Are you familiar with the name Jo Ann Castle? If you watched TV during the 1960s, there’s a good chance you are. For 10 years, beginning in 1959 when she was all of 20 years old, Jo Ann Castle’s performances were regularly featured on The Lawrence Welk Show. She was called the “Queen of the Ragtime Piano” by Welk himself, and she was usually seen playing an upright piano whose upper front board was removed so you can see the hammers striking the strings, like an old honky-tonk saloon piano.
Jo Ann Castle’s earliest appearances on The Lawrence Welk Show featured her other major talent, however: she was a quite skillful accordionist.
I must admit that I have only recently discovered Jo Ann Castle, even though I probably have long known her name, deep in the recesses of memory. The simple fact is that my family did not, as a rule, watch The Lawrence Welk Show. Maybe there was something on another channel that conflicted; I cannot remember. Yet, it was impossible not to know it was on every week. Once again, YouTube provides a treasure trove of archived performances demonstrating the high level of accomplishment and entertainment value put forth by that franchise on a continual basis for years.
It is always compelling to consider the career marked by early meteoric success only to plummet to unimagined depths, especially if that career is then redeemed by a rise from the ashes. Such is the career of Jo Ann Castle. Her life was marred by a disproportionate share of bad timing and calamitous bad luck and personal tragedy. Yet, she has successfully reclaimed her life and work; and on November 14 and 15, 2011, Jo Ann Castle will be joining several other former stars of the Welk show in a concert performance at The Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois.
Jo Ann Zering was born 3 September 1939 in Bakersfield California. Jo Ann’s performing career began as a little dancer at age 3. She was given classical piano and dancing lessons until her family determined, when she was 7, that they could no longer afford both. She continued with the music. She started on accordion at age 10. Jo Ann’s introduction to ragtime piano came when her father, a railroad conductor, bought her the sheet music for Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag, telling her he wanted to hear her play it. “I’d never seen so many notes in my life and I really didn’t care to learn it, but Dad kept after me until it made sense. In time, I grew to love ragtime and boogie, too, maybe because boogie gave me a chance to show off my strong left hand.”
Here's what she made of the Maple Leaf Rag a little later on.
Jo Ann entertained during her teens at many local functions including civic clubs, schools, church, etc. in the area south of Los Angeles, her family having moved to Ventura when she was 11. In another family decision, her professional name was changed to Jo Ann Castle after a now-defunct accordion maker Castle Accordions. She appeared on television with the Ina Ray Hutton All Girl Orchestra, with Arthur Godfrey, and with Spike Jones. Not yet old enough to order a drink, she was playing gigs at the Dunes and the Fremont Hotel in Las Vegas.
In her early endeavor to bring herself to the attention of the Welk show producers, she went into a studio at age 18 and made an album of accordion music for Roulette Records, with a glamour photo on the album cover, which she sent to the show by way of an audition. It was a successful strategy, as she was called to appear for the first time just a few weeks later.
Here's an outstanding example of Jo Ann's early talent.
She was also able to create a mood.
She made several guest appearances between 1958 and 1959 before being asked to join the show’s “Musical Family”. This is from Jo Ann's first appearance on the Welk show, performing The World is Waiting for the Sunrise, one of the numbers from her album.
Here's Jo Ann's second appearance.
Quite possibly, this was the first (maybe only) instance of a performer being hired while on the air – and on her birthday, no less (her 20th). She had feared that if Welk divulged her true age, it would blow her cover and prevent her from continuing to work in Las Vegas, where her mother, acting as Jo Ann’s chaperone, pretended to be her sister.
Once hired as a regular performer, her main function was to supply ragtime style piano performances on that honky-tonk piano. Big Tiny Little (Dudley Little, Jr.) was leaving the show, and she was called upon to fill his substantial shoes – no small feat. Here's Jo Ann performing together with him.
Since Welk already had Myron Floren as the resident accordion virtuoso (not to mention that, of course, Welk himself was an accordion player, albeit of modest ability – which did not stop him from performing the occasional solo number… with Myron’s help: "Now for my accordion solo; Myron, will you join me?"), Jo Ann’s accordion performances were featured less often once she was hired as a regular. When she did play accordion, it was usually in a duet with Myron. These duets were superlative, and they continue to tickle the ear all this time later.
Here are Myron and Jo Ann performing Pietro Frosini's paso doble favorite, The Jolly Caballero. This was conceived as a showcase for what, in retrospect, is a completely gratuitous dance number, which can easily be ignored in favor of listening to this exhilarating rapid-tempo rendition played by Jo Ann and Myron lurking upstage of the dancers.
