The Tell-Tale Riddle

 

Old tales emerge in song 
Catastrophe – charms the heart 
Tonal misting leaves afar 
Oddities from journeys start
Ballads strum guitars 
Echoes recall fiddling 
Revolving rhythms’ fairy-rings¹

 

It was a rainy evening. The festival shuttle bus was caught amidst the Friday rush hour travelling from the city centre of Helsinki towards Sipoo. Refraction of headlights and taillights on the rainy windows blurred the surroundings and some guitar strums came from the PA on the bus all of a sudden. That was the moment when the portal opened…

The soothing sound blended with the noise of traffic outside – a prelude that perfectly portrayed the journey to a concert. Like the White Rabbit guiding Alice through the portal, the sound aroused my curiosity to the fullest about the destination – a guitar concert.

When we arrived at Lilla Villan in Sipoo, we were first invited to take a seat at the café before entering the hall. Lights went out; silhouette of two performers’ entangled bodies were breathing on the ceiling. An ambiguous voice of viola came out from two vessels next to the performers, lingering with tones and overtones – the Minor Angel, an angel that only watches and does not help.

The door opened, revealing the live performance of the viola we had been listening. Musical notes from the bow were passed on to the guitar while it was being tuned. The stage was gradually lit up with the harmonic series plucked on the guitar string.

Songs & Toods were performed on a Lou Harrison fretboard that Mark Reid Bulatović adapted to his classical guitar. Microtonality cast a layer of oddity to the three American folk songs – a reference to the radical social movements in North America during the expansion of colonialism since the 18th century.

Underneath the sweet melodies was three dark stories that happened in the colonial history – unorthodox religious group, the “Shaking” Quakers set sail from England to America to escape persecution (“Dismission of the Great I”); the discrimination and massacre of indigenous peoples happened in Canada (“Inuit Lullaby”, amended on the programme to replace the discriminative name “Eskimo Lullaby”); a couple took the dangerous voyage across the prairie for gold-panning (“Sweet Betsy from Pike”).

Musical notes were passed back to the violin and viola set, when Miio Holopainen started to perform Alter. It was an experience of close-listening and differentiating the change of details. This intensive concentration brought my consciousness to an altered realm where tones and overtones became colours – a music box in the fairy tale.

Six Moving Guitars was a spectacle of justly tuned consonances. Trajectory of the resonance became visible with the movements of the performers, producing a sound of guitar that I have never heard before. My favourite moment was when Fredrik Rasten and Bulatović started to spin with the guitars, like two stars orbiting and singing in this alternative universe.

When all six guitars were pendulating in the performers hands, it was such a image that I would only expect to see in the Queen of Hearts’ backyard. They were like a set of clocks striking at the same time, telling me my time was up – a signal to wake up and exit this Wonderland.

 

1. This acrostic was created by guitarist Mark Reid Bulatović as the programme introduction for concert October Ballads at the international guitar festival Sipoon Äänet in 2024.
   
   With a hint of “October” and “Ballads”, the poem reads like a riddle –  that kind of opening words in an adventure novel before the characters set off for their journey. ↩︎

 

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The entire performance is not the “contemporary guitar concert” I was imagining on the shuttle bus. It is a poetic journey to the Wonderland of tales instead. Reading the acrostic again, the answer is already hidden in the riddle – it is just a plan of the events to happen in the performance.

The little poem has created a gateway to entre the performance the minute you started to read it. Yet the curator could never plan those poetic effects – poetry is the experience and co-creation of the performers with the audience.

We know poetry too well that we are lost in words to define it – just like we cannot describe colours with words. However, through the tellers of the tales, music, sound and movement have become clues to poetry that we can feel. We have experienced these expressions of life-stories with our own approaches, with or without knowing the cruel history behind.

It is a competition between the riddler and solver. While the maker have a precise story to tell in their art, the spectator always tries to interpret with their own subjectivity.

It does not matter who is winning the game – poetry is a riddle that is not meant to be solved, but to be experienced.

 

Concert Programme

Minor Angel (2024) [World premier], Simone Spampinato

Songs & Toods (2005) [Finnish premier], Larry Polansky
“Dissmission of the Great I”
“Sweet Betsy from Pike”
“Inuit Lullaby”

Alter (2023), Miio Holopainen

Six Moving Guitars (2018) , Fredrik Rasten

Performers

Fredrik Rasten (NOR)
Kristīne Tukre (LTV)
Mark Reid Bulativić (SVN)
Miio Holopainen (FIN)
Sakari Savola (FIN)
Simone Spampinato (ITA)