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Archived videos are further down the page including:
- Ikaalinen Promotional Video
- Pre-Sata-Häme
Soi Web TV program Broadcast 29th June
- July 3rd Festival Web TV |
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all
day
see below |
Pre
Sata-Häme Soi Rehearsals and Activities
arrival of guests, International competitors
and Jury, Venue setup and Rehearsals
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18.00
see below
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 "To
the Memory of My Mother"
A musical moment at Lasse Pihlajamaa's Monument
in honor of his Mother 'Hilma',
near his place of birth in Jämijärvi.
Venue: Jämijärventie Road 650
Free entrance |
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19:30
see below |
 Folk
Accordionists at the Arena
A fast-paced folk music parade at the Jämi
Arena. Finnish musicians and international visitors perform.
Venue: Jämi Areena, Lasse Pihlajamaa Hall,
Jämintie 659, Jämijärvi
20€, 10€ |
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Sata-Häme Soi Festival is known for the Golden and Silver
accordion competitions and the International Primus Ikaalinen
Competition.
However, it is a lot more. It is an international music festival
arranged in Ikaalinen for the 40th time already. During the
first week of July, the idyllic, beautiful old town of Ikaalinen
transforms into a metropolis of music. The moods change from
the smoky jazz club into the heated beat of the Argentine tango,
and from the high standard international performances into the
fantastic joint celebration performance of accordions on Saturday
night.
The heart of the festival is the Festival Park, where there
is music from morning till night. Both amateur and professional
musicians take the stage, as well the young as the old. In addition
to the park and competitions, the Ikaalinen Hall, the Oma Tupa,
and the Ikaalinen Church are important venues.
As the new Festival Director I look forward to my first summer
in Ikaalinen with keen and curious mind. I will get to know
a new kind of music world and festival visitors, as well as
staff and volunteers who with their input make this festival
a success.
Welcome, you seasoned festival visitors, who faithfully make
your way to Ikaalinen year after year. An especially warm welcome
to all first time visitors, who have no previous experience
of the atmosphere and the superb performances of the Sata-Häme
Soi Festival.
Welcome! See you in Ikaalinen!
Ulla Majuri - Festival Director
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2012
Sata-Häme Soi Festival promotional video
Video directed by Mike Rossi for the www.DeschampsCHANNEL.com
Web TV
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Special
2 hour video shown live June 29 on the Deschamps Channel devoted
entirely to the 2012 edition of the famous Primus Ikaalinen.
Co-hosted by Frederic Deschamps and Kimmo Mattila, Artistic
Director of the Sata-Häme Soi Festival.
Video
directed by Mike Rossi for the www.DeschampsCHANNEL.com Web
TV
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July
3rd Broadcast from Ikaalinen containing Contestants, Festival
Director, Jury, Ikaalinen History and more!
Video directed by Mike Rossi for the www.DeschampsCHANNEL.com
Web TV
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As the final countdown for the 40th Sata-Häme
Soi Festival took place, International
guests including contestants, artists, jury members and local
and foreign visitors began to arrive in Ikaalinen.
Contestants in the Annual Golden Accordion
Competition began rehearsals on July 2nd for the gala competition
which is an intergral part of the Sata-Häme
Soi Festival. Each
of the Golden Accordion Competition finalists rehearsed with
Jari Puhakka and his band. The band members are: Jari Puhakka
(conductor-piano), Jarmo Nikku (guitar), Seppo Helin (keyboard),
Risto Salmi (wood winds), Jari Heino (bass) and Miri Miettinen
(drums).
As the team began arriving for the Primus Ikaalinen International
Competition, the festival organizers hosted a Welcome Brunch
so that everyone could meet their fellow contestants, Jury and
team hosts, before they got down to the business of rehearsing
in prepartion for the 8th edition of this live broadcast competition.
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Above:
Primus Ikaalinen co-host Mari Turunen, contestant Tan
jia Liang (China), President of the Jury Kevin Friedrich
(USA),
contestant Shamgar Tolkynhan (Kazakshtan) and co-host
Kimmo Mattila at a Press Conference
Below: the subsequent Newspaper article that follwed
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Above
and Below: Ikaalinen Hall as it undergoes its transformation
into the spectacular venue for the concerts/competitions
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Jari
Puhakka (conductor-piano), Jarmo Nikku (guitar), Miri
Miettinen (drums), Jari Heino (bass), Risto Salmi (woodwind)
and Seppo Helin (keyboard) rehearsing with Golden Accordion
contestant Tarvo
Kantola from Nivala (16 years)
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Above
left: Tarvo Kantola from Nivala (16 years)
Above right: Jari
Saarenpää, Kalajoki (23 years)
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Above
left: Henriikka Santamaa, Ulvila (23 years) making the
draw for the final round of the Rehearsal Show
Above right: Co-hosts of the Competition/Show Kimmo
Mattila and Mari Turunen.
