Aulikki Oksanen - Kaj Chydenius - Agit Prop: Rauhan Ãiti - Avar

It's First of May, aka "vappu" here in Finland. It's the official workers' day, which means that everyone has a holiday from work. All the cities are filled with carnivalistic merriment, people walk around with their student's caps on their heads, funny masks on their faces, tooting cheap plastic horns, drink themselves stoned and suffer from a hangover tomorrow. And the city cleaners will work the whole following day getting all the streamers, shards from broken bottles, and other trash away from the streets.

"Vappu" is also a suitable day for singing old leftist workers' songs, which were popular in some circles in the 1970's. Being a neighbouring country to Russia has had its effects, and the left-wing political movement, "taistolaisuusliike" is perhaps the most significant of them. Quite a lot of singing groups used to perform songs about the power of workers and things like that.

"Rauhan äiti" was a four-part cantata which debuted in March 30., 1974. Kaisa Korhonen, Jukka Koskinen, The Agit Prop quartet and the KOM Theater Quartet performed songs with words by Aulikki Oksanen, and music by Kaj Chydenius.

Agit Prop was one of the most prominent leftist choirs in Finland, they released two LPs, "Agit Prop" (1972) and "Laulu kaikille" (1974), and appeared on several compilations.

The KOM Theater made a program named "Avaruuslintu" (Space Bird) to honor the so-called YYA contract, which was signed between Finland and Russia in 1948. YYA stands for Friendship, Cooperation and Assistance. The play debuted in March 4., 1973, Oksanen and Chydenius wrote the songs.

In 1977 the songs for these two plays were assembled by Love Records and released on a single LP. "Rauhan äiti - Avaruuslintu" contains folkish, almost choir-like vocal harmonies and is thus a typical example of the type of music these leftists performed.

If you like this LP, scrounge the discographies of Love Records and another label called Eteenpäin!, they released a lot of records by names like Aulikki Oksanen, Kristiina Halkola, KOM-Teatteri, Meripioneerit, Koiton Laulu, Punainen Lanka, Kaisa Korhonen, Torpeedo, and Avaruuslintu. Eteenpäin! released mainly compilations including various artists.

Tracks:

1. Rauhan äiti
a) Rauhan äiti (Mother of Peace)
b) Äiti ja lapsi (Mother and Child)
c) Sota (War)
d) Rauhanvoimien nousu (Rising of the Powers of Peace)

Words: Aulikki Oksanen
Music and arranging: Kaj Chydenius

Kaisa Korhonen - mother
Jukka Koskinen - child

Agit Prop-kvartetti:
Monna Kamu
Sinikka Sokka
Pekka Aarnio
Martti Launis

KOM-kvartetti:
Eero Ojanen - piano
Jukka Hauru - guitar
Tapani Tamminen - bass
Ari Valtonen - percussion

Juhani Aaltonen - flute
Teemu Salminen - clarinet

String section:
Veli-Pekka Bister
Erkki Inkinen
Osmo Kurki
Jussi Pesonen
Mikko Pesonen
Ahti Pilvi
Seppo Rautasuo
Seppo Ristolainen
Jorma Ylönen

Avaruuslintu:

2. Avaruuslintu (Space Bird)
3. Laulu Politotdelin kolhoosista (Song About the Kolkhoz in Politotdel)
4. Hyvää päivää Pakkasukko (Hello, Ded Moroz)
5. Laulu tilkkutäkistä ja palmikoista (Song About the Patchwork Quilt and the Plaits)
6. Laulu Tashkentin jälleenrakentamisesta (Song About the Rebuilding of Tashkent)
7. Laulu suuresta sydämestä (Song About the Big Heart)
8. Laulu Leninin maasta (Song About the Land of Lenin)

Words: Aulikki Oksanen
Music and arranging: Kaj Chydenius (except 2. and 7. arranged by Chydenius and Eero Ojanen)

Agit Prop- kvartetti:
Monna Kamu
Liisa Tavi
Pekka Aarnio
Martti Launis

also
Erkki Saarela (2., 6.)
Sulevi Peltola (6., 8.)

Jukka Linkola - piano
Ilkka Willman - bass
Nono Söderberg - guitar
Reino Laine - drums
Aaro Kurkela - accordion
KOM-trio on 2. and 7.:
Eero Ojanen
Tapani Tamminen
Ari Valtonen


http://finnishrock.blogspot.com/2009/05/aulikki-oksanen-kaj-chydenius-agit-prop.html