2010 Finnish Grand Festival

July 29 - August 2, 2010

2010 Finnish Grand Festival

A nice hot breakfast is included each morning. All other meals are to be purchased on your own.

The Finns are Coming! The Finns are Coming! www.sooNews.ca
Great article - check it out.
Here are two of the performing groups you can expect to hear live at the Finnish Grand Festival event

Rajaton
Local ensemble Rajaton, founded in autumn 1997, is a professional a cappella group with six singers (SSATBarB). Its objective from the first was to attain an international level in ensemble singing and to enrich the Finnish a cappella scene with their approach to choral music. Indeed, that they have done. The group´s members are experienced choral singers, and their diverse musical backgrounds contribute to the musical expression of the ensemble. Most of the singers have studied singing either at the Sibelius-Academy or at the Pop/Jazz Conservatory in Helsinki, Finland. 

In accordance with its basic concept, Rajaton primarily performs music written especially for the group. As its name shows (rajaton = boundless), its musical scale ranges from sacred music to pop and from folk music to contemporary concert music. At the moment, their repertoire consists mostly of settings of texts by Finnish and foreign poets written for the ensemble by young Finnish choral composers. Rajaton also performs new arrangements of Finnish and foreign folk songs.

Rajaton participated in the international vocal ensemble competition at the Tampere Choir Festival (Finland) in the summer of 1999 and won the first prize, the Grand Prix. This was an impressive achievement considering that all the jury members were foreign (chaired by John Potter) and that Rajaton sang only their own material – in Finnish. 
Rajaton made its first appearance abroad as an invited performer at the Cork International Choral Festival (Ireland) in April 2000, where they had an extremely enthusiastic welcome both by the audiences and the international choral participants. The ensemble’s debut disc "Nova" was also named "album of the week" in one of the shows on the Irish national classical radio station, Lyric FM and has been released in Ireland.

Conga Se Menne
One would not expect to find world class musicians in this small northern college town. Marquette, Michigan is not exactly Chicago, Nashville, nor even Memphis, but you couldn't tell by listening to Derrell Syria and the members of Conga Se Menne.
While the lyrics are geared for fun, the quality of their sound is no laughing matter. Syria's original songs carry the flavor of Michigan's Upper Peninsula in lyrical silliness and the spirit of it's hearty residence in musical excellence. The members of Conga Se Menne live and work along the chilly invigorating banks of lake Superior and their mastery of melodic syncopation is second to none.
The musical style of Conga Se Menne is impossible to pigeon hole, running the gamut of Blues, Funk, Latin, Reggae, Rock, Caribbean beats and ethnic Finnish sounds. Island beat percussion blends smoothly with mellifluos keyboards, sonorous horns and big shouldered guitar work - all mixing with an influence of traditional styles.

Citizen Journalist for SooNews.ca Thursday, October 1, 2009, 11:46AM

From July 28th to August 1st 2010, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario will host “the largest cultural event ever held in this city,” stated Raimo Viitala with a broad smile on his face. Mr. Viitala is the Honorary Consul for the Consulate of Finland and Chair of the Finn Fest 2010 Committee. He and Michael Porter, Vice Chair, hosted a Chamber of Commerce Take Five event Wednesday evening at the Essar Centre to meet and greet members of the community and update them on the latest developments concerning this once in a lifetime major event for our community.Both Canada and the United States hold this event only once every 5 years and rotate the event between countries. This time it was Canada’s turn to bid for the event. Sault Ste. Marie was poised and ready to compete for the prize, and ultimately outbid several major Canadian cities in 2006 to have the honour of hosting the “Grand Fest”. The Grand Fest Committee was then formed in 2007 to organize and host the event.

For the better part of a week in the summer of 2010, the Sault will become the centre of the Cultural Universe for Finland, those of Finnish heritage and friends of the Finnish people. Visitors from the Finnish Government including Ministerial level members as well as the Finnish Ambassador to Canada will be in attendance. Their Canadian counterparts will be here as well.

Mr. Viitala was proud to point out that there will be delegates coming to the Sault from every province in Canada and every state in the United States as well as from our "sister city" of Forssa in Finland. This would bring the total to no less than 5,000 delegates generating a minimum of $4,000,000 in direct revenue to the community. Financial experts estimate additional spinoff revenues may be in the millions more but actual numbers, although substantial, are harder to predict than direct revenues. Mr. Viitala was also quick to point out that without the support of the municipal government as well as the Economic Development Corporation of Sault Ste. Marie, his group "couldn’t pull this event off." The same, he said, went for the generosity of their sponsors and other local businesses.

The slate of activities for the week is astounding. The week long festivities will be kicked off with a gala dinner for 1000 at the Essar Centre. Other events will include such things as sporting events (hockey camp), arts and crafts displays and workshops, dances and dancers, and entertainers including the musical a cappella group Rajaton, who will perform at the Essar Centre to an audience of 3500. This group is extremely popular in Scandinavia and having them perform here is considered a major feather in the cap for local organizers. Other activities too numerous to mention will be enjoyed by all who are interested in taking part.And as if all of that isn’t enough, The Finn Grand Fest Committee has petitioned and been granted permission by the Guinness Book of World Records to build and operate for the term of Finn Fest, "THE LARGEST OUTDOOR SAUNA IN THE WORLD." The Committee is now in the process of finding a location big enough to host that event.