Event overview
When Engelbert Humperdinck met Irwin Goodman: unearthing ”an early Finnish band” in Aotearoa New Zealand
The seminar will include a screening of a 20-minute documentary film about the band Finn Express directed by Dr Antti-Ville Kärjä, who is Academy Research Fellow, Music Archive JAPA, Helsinki, Finland
Abstract: As part of my ongoing research on the musical activities of the Finnish community in Aotearoa New Zealand, I ran across some five years ago a book on the local history of the township of Kawerau that included an image of ”an early Finnish band” from the early 1960s. Later, through ethnographic fieldwork, I have learned that the ”early Finnish band” had by no means been a fleeting and randomly formed act for local entertainment purposes, but instead rather well-known regionally as Finn Express and expressing a significant career longevity well into the 1980s.
It is this discrepancy between the local history-writing of Kawerau and demonstrable Finn Express activity that forms the basis of my presentation; in other words, my interest is geared towards the cultural politics of local historiography on one hand, and to the historiography of ’Aotearoan Finnish’ music on the other, both in its documented and oral forms.
As Finn Express in their heydays performed mainstream popular songs, following the repertoire of both international stars such as Engelbert Humperdinck and Finnish celebrities such as Irwin Goodman, the above historiographical discrepancy is also linked to questions about the interrelations between popular culture, ethnicised authenticity and folk traditions.
Antti-Ville Kärjä works as Academy Research Fellow at Music Archive JAPA, Helsinki, Finland, where he leads a research project on "Music, Multiculturality and Finland". He is Adjunct Professor of Popular Music Studies at the University of Helsinki, and currently also Chair of the Finnish Society for Ethnomusicology.
He is an active member of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, and serves in the executive committee of the association’s Nordic branch. His research interests include music and postcolonial theory, historiography of music, definitions of the popular, and ethnomusicological filmmaking.
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The Music Research Series is designed to help postgraduate students advance their research and careers. The events stimulate exchange, hones skills, facilitates the creation of professional networks and helps to consolidate the department’s postgraduate community, all over a glass of wine!
Attendance is strongly recommended for all postgraduate students (MA, MMus and PGR) in Music but of course undergraduates, music researchers, and visitors from across the college and the community are also most welcome to these public lectures.
Image courtesy of Timo Viitakangas
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Feb 2017 | 5:00pm - 6:30pm |
Accessibility
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