Week after week, Jo Ann provided first-rate ragtime piano renditions, always marked by a grand smile and bouncy vivaciousness. She reportedly had originally told Lawrence Welk that she had some 300 musical selections at her disposal when, in fact, she had only 3 – and had to become a quick study. A self-professed ham, she was also featured in the occasional comedy skit, sometimes even while playing the piano. A regular feature emerged, especially after the show was being produced in color, whereby “the old upright” itself was decorated, whether by paint or some kind of adhesive paper, to match Jo Ann’s outfit and/or the theme of the specific musical number being performed that week.
The backing musicians always seemed to really enjoy playing with her.
The woman's got some serious chops!
Jo Ann’s first marriage, to TV cameraman Dean Hall, ended in divorce. There had been a daughter, Deana, who had cerebral palsy and mental impairment, living only until 15. Jo Ann remarried on Christmas Eve 1967 to an ex-Marine, Bill Roeschlein. There were two more children: William Jr., born 24 April 1969; and Joanie Lynne on 24 April 1970. (She had her labor induced, when Joanie was about to be born, so that her children could share a birthday!)
Welk regarded her as an asset to his show, but Jo Ann felt that she had become pigeon-holed. “I knew that once Lawrence typecast you, that was it.” Anxious to pursue other avenues, she determined to leave the show after 10 years of abiding by his rules. (He was adamant in having his performers adhere to a wholesome image even off camera. Thus, for example, the women were prohibited from wearing pants in spite of current style.) Castle and Welk parted amicably, even though he had tried to persuade her to stay (“You only have to play once a week”). She related frequently that Welk’s eyes were teary in that meeting, realizing for the first time that “he really, really liked me”. I would conjecture that Welk had always been smitten with her, probably right from the start. I do not suggest anything even remotely inappropriate; only that he, as much as all the male admirers whose letters had convinced him to hire her in the first place, was not immune to her charms, not to mention her sparkling talent.
After leaving The Lawrence Welk Show, Jo Ann Castle’s career began its precipitous disintegration. At some point, there was a falling out with her mother. (Had Jo Ann been exploited for her talent as a child?) She had some fair and night club bookings, but these eventually dwindled. It may have been the fact that the culture had undergone a shift by the late 1960s and early 1970s; that the very thing at which Jo Ann was an exemplar, producing spectacular renditions in what was, by then, an essentially nostalgic musical style could no longer draw an audience outside of the environs of the Welk show, with its calculated appeal to a conservative, older crowd. Although she had become frustrated with her typecast role in the context of the TV show, longing to break out of stale routine and indulge her free spirit, she was a star of a very particular niche. This was, after all, just prior to the “rediscovery” of ragtime music marked by Marvin Hamlisch’s adaptation of Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer for the 1973 movie “The Sting”. After that time, ragtime music showed up all over the place; but what was remarkable is that it was the “classical” performers like violinist Itzhak Perlman or the Metropolitan Opera’s James Levine that led this new vanguard. A complete set of Joplin’s rags was recorded by pianist Joshua Rifkin, notable for its strict adherence to Joplin’s admonitions never to play ragtime fast. The results were…. slow.
With her second marriage ending in another divorce, Deana’s passing, and bookings on the decline, Jo Ann took solace in food and alcohol, her weight increasing to 300 pounds. There was a third marriage (none of the sources I’ve seen mention her third husband’s name), but this marriage was an outright disaster. Husband #3 beat Jo Ann so severely that she ended up in a cast and on crutches. She dumped him but had, by then, lost her house and eventually ended up in Arkansas with her kids, sleeping on her sister’s couch, struggling just to get by.
By the mid-1980s, according to accounts, Jo Ann was on the way to her comeback. Shedding pounds, and retooling her act to include singing as well as piano-playing, which included classics, boogie-woogie, Fats Waller as well as ragtime. Her key now was a series of appearances with other former stars of the Welk show. She even showed up back on the show, in 1985, as a Christmas-time guest.
She signed with Randy Wood to his label Ranwood Records. She headlined at the Lawrence Welk Champagne Theater in Branson Missouri between 1994 and 2001. Jo Ann got to perform again with Big Tiny Little in Branson in 2000.
In 2002, Jo Ann was the host of a PBS special “The Legendary Liberace”, the subject of which had been a good friend of hers. (I would’ve loved to be in the room if they’d ever faced off in dueling versions of Chopsticks or the 12th Street Rag.) Anyway, here's what Jo Ann had had to say about Chopsticks early on. SERIOUS chops indeed!
I believe in the possibility of redemption. I also believe in the power of music to facilitate such redemption in the face of crises of the spirit. Jo Ann Castle had been performing from the age of 3; and if anything can be said about the body of her work documented on recording and especially on video, it is her sheer physical joy in the making of music. At the piano, in addition to the remarkable things she did with her fingers and hands, she was always bouncing, her feet going up and down together on every beat – total involvement. Playing the accordion, she seems to envelop that cumbersome instrument, so strong is her commitment. The smile was always genuine, even if it was strenuously “encouraged” from on high. Jo Ann credits her sense of humor for seeing her through the dark times; but she has existed by and large to make joyous happy music.
