm Kaleva Dance Ensemble plays live contemporary and traditional music of Finland including a sing-a-long
Heikki Koskinen - piano, e-trumpet & tenor recorder, Kati Pienimäki Schenker - vocals, Marja Mutru - piano
Noah Schenker - bass, Raimo Hirvonen - vocals & drums
Free Admission, Street parking available
7:00 pm Evening Concert "Otherworld Finland" with the Life's Blood Ensemble performing a musical odyssey from
Rent Romus' Otherworld Cycle for small ensemble in honor of 100 years of Finnish Independence and ten thousand years of spirit.
“The other world is a place we all carry with us. Deep inside it manifests as unknown melodies while walking down the street, a feeling of Déjà Vu for people and places we’ve never been before, and a kinship with people we’ve never known.” -
Rent RomusRent Romus - alto saxophone, flute;
Joshua Marshall - tenor saxophone; Heikki "Mike" Kosikinen - e-trumpet/tenor recorder; Safa Shokrai - double bass;
Timothy Orr - drums
$15 gen / $10 students & seniors
Vappu or May Day is an annual international celebration. It is a holiday in Finland to celebrate & usher in spring, as well as a traditional workers’ & students’ day. The name of the celebration comes from the German “Walpurgis day,” & is celebrated in many countries under a variety of names. Vappu is a major holiday, like Christmas Eve & Midsummer (Juhannus). Today Vappu belongs to everybody, with its carnival-like atmosphere featuring sima (drink), tippaleipä (pastry), & cheerful partying. Vappu celebrations in many places in Finland begin early at sunrise welcoming Vappu with traditional choral singing.
Cost: 3 pm Free Admission 7 pm $10/15
Videos featuring musicians playing at this event
The Otherworld Cycle is the culmination of over fourteen years of research of the Finno-Ugric traditions and music. The Cycle consists of a series of new compositions and improvisations inspired by the poems of the Finnish National Epic known as the Kalavela, as well as Karelian regional folk songs, and Sami Joik song elements of the native peoples of the north. The Other World thematic abstractly reference the Uralic “Body of Memory” embedded in Romus’ musical psyche refracted through the multi-faceted lens of improvisation and postmodern jazz.
Ron Heglin•Voice
Heikki Koskinen•Recorder, E-trumpet, Kantele, poetry reading
Bob Marsh•Voice
Suki O'Kane•Percussion
Joshua Marshall•Tenor Saxophone
Bill Noertker•Bass
Timothy Orr•Drums
Mark Pino•Percussion
Mika Pontecorvo•Flutes
Rent Romus•Alto Saxophone, Kantele, Flutes, Bells
Shanna Sordahl•Cello
http://romus.net/otherworld.html
Film by Charles Smith, Recorded live at Gold Lion Arts January 18th 2015 Sacramento, California
All compositions