13 Feb: Kaamos Radio Night

Kaamos – this means something like arctic night, melancholy, darkness, yes, and also somehow “lock-down”. A story of the Sami in Lapland tells of the sun retreating into a nest behind the horizon during these days. Others say it is the time when the earth breathes long and deeply and draws strength … while it breathes out in the other half of the year – such blowing the life-breath into the plants and animals of the earth to awaken them.

Whatever will happen now during this 14-hour program dedicated to winter and its long, long, deep breath, it will take place at a leisurely pace.

Please note: We start in Mänttä at 7 p.m. local time; in Germany it is 6 p.m. (CET) and accordingly different times in other places.
A view of the slightly snow-drifty program is hereby given, put blankets and pillows ready:

7-9 Mänttä People Open Doors
with:

Anita Hannunen, Representative Serlachius Residency. Anita took me on a sleigh ride around the small island here in front of the Einola house. It was a kick sled, and while I set comfortable on the tiny wooden seat, she pushed the sled while telling me about ‘kaamos’ and her horse Lissu…

Kari Soinio (Artist in Residence). Kari is a visual artist based in Helsinki. We mostly meet at breakfast, neither of us talking much. And we meet in the evenings talking more – ocasionally. He will introduce his work to us and maybe talk about the different kinds of snow in this region of the world.

Tyyra Juka will join us with her husband Tixa and bring some mushroom samples along. Do mushrooms grow during wintertime too, I wonder? Tyyra will know the answers. She is a nature resource producer by profession and mushroom counsellor number 7263 (sienineuvoja). She is also member of the board of Local Conservation of Nature Society (Suomen luonnonsuojeluyhdistys, Virtain-Ruovesden luonnonsuojeluhdistys ry.) And as well a member of the Finnish Mycological Society (Suomen sieniseura ry.).

Matti Kivilahti is a poet and a teacher and a priest. He wrote to me sending three poems about the ‘kaamos” state of mind and feeling. We will listen and talk and translate and exchange our thoughts. He will bring a guest along who is also a writer. Hyvä!!!

The Open Call! More than 30 compositions reached Kaamos Radio, all of them special: from ice swimming to artic opera, from time-warped Berlin punk (?) poetry to orchestral fridges. And more – I cannot tell since I am still sorting out the timelines. There is a rough plan, and a list of participating artist will follow shortly in an extra post. Bear with me! Shorter pieces will be played in between the conversations (will we grab a coffee or pancake); 11pm to 1am pieces of a medium lenght will be introduced; durational pieces will accompany us in the long hours before the sun rises from its nest.

Rough schedule continued: 9-11

Tixa is a reindeer bone sawing man! Click on the audio player to the right on this page. (I am still editing the other jingle) He also catches fish, lost a jacket made to “greet the bears”, and he is a man of words and sounds. Most important: He is a ‘feeling dealer’. What feelings will he trade for us? A portable record player will be brought along, together with whatever he feels fit to make these dark times lighter for us listeners.

11-1am (still Helsinki time): Musings, Open Call, a snow cake meditation, a “Twilight talk”, sleigh rides, we’ll see… (details until Friday)

Starting from around 1am (12pm CET): Radio artist Marold Langer-Philippsen will step in at this time of the night and convert the ‘stream’ into a six hour kaamos dreaming. His piece is called “Aelita” and this is what he writes:

“Frozen bells, Aelita, and radio messages from Mars will be the base for soundscapes and stories from the void in the universe and a vast bluish Kaamos landscape.”

From approximately 7am to 8 am more selected compositions from the open call contributions will be played and you may join me in my getting up from the studio sofa bed and drinking coffee under a sky filled with the distant drones of the Mänttä paper factory.

This post is also available in: German