She has now had a longstanding relationship with jazz trumpeter Lin Biviano.
Her children are now adults with professional careers in business and law; and there are grandchildren too.
Here, following a clip of an earlier performance, is an interview Jo Ann Castle gave with her fellow Welk show alumna, Mary Lou Metzger.
Since she makes a point of citing her performance of Sheik of Araby, here it is.
At 72, Jo Ann Castle is back doing what she does best… bringing elation to her audiences. If you’re anywhere near Chicago next week, go pay tribute to this grand lady and share the joy!
[My apologies for any font-related anomalies in this post, be it color or size. I have not been able to resolve them thus far, but I did not wish to delay any longer publishing this. Neil]
Finnish music has been on my mind a lot lately, and the recent opening of Finland’s new concert hallis just the latest manifestation. On the last day of August, the Helsinki Music Center (Helsingin musiikkitalo) had its inaugural concert. It is now the home of both the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra as well as the Sibelius Academy, Finland’s primary music conservatory.
The Helsinki Music Center’s Facebook page recently posted links to a couple of articles about it that are quite interesting (the second one is by Norman Lebrecht):
Earlier in August, the Bard Music Festival at Bard College in New York was centered around the music of Sibelius. Although I couldn’t attend, there were interesting reports and reviews published describing the various events. Additionally, all through the summer, a series of radio programs called ”13 Days When Music Changed Forever” produced by WFMT in association with the San Francisco Symphony and narrated by Suzanne Vega, was aired on classical stations. Cited therein, alongside the first performances of such works as Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, was the premiere of Sibelius’s tone poem Tapiola (26 December 1926). My connection with the music of Finland has probably been not unlike that of most people who are not Finnish – generally beginning and ending with the music of Sibelius, at least up until recently. Classical music in Finland is not marginalized to the extent it has become here in the U.S. It is a thriving enterprise there, and there are many contemporary Finnish composers who have gained prominence, such as Einojuhani Rautavaara, Kaija Saariaho, and numerous others. Yet I must admit I have not heard their music. Several Finnish conductors like Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Esa-Pekka Salonen (who also composes) populate the international music scene. Finland can also boast of a number of famous opera singers such as bass Matti Salminen, the late bass Martti Talvela, and soprano Karita Mattila, just to name a few.
JEAN SIBELIUS
As for Sibelius, well, we all know ”Finlandia”, of course; and that work was featured, naturally, in the Helsinki Music Center’s inaugural program. The Violin Concerto is a repertoire staple as well, and I first got to know it as a teenager from the Heifetz recording on RCA with Walter Hendl conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Regularly heard in the repertoire are the Swan of Tuonela, the Karelia Suite, Pohjola’s Daughter, and at least a couple of his seven symphonies, the second most often and #5 somewhat less so; #4 is gaining ground of late as well. (A new set of the seven symphonies has just been reviewed in the October issue of Gramophone magazine featuring the Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä.) As a young piano student, I had learned his ”Romance”. In the mid-1970s, I remember hearing a rare New York City performance of the choral symphony Kullervo, Op. 7, of which I own a complete recording. And around the same time, a close friend had sung a set of Sibelius songs on the radio. If I felt an affinity for the music of Sibelius (and perhaps it was owing just a little bit to the fact that we shared a birthday, 8 December), it has been no more so than my affinity for the music of many other composers. Yet I will admit to a slight bit of tacit admiration for the fact that Joseph Patelson, the late owner of the eponymous sheet music emporium in which I had been employed, regarded Sibelius as his favorite composer; and the composer’s portrait was featured prominently behind his desk.
I do have one other admittedly rather thin connection to Sibelius. Erik Werner Tawaststjerna (10 October 1916 – 22 January 1993) was a pianist, critic, teacher, and personal friend of Sibelius. He produced one of the composer’s definitive biographies. Tawaststjerna also produced a son, Erik Thomas Tawaststjerna. Tawaststjerna the younger, also a pianist, and carrying the torch as it were, has recorded the complete piano works of Sibelius in six volumes for BIS Records. When I was taking music courses at New York University, one of my classmates was a pianist of prodigious pedagogical pedigree originally from Taiwan named Hui-Ying Liu. Hui-Ying later married Erik T. Tawaststjerna and moved to Helsinki. Now, both professors of piano at the Sibelius Academy, they appear to be Helsinki’s piano pedagogy power couple.
A DIFFERENT TRADITION
If one is interested, one can easily find comprehensive surveys, in the pages of Wikipedia and elsewhere, of Finnish music in general, or of Sibelius’s music. Finland has a vibrant popular music industry as well; another topic for which Wikipedia provides an interesting and comprehensive survey. I want to talk about something one rarely encounters outside of Finland, however, and that is a bit of Finnish folk music that has pervaded Finnish popular culture to a remarkable extent, and that is the ”Säkkijärven Polkka”.
