Bringing Finland to America
Read about my trip to FinnFest USA in Duluth!
I just got home from Duluth one week ago today. It was my first time there and I had the time of my life! I performed two sets of Finnish music at FinnFest USA. The website describes it as “North America’s premier experience of Nordic culture and learning.” Based on the experiences I had, I have to say that it’s so much more than that. If I had to sum it up with just one word, that word would be connections. Connections to the past, to the future, to other parts of the world, and to each other.
I got to the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center at about 11 am on Friday, July 26. I was handed a lanyard with a FinnFest badge on it that had my full name, Kyle Gray Young, with the word PERFORMER printed underneath. Whoa. This was cool. I sent off a couple selfies with the badge to some friends.
Breanne Marie was performing and I was able to catch her set. Breanne did a marvelous job on stage. I particularly enjoyed the tunes she sang with her daughter. I hope to hear more of both of them next year!
Everyone was so warm and inviting. I never once felt out of place. They really did want me there. I met Dan Maki, the person in charge of coordinating all of the musicians. He did such a great job and was there for anything the performers needed. I don’t think any of us would have had a successful performance without Dan keeping all of the wheels turning. Kudos and kiitos, Dan!
I walked around the tori, the marketplace with artists and other vendors promoting their Finnish-related items and services. That was in one half of the room where I was playing. The other half had a stage, a seating area, and several phenomenal sauna displays.
3pm came quickly. I was as ready as I could be. I had my phone setup to do a live stream, and that turned out pretty nicely for the Friday set. My cousin Mandy was there with her husband Mark and they were in charge of that for me. I’m so glad they were there. My cousin is a wonderful textile artist and I hope she sets up a booth or gives a presentation at FinnFest next year. These two are officially my groupies. They’re the only ones who have attended all of my shows this year! Mark definitely deserves honorary-Finn status for putting up with all of us. :)
Dan introduced me, the crowd welcomed me to the stage, and I got right into it with my first song. I felt shaky and I think it took me about three songs to really feel settled in. Once I got settled, I felt like I was on autopilot. I was able to live in the moment and enjoy performing music for others. I don’t normally get to do that on stage. There was something different about this show. In my 24 years of performing experience, I’ve never been so satisfied with playing live as I did on that stage. Moments when I was able to close my eyes helped me soak it all in. Twice I felt the sensation like I had been given a gentle hug by someone. It was a little startling but also nice.
I was able to share stories about my grandma and about how I started learning Finnish. I wore the Finnish flag pin that she got for me. She gave it to me before I went to Finland for the first time. She said, “you can wear this so if you get lost, people will know where you belong.” Finnish was her first language but she stopped speaking it when her grandma died. When I started learning it, several words started coming back to her and I got to know her on a whole new level. Memories she hadn’t thought about in decades came back to her once again. She passed away in 2017 and I can only imagine how proud she’d be of me for performing at FinnFest in her native tongue.
I played a few songs by artists I met in Helsinki. I talked about meeting Suvi Isotalo, one of my favorite singer/songwriters. It was really amazing to be able to gather these songs from Finland and put them all in one spot for folks in the United States to listen to. I also had a crew watching online since I had a livestream set up. I have a lovely friend named Soma in Oulu and she helped me so much with the preparation for my sets. I’m thankful she was able to watch live from Oulu while I performed in Duluth. Finland was just a little bit closer that weekend.
It was a pretty relaxed set, just 45 minutes. I could have gone longer because no one was after me, but I decided to save the rest for Saturday.
I went to get some delicious tacos in Canal Park with Mark and Mandy afterwards. It was nice to get out and see a bit of Lake Superior while I was in Duluth. After a while, I headed back to the convention center to see who was hanging around. There was sort of a lull in the activities until 8pm when the lavatanssit started. A group called Lauluaika was performing some traditional Finnish dance music. It was a great time, I wished they would have played longer. It reminded me of the dances I’ve been to in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I enjoyed watching the dancers and met quite a few people there as well.