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Kimmo
Mattila
welcomes the contestants and Jury to the 8th Primus
Ikaalinen Competition
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Above
left: Frederic Deschamps collecting contact information
from the Primus Ikaalinen contestatns
so he can coordinate the Live streaming Internet broadcasts
Above right: Minna
Plihtari (Festival Public Relations Manager) photographs
the Primus contestants
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Primus
Ikaalinen Contestants
China: Tan jia Liang,
Germany:
Radu Laxgang,
France:
Elsa Gourdy,
Moldova:
Dorin Grama,
Russia: Utkina Ekaterina, ,
Kazakshtan: Shamgar Tolkynhan and absent: Lithuania:
Martinas Levickis
Finland's contestant will be the winner of their Golden
Accordion Comeptition
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Above
left: Ulla
Majuri (Festival Director) and Minna Plihtari (Festival
Public Relations Manager)
Above right: Kimmo Mattila (Artistic Director) with
Ulla and Minna
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Above
left: Mike Rossi talking to the team about the Live
Streaming Internet broadcast
Above right: The stage begins to take place with the
addition of the extensive lighting
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Above
and Below: Frederic Deschamps working with Primus
Ikaalinen contestant Elsa Gourdy (France)
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The
first official function of the 40th Annual Sata-Häme Soi
Accordion Festival was a folk concert and gathering at Lasse
Pihlajamaa's monument "In the Memory of My Mother"
on the outskirts of Jämijärvi, some 20 km from Ikaalinen.
This beautiful monument is located at the approximate site where
the late Lasse Pihlajamaa's boyhood home once stood.
The Grand Old Man of Finnish accordion music, Lasse Pihlajamaa
(1916-2007), served for more than 30 years as an important musical
guide at the Sata-Häme Soi Festival. Born in Jämijärvi,
he returned there in the early 1970's for the first time since
his childhood, due to the Sata-Häme Soi Festival.
Recalling an often difficult childhood during the 1920's, as
well as the profound respect he had for his widowed mother "Hilma",
Lasse worked for many years planning this monument as an ongoing
tribute to the special place she had in his heart, as well as
all the mothers who have raised families under difficult circumstances.
Lasse donated the monument and the land it stands on to the
Jämijärvi municipality. In addition to the monument,
Lasse Pihlajamaa also composed a work "Muisto Aidille"
in memory of his mother, an artistic manuscript of which is
housed inside the monument.
As a sign of the tremendous respect given to this Finnish icon
of the accordion world, a large gathering of people formed around
the monument where official greetings were extended to attendees,
followed by performances by the local Folk Musicians Accordion
Orchestra, and
Tuulikki Lounaskorpi, a relative of the late Lasse Lasse Pihlajamaa.
The
Monument opened in 1975, and festival Founder Heikki Eränen
has recounted that on June 5, 1975 when the day of the opening,
it was actually snowing and it was so cold that Lasse Pihlajamaa
couldn't play outdoors!
Since then, the gathering at the Monument has become the traditional
opening of the Sata-Häme Soi Accordion Festival. |
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"Muisto
Aidille" in memory of
Lasse Pihlajamaa's Mother
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Jämijärven
Pelimannit Folk Music Accordion Group
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Above
and Below: The large crowd gathered
at the Monument in memory of
Lasse Pihlajamaa's Mother
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Above
left: Heikki and Tuula Eränen (festival Founder)
with Festival Manager Ulla
Majuri and Minna Plihtari (Press)
Above right: Heikki and Tuula Eränen
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Above
Left: Pilvi Huhta, Silver Accordion Finalist
Above right: Tuulikki Lounaskorpi (Relative of the late
Lasse Lasse
Pihlajamaa)
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Kevin
Friedrich (Accordions Worldwide), Ulla
Majuri
(Festival Manager), Heikki
and Tuula Eränen (Festival Founder)
and Kimmo Mattila (FestivaL Artistic Director)
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Another tradition on the evening prior to the official
opening of the festival, this annual concert at the Jämi
Arena featured
an array of lively Accordion music and Folk Music from
the region, together with invited foreign guest performers.
Pictured below are some of the performers on the Concert:
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Jämijärvi
Folk Music Group Opening the Concert
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Above
left: Tan Jia Liang from China (Primus Ikaalinen
2012)
Above right: Pilvi Huhta (Silver Accordion)
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Above
left: Elsa Gourdy (France - Primus Ikaalinen 2012)
Above right: Newspaper reporter speaking with
Tan
Jia Liang and translation assistance by Grayson
Masefield
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The
Capacity audience at the Jami Arena
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Pictures from around Ikaalinen.
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Above
and below: on the grounds of the beautiful Ikaalinen
Spa Hotel
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Midnight
view of Lake Kyrösjärvi, Finland's 49th largest
lake (96.2 square km)
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