The Säkkijärven polkka is one of a number of Finnish polkas (and there is in fact one called simply Finnish Polka,) but the combination of its sheer hook-filled catchiness and a most interesting tidbit of history is what most likely accounts for its great popularity in Finland. It’s, at heart, a simple yet compelling little ditty in a minor key; it seems to have a palpable resonance amongst the Finnish people, from the evidence I’ve found. I came upon it purely by accident, a chance click on a YouTube link. I will illustrate this discussion prodigiously with YouTube links that I hope will be informative and entertaining. At the very least, it’s probable that this piece will worm its way into your brain (as it has mine). You may find yourself awake at night with the wiggly tune chasing itself around like mice on speed. Consider yourself forewarned!
Although Säkkijärven polkkais regarded as a folk tune, and no specific composer’s name is attached to it, it is in the arrangement of Finnish accordionist Viljo “Vili” Vesterinen (1907-1961) that it has become best known. Vesterinen was self-taught in accordion, although he had studied piano and cello, and became a popular performer who made some 130 recordings as well as a few film appearances. Notably, those include a 1955 film about his own life called “Säkkijärven polkka”.
His career eventually declined along with his health, as he struggled with alcoholism (as had Sibelius) and cigarette use. The only film of him I can find on YouTube is this brief one; here he is in uniform, performing the popular accordion bolero classic by Pietro Frosini La Mariposita. (Check out the ring on Vili’s right index finger!) [See below for an update on this piece of music.]
Vesterinen’s most popular recording, undoubtedly, is the Säkkijärven polkka which he made on 17 June 1939. Here is that historic recording.
THE WAR YEARS
1939 marked the beginning of a long and arduous period in the history of Finland: the two wars Finland fought with the Soviet Union during World War II are almost never touched upon in the U.S. These include the Winter War and the Continuation War, with an Interim Peace which must not have been at all peaceful in actuality. I think it is useful to know something about these wars to put into proper perspective the eventual significance of the little piece of music under discussion. Thus, here are the respective introductions of the lengthy and detailed Wikipedia articles on these two wars [and I recommend the full articles to anyone wishing to delve further]:
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet Invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty. The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from the League on 14 December 1939.
The Soviet forces had three times as many soldiers as the Finns, 30 times as many aircraft, and a hundred times as many tanks. The Red Army, however, had been crippled by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s Great Purge of 1937, reducing the army's morale and efficiency shortly before the outbreak of the fighting. With more than 30,000 of its army officers executed or imprisoned, including most of those of the highest ranks, the Red Army in 1939 had many inexperienced senior officers. Because of these factors, and high commitment and morale in the Finnish forces, Finland was able to resist the Soviet invasion for far longer than the Soviets expected.
Hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty. Finland ceded 11% of its pre-war territory and 30% of its economic assets to the Soviet Union. Soviet losses on the front were heavy, and the country's international reputation suffered. The Soviet forces did not accomplish their objective of the total conquest of Finland, but did gain sufficient territory along Lake Ladoga to provide a buffer for Leningrad. The Finns, however, retained their sovereignty and enhanced their international reputation.
The peace treaty thwarted the Franco-British plan to send troops to Finland through northern Scandinavia. One of the Allied operation's major goals had been to take control of northern Sweden’s iron ore and cut its deliveries to Germany.
Winter War
On 23 August 1939, the Soviet Union and Germany signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact where parties divided the independent countries of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania into spheres of interest, with Finland falling to the Soviet sphere of interest. Shortly afterward, Germany invaded Poland so the United Kingdom and France declared war against Germany. The Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland on 17 September. Next, Moscow demanded that the Baltic states allow the establishment of Soviet military bases and the stationing of troops on their soil. The Baltic governments accepted ultimatums, signing the corresponding agreements in September and in October.
In October 1939, the Soviet Union attempted to negotiate for Finnish territories on the Karelian Isthmus, the islands of the Gulf of Finland and a military base near the Finnish capital Helsinki. The Finnish government refused, and the Red Army attacked on 30 November 1939. Condemnation by the League of Nations and by countries all over the world had no effect on Soviet policy. International help to Finland was planned, but very little actual help materialized, except from Sweden. The Moscow Peace Treaty, which was signed on 12 March 1940, ended the Winter War. The Treaty was severe for Finland as the country lost one eleventh of its national territory and about 13 percent of its economic capacity. However, Finland had avoided having the Soviet Union annex the whole country.
Interim peace
The outcome of the Winter War was bitter for Finland and left a deep trauma. The country's foreign policy had been based on multilateral guarantees for support from the League of Nations and Nordic countries and was considered a failure. Public opinion favored the re-conquest of Finnish Karelia. The defense of the country was declared first priority and military expenditures rose to nearly half of government spending. Finland received war material purchased and donated during and immediately after the Winter War. On the southern frontier, the Soviet Union had acquired a military base in Hanko near the Finnish capital of Helsinki, employing over 30,000 military personnel.
