Spinning Words

Helsinki, Finland

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Diana

Helsinki Cathedral

For those of you who don’t know, though I honestly doubt there is such a person, I’ve been dreaming to move to Finland since I was 15. That’s because of HIM and my passion for their music. I think I have some blog posts about them around here, here and here and probably not only there. My dream of moving to Finland did not come true, but last week-end I made a what I thought would be just a visit to Helsinki, that ended up turning into a power tour of Finnish days, nights, mornings and ski jumping trampolines. And I hope you all know Janne Ahonen, and if you don’t, well, too bad for you, because you missed some really beautiful ski jumping performances and a really nasty fall in Planica from the ski flying trampoline. And any rock/metal fan is aware of the Finnish metal scene plus I guess we all remember when Lordi took Eurovision to a totally different level.

Helsinki Uni

After a short flight I was on my way to Helsinki and, as any tourist, the first thing I wanted to do is to go see the Helsinki Cathedral, and not only that, but to sit on the steps and just look around and drink some coffee. My trip took me close to the harbour, to Uspenski Cathedral that, even if it is an Orthodox church, it didn’t remind me of the ones back home (I presume because of the Russian vs Greek Orthodox styles), to the Sibelius monument or the Temppeliaukio Church, the church built in a rock.

Tavastia

While walking around the streets I ended next to Helsinki University. I stopped by at Molly Malones and stared at the entrance to Tavastia for minutes in a row. That’s where all the cool rock concerts happen, must visit it for such an occasion one day. The evening brought me in a rock pub, On the Rocks, watching Sweet Little Sister, a SkidRow cover band, and another live-jam band that simply confirmed, again, that Finns rock it better. The atmosphere, the energy, the joy of enjoying the music were present not just in the performers but in the audience as well. The late night was spent on the steps in front of the Cathedral eating Swedish candy and watching the sky.

Lahti

The early hours of the morning, just as the early hours of the afternoon, found me walking around the streets of Lahti and visiting the ski jumping trampolines from the Lahden Hiihtoseura ski club. For those of you who don’t know, Janne Ahonen is from Lahti and registered at the ski club that has the trampolines I visited. And to clear up why I am so passionate about ski-jumping: it’s what I fill my time with on the Winter tennis holiday. Plus it’s fun to watch.
The second part of my Helsinki visit was spent in Suomenlinna which is an inhabited sea fortress and an UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s also a strange contrast between what looks like something very peaceful and picturesque and a place left behind by a bombardment.

Suomenlinna

All in all, apparently I chose the most atypical week-end to visit Helsinki because I found on the other side of the sea, a city that was full of life, activities and friendly people. As feeling, the short visit brought me closer to the East-European vibe rather than to the melancholy of Scandinavia, so maybe next time I should choose a rainy week-end, not one when the sun is shining.

Suomenlinna

All would have ended better if I didn’t have a four hours flight delay (for a 40 minute flight) because of a bird that made its way into the engine of a plane the previous day. Norwegian sent the plane to service so the flight schedule got all messed up and instead of getting home early evening I got home close to midnight. And when I say home I mean Stockholm.

Posted in Away, Day to Day, English | Tagged Finland, Helsinki, HIM, Janne Ahonen, Lahti | 2 Comments

Balkan Vibes

Posted on August 17, 2016 by Diana

There is a sense of identity that one feels, especially when one lives abroad. Romania is mainly a combination of latin influences, with slavic ones, on top of our ancestors, the Dacians. But this does not stop us from feeling close to the Balkan culture, nor from having influences from the Byzantine or Austro-Hungarian one. So when one lives far away from home, a good opportunity to feel a bit close to it is to go see a live concert of someone who comes from that part of Europe. Someone who happens to be quite popular in Romania. And not only there. I am talking about Goran Bregović who brought to Stockholms Kulturfestival a bit of the Balkans with their Serbian, Bulgarian and Gypsy cultures. And don’t freak out if I use the word “gypsy”, he uses it too and he does it it the most positive and beautiful way possible. No political correctness needed, not here, but I do have to mention that he did talk on stage about the situation of the Gypsies in Europe.

