No Smoking All Stars - Nostoväkinäyttämö

NO SMOKING ALL STARS

No SmoKing (1980)

FinnArctic-esittely:

The "No Smoking All Stars" EP was part of an anti-smoking campaign by the Medical Ministry and the Association of Information for Youth. Many of the musicians here had worked with punk rocker Maukka Perusjätkä, including mysterious pseudonym Namilo, who did most of the work here. Maukka himself wrote one little ditty, "Jos poltat tupakkaa" which he also sings. "No Smoking All Stars" is merely a curiosity piece, but at least it's for a good cause. I have no idea how many people have this record or would even care much about downloading it, but here it is anyway.

Onko Namilon oikea nimi Ilkka Mäkelä? Maisteri Mäkelä -nimellä hän teki 1985 singlen Matkalla Mongoliaan, jonka huomasin oikein hyvin aikoinaan. Jopa tykkäsin siitä, vaikken tiedä haluanko enää kuulla sitä.

Namilo oli pitkälti vastuussa myös tästä Lääkintöhallituksen ja Nuorten Informaatio RY:n sponsoroimasta tupakoinninvastaisesta EP:stä. Maukan levyillä ei näistä muusikoista kai soittanut kuin Namilon lisäksi Risto Hankala ja Keimo Hirvonen. Varsin hölmö eikä niin hirveän hyvä EP, mutta mainio kuriositeetti. Namilo jopa lauloi tällä EP:llä, vaikkei mikään laulaja valitettavasti ole - löysin hänen signeeraamansa ja jollekulle Kialle omistamansa kappaleen Nosturissa pidetyillä levymessuilla.

NOSTOVÄKINÄYTTÄMÖ

Hölmöläisiä (1977)

FinnArctic-esittely:

Quote from the liner notes:

"A few years ago Nostoväkinäyttämö from Lahti dug out the almost forgotten Hölmölä stories and made a play out of them to please both children and adults. The inhabitants of Hölmölä, as performed by the theatre, quickly found fans for their well-meaning and cosy humour. Nostoväkinäyttämö's play has been a success. (The Theater Summer in Tampere and the Helsinki Juhlaviikot in 1974, a TV taping in 1975, a visit to Zaporoshje, Ukraine, in 1976, Finnish participant in the Monaco Amateur Theater Festival in 1977.) In addition to the national distinctiveness, the Hölmölä stories have a part in the rich international fairytale tradition. Hölmölä stories are told around the world.

This record includes selected subject matters from the play, mainly chosen for their listenability, but at the same time this is also a song record. Mari Renvall has written a number of new melodies for words collected from traditional Finnish poems and nursery rhymes."

Hölmölä is a fictitious rural village where all inhabitants are incredibly dumb. The most famous story concerns a newly built cottage with no windows, with the people in the village wondering why it is so dark inside. They decide to carry light into the cottage by capturing it in large sacks which they open when they get back inside, letting the light out.

In another story two women in a rowboat row in different directions, so that the boat doesn't move anywhere. The women decide that the boat must be tired since it's not moving, so they pull out the plug to let it take a breather. When water starts flowing in, the women dump all their things overboard, marking the spot by cutting a mark on the boat where they dumped the stuff, so that they could return later to fetch everything back.

In a third story a cottage is about to be built. The menfolk chop down the entire forest to get the necessary woodwork. When one man loads the horse carriage with timber, he decides that if the horse can drag one log, he can drag one more as well, and one more, and one more... When the horse proves himself unable to drag the sky-high pile of timber, the man unloads the carriage log by log, until there's only one log left. The man decides that the horse is probably too weak to carry even that one log, so he hops on the carriage and carries the log on his own shoulders.

This album contains an equal amount of sketch comedy and silly songs and the result is a tremendously funny record that unfortunately seems to be nigh-on impossible to find. A shame.

Personnel:

Nostoväkinäyttämö:
Minna Jokinen
Matti Pukkila
Mari Renvall
Yrjö Juhani Renvall
Sirpa Stenroos
Tarja Valkama
Tarmo Virtanen

Director: Timo Paavola
Music and lyrics: Mari Renvall
Arranger: Jani Uhlenius

Recorded in Mikrovox Studio by Pekka Nurmikallio in Lahti, autumn 1976

Producer: Jani Uhlenius

Orchestra:
Harri Pystynen, flute
Jani Uhlenius, piano, xylophone, accordion, conductor
Heikki Pursiainen, guitar
Mari Renvall, piano
Vesa Lattunen, bass
Keijo Puumalainen Jr., percussion
Students of Liipola school, vocals

Record sleeve by Leila Nieminen and Matti Pukkila

Released by Love Records, LRLP 216, 1977



Oma kappaleeni tästä levystä on kuntoluokitukseltaan suunnilleen KISSAN RAAPIMISALUSTA (-). Pännii, etten katsonut levyn kuntoa kun sen löysin Divari Kalevasta. Harmi vielä sekin, että ehdin heittää pois CD-R:n, jonka olin tehnyt Kauniaisten kirjaston vinyylikappaleesta. Missään muualla en ole tätä levyä nähnyt.