Finland also had to resettle some 420,000 evacuees from the lost territories. To ensure the supply of food, it was necessary to clear new land for them to cultivate. This issue was facilitated with the Rapid Settlement Act. The Finnish leadership wanted to preserve the spirit of unanimity that was commonly felt throughout the country during the Winter War. The divisive White Guard tradition of the Civil War 16 May victory day celebration was therefore discontinued. Relations between Finland and the Soviet Union remained strained despite the signing of the one-sided peace treaty and there were disputes regarding the implementation of the conditions of the treaty. Finland sought security against further territorial depredations by the Soviet Union and proposed mutual defense agreements with Norway and Sweden, but these initiatives were quashed by Moscow.
The Continuation War (25 June 1941 – 19 September 1944) was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II.
At the time of the war, the Finnish side used the name to make clear its perceived relationship to the preceding Winter War. The Soviet Union saw the war as a part of its struggle against Germany and its allies, the Eastern Front of World War II or, as it was known in the Soviet Union, the Great Patriotic War. Germany regarded its operations in the region as a part of its overall war efforts of World War II. It provided critical material support and military cooperation to Finland.
Acts of war between the two countries started on 22 June 1941, the day Germany launched its invasion of the Soviet Union. Open warfare started with a Soviet air offensive on 25 June. Subsequent Finnish operations undid its post-Winter War cessations on the Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia, and captured East Karelia by September 1941. Furthermore Finland passively participated in the siege of Leningrad for two and a half years. Accordingly the Soviet air forces bombed Helsinki and other major cities. Eventually the Soviet strategic offensive in the summer of 1944 drove the Finns from most of the territories they had gained during the war but the Finnish Army later fought it to a standstill, leading to the Moscow Armistice in September. The Paris peace treaty concluded the war formally in 1947. Finland ceded Petsamo and rented Porkkala to the Soviet Union, and paid reparations of $300,000,000 equaling half of its annual gross domestic product in 1939, while Finland retained its independence.
I do want to take note of one further section of the article on the Continuation War, regarding the Jews in Finland:
Finland had a small (approx. 2,300) Jewish population. They had full civil rights and fought shoulder to shoulder with other Finns in the ranks of the Finnish Army. The Germans had mentioned the Finnish Jews at the Wannsee Conference in January 1942, wishing to transport them to Majdanek in General Gouvernment. SS leader Heinrich Himmler mentioned the Finnish Jews during his visit in Finland in the summer of 1942. Finnish Prime Minister Jukka Rangell replied that Finland had no Jewish question. However, there were differences for Jewish refugees in Finland. In November 1942, the Finns handed eight Jewish refugees over to the Gestapo. This raised protests among the Finnish Social Democrat ministers, and after this no more refugees were handed over. Over 500 Jewish refugees were granted asylum.
The field synagogue in Eastern Karelia was one of the very few functioning synagogues on the Axis side during the war. There were even several cases of Jewish officers of Finland's army awarded the German iron Cross, which they declined. German soldiers were treated by Jewish medical officers who succeeded in saving their lives.
Interesting, no?
Now, here’s where we come back to the topic at hand. During the Continuation War, the Finnish Army discovered that the retreating Soviet Red Army had scattered radio-controlled mines throughout the re-captured city of Viipuri. These mines were set off when a three-note chord was played on the frequency to which the radio was tuned, causing three tuning forks (of which each mine had a unique combination) to vibrate simultaneously. Once the Finnish Army and Yleisradio experts discovered how the mines worked, a Yleisradio mobile transmitter was brought to Viipuri, and Vesterinen's 1939 recording of Säkkijärven polkkawas played on the same frequencies the mines used. This operation continued for over three months, until the batteries of the mines were drained. Although the civilians thought the radio station staff had gone nuts, the music’s tempo was fast enough and the melody sufficiently varied to foil the Soviet mines.
SÄKKIJÄRVI
Säkkijärvi (which translates to “Sack Lake” or even “Bag Lake”) was a village near the Gulf of Finland in South Karelia founded in 1572. Its precise location is 60°37’18.736”N 28°10’2.1792”E, some 40km west of Viipuri. It was part of what had been ceded to the Soviets in 1944; thus, though briefly called Ulyanovka, it is now known as Kondratjevo (after Col. P. Kondratiev [1909-1943]) in the Leningrad Oblast. With a Säkkijärvi population of 8685 in 1939, the population of Kondratjevo in 2008 was a mere 1012.
A humorous story goes: A man from Säkkijärvi, a displaced Karelian traveling in central Finland, stopped to ask for lodging for the night. The man of the house asked where his home village is, and, upon hearing it was Säkkijärvi, said “Well I don’t know – I’ve heard that every third person in Säkkijärvi is a thief, and the other two are musicians.” “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. I’m one of the musicians”.