I think the first time I heard about him was when Emir Kusturika’s movies were shown on TV in Romania, more precisely I remember Arizona Dream, Underground and Black Cat, White Cat. Goran Bregović took care of the soundtrack for the first two. For Arizona Dream he worked with Iggy Pop on a few songs, check one below:

Some songs from Underground became instant classics and my favourite is, of course, Kalashnikov, which has as basis, if I may say so, a Romanian song: The Skylark . I can not remember the number of parties when we danced to it as kids, and I am pretty sure we danced to it at a few weddings as well. Goran Bregović had quite a few concerts in Romania, collaborated with Romanian artists and with other international artists like Gogol Bordello. So it was quite nice today to hear Romanian during the concert. It was also nice to se the reactions of my Serbian friends, to look around and see how they explain to their other foreign friends that do not come from the Balkans what the songs were about.

And the best part of the concert today, besides the music that fills you with life and joy, is Goran telling the audience out loud during Kalashnikov: “If you don’t go crazy you are not normal”. He used this line to name an international tour that took place in 2015. Maybe he was just referring to that little drop of madness that sometimes makes life a bit more beautiful. Caution though! Tonight I felt that I knew exactly what he was referring to because Kalashnikov is that kind of a song: you listen to it and you go crazy and breathless from all the dancing. Check it out below:

Posted in Day to Day, English, Music Stuff | Tagged concert, Goran Bregović, Stockholms Kulturfestival | Leave a comment

A Half-broken Heart

Posted on August 13, 2016 by Diana

One of the best reasons to stay awake at night is tennis, for me at least. This past week I kept my eyes on the Olympic Games because of two very amazing people: Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau. I kept following them on live scores, if their matches weren’t broadcast, I woke up in the middle of the night even though I had a fever and a headache just to see them play, I cheered, watched and enjoyed. For those of you who don’t know, Mergea/Tecau form a Romanian tennis doubles team. They were very good as juniors, took a break from playing together and now they are occasionally back in the game side by side (with different partners on the ATP Tour, for now).

Pic credit: ITF

Their level of tennis this week peaked, I’ve never seen them play anything like this. Their match against the Brazilian team Melo/Soares was a perfect and beautiful example of a doubles match. I still believe doubles is more spectacular than singles tennis and much more fun to watch. They rushed through the semifinal to reach the first ever Olympic final for Romanian tennis which they played against Marc Lopez/Rafael Nadal. Yes, Rafa Nadal, the former number 1, a fighter and a true champion, and Marc Lopez, a talented doubles specialist. I knew it was going to be tough but I did not expect what had happened last night. I spent two hours and a half watching a match that for a long time didn’t make sense. A very atypical doubles match in which all 4 players played amazing tennis. I think if they were playing on a court as big as a football field they would still have ran and reached every impossible-to-reach and out-of-this-world shots that came from the other side of the court.

And they had the final in their hand. At 3-3 in the final set they broke Marc Lopez’s serve, just to lose their serve right away and watch how the match turns in the favour of the Spaniards. The pressure was huge but the desire to win and the fear of loosing were bigger than their power to focus and take the gold medal. And after dominating for a set and a half, and fighting like crazy the last half of the third set, they bowed in front of the Spanish team and the audience and the whole World that was watching.

Pic Credit: Ioana Raluca Olaru

Maybe you know what it is like to want something so much, to work for it like crazy, sacrifice, cry, enjoy, work some more. To have it so close, in front of your eyes, to reach out for it and almost touch it and to lose it because of one mistake, one normal human mistake that you find no forgiveness for, you can’t take back nor fix, that you will always remember and be remembered for and that places you as second best. Good, amazing but not good enough. And in this case this led to an Olympic silver medal, something to be proud of, the first ever Olympic medal for Romanian tennis that came from two of the best athletes Romania has ever had, grand slam champions, World Champions and finalists of great tennis competitions where only the best of the best get to play. I have no words to praise these guys, nor to say how much I appreciate them, how much I enjoy watching them play and how much I support them in their journey around the World every year. I also have no words to say how sad and heartbroken I felt when I saw the sorrow in their eyes at the award ceremony, and how unfair it feels to know that even if they were part of an insane battle on the tennis field, only the champions will be given the credit. I do not deny the fact that Marc and Rafa deserve it, they played amazing tennis, but this was that kind of a match when you feel a bit sad that there can’t be two winners. It’s not the first time our boys play one as such and I am sure it will not be the last time. But it’s ok, they are champions, and me as a fan can take it, even if today I am half happy-half sad.

