Back from the summer break
The Masters of Finnish Folk Music -project is back from the holidays. When June and July were exceptionally rainy in Finland, August seams to break the all-time records in hot weather.
All on all after eight months of digging the archives the summer break really hit the spot and we are now rolling our sleeves again with renewed energy and delight. A brief summary what we have accomplished so far:
1) The performances for the first two releases are now selected: total 46 + 34 songs. The content of first CD has been approved by the steering group while the content for the second CD is still under discussion. We have also played excerpts from the future releases in our lectures in Finland, Austria and USA. The feedback has been really encouraging! We heartily thank all the collegues and others who came to listen our presentations and gave valuable comments. Please, continue to give us feedback on anything that comes to your mind concerning the publishing of archive material, our project or anything else!
2) Before the summer break we were doing extensive research of the performers’ histories and also tracking down their relatives in order to get the permissions to get the rights to release these 80 great historical performances. It goes without saying that we have had our hands quite full with these two important tasks. The process has been a bit slower (and more expensive, taking account the phone bills and posting expenses..) than we anticipated, nevertheless we are getting there.
3) Interesting part of the project has been our research on Erkki Ala-Könni: The man behind the microphone so to speak. We have been studying his career, field trips, methodology, equipment, people he work with. The portrait of him in our minds sharpens everyday.