SÄKKIJÄRVEN POLKKA
So here we have our famous little mine-disrupting Soviet-foiling polka named for a lost village. What has completely amazed me is that there are now dozens and dozens of different versions of Säkkijärven polkkato be found on YouTube; no telling how many times it has been recorded in audio media. It has been described as the “Finnish accordionists’ national anthem”; so naturally, there are numerous videos of accordionists, young and old; accordion solos, duets, quartets, sextets, and larger ensembles of all sizes. There’s one video of an accordionist actually standing in a lake. There are also versions with piano, guitar, banjo, harmonica, brass ensemble, and even solo tuba and bass fiddle. Although not on video, there’s an audio recording from 2002 by the aforementioned Lahti Symphony Orchestra and conductor Osmo Vänskä available for download on Amazon or iTunes. Certainly one of the most unusual audio versions is another I've downloaded from iTunes featuring virtuoso whistler Leo Eide. Nokia, the Finnish cellphone company (Finns are reportedly resigned, albeit with pity, that many mistake Nokia for a Japanese company) had for a time offered Säkkijärven polkka as a ring tone on their phones. Supposedly one can still acquire it. And it shows up in electronic form in a music video game In The Groove (commercial multiplayer machine dance game iDance and iDance2) as “Hardcore of the North” (!).The Säkkijärven polkka has been performed in a variety of styles as well, from hard rock to choral to a “Swingle Singers”-type of vocal version (which has actually been done by several different ensembles - frequently with staging effects), and to at least one modern jazz version.
So many of the YouTube videos, even when the piece itself may be less than spectacularly executed, nevertheless have something to recommend them, that it is difficult to choose amongst them. I want to present a variety so that one can get inside the music; and to show how just about everyone wants a crack at it. I find, now having heard the polka many times over, that I only think of it as itself, not in any one version of it.
The Säkkijärven polkka is one of those pieces which, like Kodaly’s Hary Janos, or even Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture, starts off with a sneeze. (If played on accordion, the sneeze is a squeeze!) (I was surprised to learn, speaking of which, that Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture had been transcribed for accordion solo (!) by the composer of the bolero Vili Vesterinen performed in that film clip, none other than the early accordion virtuoso Pietro Frosini [1885-1951])
The polka itself is in an A-B-A format; its main tune depends on a basic tonic/dominant alternation. [The accordion sheet music I was able to download (and which I’ve found nowhere else) is in an edition copyrighted 1979 by Musikki Faber, Helsinki. Many performers have obviously used differing versions.] The A section is in 4 distinct parts, all in C minor: 8 bars, repeated; 8 bars followed by another 8 bars which are a variation on the preceding 8 and which may be done an octave higher; and another 8 bars, repeated (up an octave). That last 8-bar section features a series of running 16th notes (semiquavers) that put me in mind of Beethoven’s Waldstein piano sonata: in the 1st movement transitional passage from the first to second subject, bars 23-26 and later 64-65 in the exposition (in E minor); and bars 184-187 and later 225-226 in the recapitulation. (I have no idea what level of piano study Vesterinen received early on or whether he would have encountered the Waldstein; it’s not the same, but I’m struck by the similarity. I actually think it’s pure coincidence.) The B section (Trio) is in F minor. This section has 16 bars followed by another 16 which are a variation of the previous 16 (again may be an octave higher). Some performers on accordion use this section to display their bellows-shaking technique. Then it’s back to the A section which, in this publication, is just the initial 8 bar section. In performance, if they’re jammin’, they may just go on and on, repeating ad libitum.
Here is accordionist Jussi Marttinen in a video I keep coming back to. Nicely executed with fluid fingerwork, capturing the essence. He shakes those bellows into submission in the Trio. (You may also wish to follow a link to another well done performance he does as a duet with a second accordionist.)
This next example clearly is a studio recording of Pertti Kynkäänniemi with accompaniment, with a counter-melody for second accordion most likely overdubbed by himself. So we’re not really hearing his performance in the lake. (In it!)
I don’t really know whose version this is, but I do like it a lot. (Also, it’s not really as long as it looks. The last minute and a half are blank.)
"Sone bangers" accordion quartet (it says) do a similar one.
Lasse Hoikka & Souvarit are another accordion quartet here providing a more plush rendition. Pretty infectious!
Ready for a little change of pace? The Jukka Tolonen Band in 1978 will refresh you.
O.S.S.Y. This one’s got groupies and will only waste a couple of minutes of your life.
Leningrad Cowboys are a Finnish rock band that has made a number of albums and a few films. Here’s a short clip from one of them, “Leningrad Cowboys Go America” (1989). What’s up with the hair?