Posted in Day to Day, English, Tennis | 1 Comment

An Evening with French Music

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Diana

It’s been a while since I was writing my course papers in French and even longer since I was struggling to learn it. But after writing so many posts about Romanian or Swedish music, or just music in general, I think it is time to write a bit about French music as well. While growing up, people around me listened to French music, or music with French lyrics. Mom liked French tangos, I made a passion for Dalida when I was 4 or 5 but chose

to ignore it later on, the music channel MCM briefly showed French music on TV and Romanian public radio made sure we got our fair share of French music even though it was not among the most popular. When living in France I listened to the radio quite a lot but can’t say that I was impressed by what I was hearing. Going around with friends in small pubs in Clermont Ferrand or Dijon and being the only people in the audience that weren’t family of the band didn’t help either. Only after I started gathering songs for my mom did I discover the fact that I know and like a lot of French songs. However, while living there I came across this song which is a positive mood booster:

Then of course there was Mylène Farmer, which I would have ignored if her video for XXL wouldn’t have featured a steam engine, and I am crazy about trains. “XXL” is one of my favourite songs ever.

When in high school there were a few French artists on TV and one could come to know even more if one watched M6, but MTV and VH1 were more interesting to watch. However, they did show Alizeé and In-Grid. Instead of paying attention to those, it was much more comfortable to stick my nose in my sister’s tapes and pick something up from there. That’s how I came across this:

And last, but not least, because I had to leave behind so many songs and artists, some that have already made their way into my posts, thanks to Spotify I came across Luke, and one of the few French rock’n’roll songs that I like. Enjoy listening to him below.

Posted in Day to Day, Music Stuff | Tagged Dalida, Francis Cabrel, french music, Louise Attaque, Luke, music, Mylène Farmer | Leave a comment

Whitesnake @ Gröna Lund

Posted on August 5, 2016 by Diana

Here I go again, writing about another concert I went to on my own. This time it was Whitesnake, my third encounter with the legendary band, or what is left of it.

As I wasn’t that interested to see David Coverdale from up close, I took my place somewhere in the middle of the crowd, in the perfect spot from where I could see the whole stage and enjoy the music. I’ve known Whitesnake since I was little, I still remember when my brother bought the vinyl record (“1987” album) on our trip to Bucharest in 1990, and they’re a part of those many bands that I listened to growing up and started to pay attention to when I began following the rock scene up close in my high school years, when I actually discovered that I know the lyrics to some of their songs. That pretty much makes them a band I consider worth seeing live.

For the concert in Gröna Lund I think I was more eager to hear their classics and they made this possible because they played a lot of them. I am sure everyone knows “Fool for Your Loving”, the cover for “Ain’t No Love In the Heart of the City”, “Is This Love”, “Give Me All Your Love”, “Here I Go Again” (my favourite version of it, the USA remix) and “Still of the Night” which has that amazing guitar part that is absolutely WOW! Unfortunately they didn’t play “Looking for Love” which was a bit disappointing but I guess I can live with it and always listen to it on repeat on Spotify just to make it up for not hearing it live.

I first saw Whitesnake in 2008, still have the post about that concert here, then again in 2011, read about it here (in Romanian). From our 3 meetings the middle one was the only time when they blew my mind. First time Def Leppard stole the show and now the show was stolen by the three guitar players that waved their locks on stage. In my opinion they are the ones that made the show worth seeing, them and David Coverdale’s charisma and charming smile because his voice was somewhere else at the moment of the concert. I am really sad to say this because, as impressed as I was at the previous concerts by his ability to go through the chorus of “Soldier of Fortune” and give everybody goosebumps, I now believe that the hardest part of the concert was carried out by the other band members. But with this concert Whitesnake enters the select club of bands I’ve seen more than twice and stays in the exclusive collection of music acts I’d go and see live again and again and again.

Posted in Day to Day, English, Music Stuff | Tagged concert, David Coverdale, Gröna Lund, Whitesnake | 1 Comment