Despite only getting about an hour of sleep on Friday night, Saturday was a pretty great day. I got to the convention center pretty early to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I got to finally catch Steve Solkela’s sets. I noticed his videos before FinnFest and was really curious to see what this guy was all about. Turns out he’s one of the most entertaining people I’ve ever seen. He mostly played accordion and sang, but he also had a helmet with a cymbal strapped to his head in case he needed it. Sometime he’d pull out a tiny trumpet to play while keeping one hand honking on the accordion. The icing on the Solkela cake is watching him play accordion while riding a unicycle. He told me later that he’s only one of three people in the state that can do that. That many, huh? Pasi Lautala joined him for dueling accordions and I hope that becomes a yearly FinnFest tradition. Pasi’s family band, Majority Finn, put on a couple excellent sets as well. It was great to see some kids involved with performing this year!
Steve and I hit it off pretty well. Honestly I think he’s even more entertaining off stage. We became BFFFs, best FinnFest friends. I hope we can play some tunes together soon. We got to goof around for some videos that Kayleigh coaxed out of us. She was the marvelous social media manager for all of FinnFest. Kayleigh did such a great job at lifting everyone up and making us all look great online. The three of us had a nice dinner later that night at Grandma’s.
I didn’t think that my set went as well on Saturday. It started out rough because I was distracted by the YouTube app causing problems with the live stream. But distractions happen. By the third song, I think I was able to focus better. Kolme pientä sanaa was a highlight for me when I saw some smiling faces singing along.
Sunday morning was pretty lazy. It was super hot and humid in my dorm so I packed up and found a Caribou to hang out at for a while. I had the place to myself and worked on some new song lyrics. The whole FinnFest experience was so uplifting and inspiring, I’ve started writing songs again. I haven’t written any in a while, but that’s normal for me. I go through dry spells all of the time. Something will usually shake things up enough to get the songwriting flowing again, and FinnFest was exactly what I needed on so many levels.
I’m so grateful to everyone who came to listen to my performances. I received many wonderful compliments, more than I’ve ever heard in my life. I’ve often felt like shows in the past were more background noise than anything. But I’ll never forget how many eyeballs were looking at me while I was on stage. It was an attentive and appreciative audience. And I hope everyone knows how much that means to me. I’ve already talked to a few people about setting up some more shows in Finnish. I’m thrilled to already be planning my next set!
I wrapped up the weekend with a lovely brunch with Mandy and Mark. We went to At Sara’s Table, which was recommended to me by three different people. It was probably the best meal I had in Duluth. The portabella mushroom wrap was an excellent vegetarian-friendly choice.
I headed out of town and drove in silence for about a half hour. I stopped to get gas just outside of Duluth. When I got back in my car, I hit shuffle on one of my many Finnish playlists on Spotify. The first song that came on was Mestaripiirros, the song I dedicated to my grandma during Friday’s set. It was the first Finnish song I ever sang for her. And whatever conclusions can be drawn from this song playing first, my mind and heart are wide open. I cried happy tears as I listened and reminisced about my grandma, about FinnFest, and about how I feel like I might have finally found my place.
Here are my setlists. I have links to the livestreams as well. The one for Saturday/Lauantai didn’t broadcast live, but it still recorded, albeit with some glitches (both from YouTube and from yours truly).
Perjantai - 26.7
Ota minut tällaisena kuin oon - Anna Puu
Asunto 35 - Egotrippi
Valot pimeyksien reunoilla - Apulanta
Minun Suomeni - Lauri Tähkä
Puhu äänellä jonka kuulen - Happoradio
Missä muruseni on - Jenni Vartiainen
Mestaripiirros - Anna Puu
Ihan onnellinen - Suvi Isotalo
Tyhjäksi jätetty - Matti Johannes Koivu
Sinun vuorosi loistaa - Juha Tapio
Nämä ajat eivät ole meitä varten - Egotrippi
Gloria - Egotrippi
Lauantai - 27.7
Rakkaus on paha päivä - Teleks
Asfaltin pinta - Egotrippi
Kolme pientä sanaa - Anna Puu
Sun särkyä anna mä en - Johanna Kurkela
Ruutuhyppelyä - Matti Johannes Koivu
Mökkitie - Arttu Wiskari
Valssi - Egotrippi
Kelpaat kelle vaan - Juha Tapio
Olet puolisoni nyt - Samuli Putro
Matkustaja - Egotrippi
You can hear the original versions of all of the songs on my Spotify playlist. Please support the original artists in Finland!
What an honor to be a part of all of this. I cannot wait for next year!
Nähdään ensi kertaa!
~Kyle
bio.link/kyle