VOCALS
At the time Vesterinen made his recording, Säkkijärvi was still part of the southeast province of Finland. Some time after the war, in 1953 actually, words were written by Repe Helismaa, retrofitted one might say, which express wistfulness at the loss of Säkkijärvi but taking bittersweet consolation that… well, at least we still have the polka. [I’m greatly indebted to Hanna Granlund, a formidable breeder of Skye terriers in Finland, for this translation.]
Esa Pakarinen & Eemeli (Esko Olavi "Eemeli" Toivonen) are the credited performers in this video. The photos displayed during the video are many of the same images that come up if you Google “Säkkijärvi images”, and they give a good idea of the flavor of the land. Watch the images, then listen again as you follow along below.
On kauniina muistona Karjalan maa, The land of Carelia is but a beautiful memory, mutta vieläkin syömmestä soinnahtaa, but it still touches my heart, kun soittajan sormista kuulla saa, when I hear from the musician's fingers
Säkkijärven polkkaa! the Säkkijärvi polka! Se polkka taas menneitä mieleen tuo That polka brings things of the past to my mind ja se outoa kaipuuta rintaan luo. and a strange aching to my chest. Hei, soittaja, haitarin soida suo Hey, musician, let your accordion play Säkkijärven polkkaa! the Säkkijärvi polka!
Nuoren ja vanhan se tanssiin vie, It takes the young and old to dance, ei sille polkalle vertaa lie! there's no comparison to that polka! Sen kanssa on vaikka mierontie
[You can take] Even the path of the outcast Säkkijärven polkkaa! with the Säkkijärvi polka! Siinä on liplatus laineitten, It has the sound of the waves, siinä on huojunta honkien. It has the swaying of old pine trees. Karjala soi - kaikki tietää sen – Carelia is singing – everybody knows that -
Säkkijärven polkkaa! the Säkkijärvi polka!
Tule, tule tyttö, nyt kanssani tanssiin, kun polkka niin herkästi helkähtää. Come, come girl, dance with me now when the polka sounds so gently. Hoi! Hepo surkoon ja hammasta purkoon, kun sillä on ihmeesti suurempi pää! Yey! Let the horse grieve and grind its teeth, because he has a larger head!
Tule, tule, tyttö, nyt kanssani tanssiin kun meillä on riemu ja suvinen sää! Come, come girl, dance with me now when we are merry and it is summer! ["suvinen sää" - "suvinen" is an adjective derived from the word "suvi" which is an old name for "summer" and "sää" means "weather" – summery weather??] Säkkijärvi se meiltä on pois, mutta jäi toki sentään polkka! We have lost Säkkijärvi but we do have the polka!
Kun rakkaimmat rannat on jääneet taa, When the dearest shores are far behind, niin vieraissa kulkija lohdun saa, kun the traveller walking in strange lands gets comfort when kuuntelee soittoa kaihoisaa: listens to the wistful playing of Säkkijärven polkkaa! the Säkkijärvi polka!
Se polkka on vain, mutta sellainen, It is only polka, but of a kind, että tielle se johtavi muistojen. that leads to the path of memories. On sointuna Karjalan kaunoisen: It is the sound of the beautiful Carelia:
Säkkijärven polkka! the Säkkijärvi polka!
Now those lyrics to the polka, which you’ve no doubt memorized by now, were not always the ones attached to it. Here’s an odd little film clip, dating back as well to 1953, featuring the Kimarakvartetti. OK I was talking about the words sung during the last few seconds of that. As for the rest of those vocal sounds, I just don’t know how they did it! A special talent, I guess.
Someone named Lennie Norman, guitar in lap, sings a different set of words (meaning unknown to me) but evoking Vili Vesterinen.
Here’s the “Swingle” version which, according to the description “is arranged by Archie Always and performed by Mumbo Jumbo and Dance Theatre Minimi”. HEY!
Essentially the same arrangement here, I think, this time in concert with the Close Harmony Friends. (This same group has another version as well, with some outdoor antics.) HEY HEY!
Christmas just may be coming: Kitten Anderssons! (with an extra from “Scrubs”)
THE KIDS ARE ALL DOING IT
To me, one of the most endearing aspects of this exploration of the Säkkijärven polkka is its appeal to children. The tune, after all, is not much different than any number of childrens’ ditties. But it is a clear favorite for Finnish kids to take up while learning to play accordion. And it warms my heart that learning and playing accordion is a cool thing for these kids to do.
These young people seem to have a great time in Savonlinna.
This young man hasn’t mastered it completely, but that doesn’t stop him from including a bellows shake:
On the other hand, this guy (what is his name?) has pretty much nailed it. He has at least 3 different videos posted of his solo performance.
And here, he leads a group of young friends.
