Just One Night
Since the 1980´s, many of us have been bewitched by the guitar instrumental recordings coming out of Finland. The main label included Rautalanka Records. Right from the start Seppo Salminen and Olle Salo were involved, both fanatic collectors. The special thing about all these releases was their sound, all these productions had such broad and andlessly long echoes. These bands played in a unigue manner, which for me recalls the beauty of Finland itself - the endless beautiful lakes and wonderful forests. It is a feel, an atmosphere than only Finland can apply.
The last few years a considerable expansion of Finnish "Rautalanka" bands has taken place. Besides the well-known bands such as The Mustangs, The Quiets and Rami Hammar & The Riders from the early and mid ´80s, a bunch of high-class combos entered the Finnish instrumental scene more recently. This expansion, the foct than 2 Rautalanka festifal had been organised in one weekend and numerous invitations from Jari Aaltonen - rhythm guitarist of The Mustangs - (who has become a friend the last few years) made me decide to visit the land a thousand lakes to find out for myself what was happening.
"Nastolan Rautalankafestarit" took place on saturday, June 29th. Within fifteen minutes of arriving at the place of the event - beautifully situated nearby a lake - it was obvious that it was going to be a fantastic day. Surf group The Defusers were doing a great set and I´d already spoken to (in no particular order) Jori Venemies, Olle Salo, Janne Orava (lead guitarist with The Regents) and Pete Hakonen (Goofin´Records). It was evident that a lot of instro fans had come to Nastola´s biggest annual festifal and this became clear when I was notifield afterwards about the number of people who had shown up: over 2,300!
Unfortunately I had missed the appearance of The Webasto, of which I liked the recordings on the Twangsville compilation "Twangy Guitars, Silky Strings" so much. Maybe next year?
The performance of The Defusers was followed by an instro/vocal set Katri Aapalahti & Twisters. This band attrected guite a lot of people to the dance floor!
Next were Rami Hammar & Moonstar. Rami Hammar & The Riders was one of the "Big Three" traditional Rautalanka bands in the 1980´s together with The Mustangs and The Quiets. He has become a true legend in Finland and has enforeed much respect amongst instro collectors and fellow guitarists. And a great guitarist he is! Besides some of the well-known Shads tunes, he played a few of his own compositions which attracted without doubt most of my attention.
The Lunaters is a relatively new band, but they impressed during their performance in Nastola. They played a nice mix of Shads tracks and Finnish traditionals.
And so we moved swiftly on to Friends. This Japanese duo (father and son) was exellent, since they managed to recreate the sound and style of Japanese legend Terry Terauchi (Terry & The Blue Jeans). Despite of the fact that they did not have support of bass and drums, their performance eas a real surprise.
The Mustangs performance was fabulous, as expected. The notable thing about the band during live performances is that although the lead guitar is by definition the dominant voice, you are more conscious of the band´s complete performance. The musicians are so well integrated that they mesh seamlessly together as a single unit. Boy, I wish I could see them playing live every day! After their instrumental set Finnish vocalist Antti Huovila joined them. Insiders told me that Antti is a guite a big star in the field of the Finnish vocalis traditional dance music and performs in typical Finnish dance halls (mainly built in the 1920´s) regularly. He requested The Mustangs - who have had similar performances with Finnish vocalist Reijo Taipale previously - and Janne Orava of The Regents - who is a professional musician and plays with many vocalists all over Finland - to join him on stage. It became an overwhelming success. The dancs floor was overcrowded in a minute and you could notice that Antti and the band had great fun. A marvellous set.
A real surprise for The Mustangs that day was the distribution of the Rautalanka lifetime achievement award. This award was issued for the first time and is handed to musicians who have done their best to promote Rautalanka. Music lovers voted the Mustangs nearly unanimously. The band was visibly touched by this valuable appreciation.
Then it was the turn to Pekka Tiilikainen & Beatmakers to enter the stage. I had really been looking forward to see them playing live! In 2000 Rarity Records released their full-length instrumental CD, which was well recceived in whole Europe. In Nastola the band´s abilities were confirmed. They have a clean, crisp sound with a rich echoey lead and, like their Finnish predeccessors in the ´60s, display a penchant for the trad/folksy type of melody.I really liked the up-tempo stuff such as Troll Twist, There´s My Sweetheart, and especially Widows Daughters Twis with its driving rhythm and flying lead work. But above all, The Eldorados´ Kathy was my fafourite instro of this set.
The Spectre was the last band I managed to see perform on this year´s festifal in Nastola. They also have a soft spot for Finnish traditionals, which appeared from their own release in 2000 and their more recent recordings on Rautalanka Records´25th Anniversaly album. As expected, they also a great job on stage. Because of their considerable numbers of high-tempoed twist-instros, which the Finnish audience really seems to be fond of, they managed to make the people dance like they never did before!
At around 10pm I left the Nastola festifal after a hectic, but memorable day. Together with Jari I evaluated the past few days we had spent together and we could only conclude to do this all over again next year! The next morning The Mustangs members took me Helsinki Airport, from where Finnair AY845 flew me back home. But this time my thoughts were filled with memories of this wonderful country, the wonderful people, and the kind way I was received by them all!
Luckily Twangsville Productions, the label that appreciate the attention that Rautalanka music needs, have catched a few recordings from this years´ Rautalanka Festifal in Nastola and released them on this wonderful compilation. Great job, Jori! I am sure you will have pleasure listening to Just One Night!
Dennis Roos, July 2002