A few weeks ago, The New York Times published an article in the Sunday Arts & Leisure section about charisma. It made the point that, by and large, charisma is something that either is there or is not. When it’s there, it usually manifests itself early on. Mikko Makkonen is a prime example of manifest charisma. Just 10 years old when he made this video (and there are a few other examples of his playing from the same time), he has clearly got it. Now all of 12, he’s a student at the Junior Academy of the Sibelius Academy and has his own fan group page on Facebook. Just this past September, he won second place at the International accordion competition Castelfidardo in Italy in the category for entrants up to 12 years of age playing classical music.
Shall we go even younger? No loss of concentration for 8-year-old Arttu Rajala performing for a live audience which is clearly into it.
WHERE ARE THE DANCERS?
After viewing these and quite a few other videos, I began to wonder… this is a polka, isn’t it? Why don’t any of these videos have anyone dancing? (I didn't count the ones with choreography as part of the staging of those "Swingle" performances.) The only one I’d found was at an outdoor performance by Frederik, in which a few spectators in the crowd took the opportunity to shake a leg. Then I found this, filmed at the Europäische Jugendwoche. Shaken loose from latter-day accordionic finger twiddles, here is the Säkkijärven polkka reduced to basic folkish form, with appropriate Terpsichore to boot.
If we’re sticking with basics, it doesn’t get more basic than this. No bellows here – just the lungs and lips of Aimo Kinnunen enlivening the reeds.
SÄKKIJÄRVEN POLKKA FOREVER
Okay, now that we’ve broken it down, let’s bring this journey home and up to the present. Castelfidardo was not the only international accordion competition in Europe this summer. Every year since 2005, the Primus Ikaalinen Accordion Competition is held at the Sata-Häme Soi festival. This competition is “run along the lines of the Eurovision Song Competition where selected accordion finalists perform popular entertainment style pieces accompanied by a professional backing band, to a live studio and television audience”. As has been the case for the past several years, the final was broadcast on Finland’s National TV (YLE). In the 2009 competition, Finnish accordionist Katariina Ahjoniemi performed a pretty nifty jazzed up… you guessed it: Säkkijärven polkka.
EXTRA FEATURES
A few notes and asides (naturally). First of all, I promised you an update on La Mariposita, the Frosini composition played by Vili Vesterinen in that old film clip. At this past summer’s Primus Ikaalinen (which, by the way, was won by American accordionist Cory Pesaturo), Finnish accordionist Marko Kotilainen played La Mariposita with a few new harmonies and instrumental textures backing him up, but essentially the classic piece as it has existed for decades. A word about Kotilainen: he’s a 33-year-old family man with two daughters and a regular job teaching high school chemistry and math; his father had been an accordion hobbyist, and Marko does his father proud in perpetuating the hobby.
A regular feature of the Primus Ikaalinen competition final is the Finnish medley, a pastiche of popular Finnish tunes performed in sequence by the finalists of the competition, clearly an audience favorite. And so, in a mood of festivity that I think you well deserve, if you’ve stuck with me this far, I send you out into the cool Finnish night warmed to the core by this joyous effusion.
There are several tunes that come up repeatedly in the medleys year after year. One of these is called Olen Suomalainen (“I am Finnish” or “I am a Finn”). This song was originally written and recorded by Salvatore “Toto” Cutugno as L’Italiano (Lasciatemi Cantare) and became a worldwide hit. No wonder – it’s another song that just sticks in your ear. It was recorded in the Finnish cover version by a popular Finnish singer named Kari Tapio, and he had great success with it. Here’s Tapio in a live performance:
On 7 December 2010, Kari Tapio had a heart attack and died, age 65, sending a shock wave throughout Finland.
In the 2009 Finnish medley, Olen Suomalainen is admirably performed by Katariina Ahjoniemi whom we heard playing the jazzy Säkkijärven polkka in the same final. In 2008, however, Italian accordionist Mario D'Amario gets more naturally inside the piece rhythmically, and it’s just plain sexy (not to mention that smile!). Most moving of all to me, though, is the 2011 version from just this past July. Olen Suomalainen is played by Marko Kotilainen with the audience, as usual, singing along fervently. I feel certain that, even amidst the general festiveness, the recent passing of Kari Tapio must have been in the back of everyone’s mind at that moment.
I hope this ride has been enjoyable. I hope, as well, that one will be inspired to investigate such other charming and, each in its own way, compelling Finnish popular favorites as Sirkkojen tanssit, Karlajan Polka, Metsäkukkia, Takaisin Paluu, Kulkurin Kaiho, and many more. And once you’ve had a rest, there are many many more versions of Säkkijärven polkka to be found that I did not include here (hard to believe, I know, but true!).
I hope that I have made the case that music reaches into the hearts of the Finnish populace, not only creating an element of compatriotic bonding but also evidenced thereby. Music, it is frequently stated, is a universal language. Personally, though I can barely make head or tail of the Finnish language, the music of the Finnish people speaks to the soul.
OK, it’s time for the Finnish Medley – enjoy yourselves:
