St. Lapland Top Ten Charts
You can listen to the songs using Spotify. If you don’t have Spotify installed, we have gathered some of these to our YouTube favourites: www.youtube.com/stlapland
1. Danny – Kuusamo, 1976
This is a true classic here in Finland, although the song is a cover. The original song is French and called L’éte Indien by Joe Dassin. This Finnish version is a tribute to Kuusamo, the beautiful nature and longing for the freedom of the north, away from grey and busy city life. For those of you who need a translation from Finnish:
I want to be free, and savour the aroma of conifers.
Here, I feel trapped,
I’m off to Kuusamo.
Kuusamo,
Kuusamo calls to me.
Forests stand tall,
the calming blue hillsides.
Kuusamo,
Kuusamo calls to me.
There I can be in peace.
2. Kuunkuiskaajat – Työlki ellää 2010
Finland’s contribution to the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest.
The duo Moonwhisperers was founded in 2008. Both artists have been in Finnish folklore bands and have performed internationally. The duo is a breath of fresh air in today’s folklore music scene. Their songs are touching and full of emotion. The story told by the lyrics play quite a role. (My Space)
3. All Saints - Pure Shores
The longing for somewhere to call home. Paradise, a place beyond reality… We search for a place that enchants and makes us feel we have found home. Is that one of the reasons we keep travelling to different places as we go through life?
I've crossed the deserts for miles
Swam water for time
Searching places to find
A piece of something to call mine
Never been here before
I'm intrigued, I'm unsure
I'm searching for more
I've got something that’s all mine
Take me somewhere I can breathe
I've got so much to see
This is where I want to be
In a place I can call mine
4. Rasmus - In the Shadows
"The Rasmus" is one of Finland’s most successful rock bands. The band’s fifth studio album "Dead Letters" (2003) is currently the most sold Finnish album around the world. The Rasmus has found its way to the music charts throughout Europe, but also in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Japan.
5. Lauri Tähkä - Pauhaava sydän
A heart that pounds with will like the freely rushing rapids full of energy and vitality. As the white water slows into the river, tranquillity falls upon the landscape and soul. The lyrics depict the simplicity of life with passion and vitality, all you need to know is how. The lyrics emphasise the richness and diversity of the Finnish language.
These lives I must love to the end
My heart pounds like rapid water
What it does to others I wish not to hear
Sometimes love wants to live and die
But close to you my mind is at ease
6. Poets of the fall – Lift
Poets of the Fall was founded in Helsinki in 2003 and have been lifting our spirits with good music ever since.
You lift my spirit, take me higher, make me fly,
Touch the moon up in the sky, when you are mine
You lift me higher, take my spirit, make it fly,
Where all new wonders will appear
7. Sibelius – Finlandia
A Finnish nationalist work by Jean Sibelius written at a time when the Grand Duchy of Finland was chafing under the dictatorship of Tsarist Russia. The work was attributed to the rallying of the Finnish people and their eventual freedom. Next time you are in Kuusamo Lapland, make sure to have these tunes on your MP3, go to sit somewhere on a hill or fell top… Look over the scenery as you listen to Finlandia. This is Finland.
8. Ozzy Osbourne – Dreamer
As one of the world's largest and fastest growing industries, this continuous growth will place great stress on remaining biologically diverse habitats and indigenous cultures, which are often used to support mass tourism. Tourists who promote sustainable tourism are sensitive to these dangers and seek to protect tourist destinations, and to protect tourism as an industry. (Wikipedia).
Gazing through the window at the world outside
Wondering will mother earth survive
Hoping that mankind will stop abusing her sometime
9. Kari Tapio ja Ville Valo – Täällä Pohjantähden alla
Melancholy is a feature of the Finnish soul. We just love being a bit dark, adding a touch of melancholy to things. There are so many poems, songs, music, etc. where melancholy is present. The poem “Kotomaamme”, “Our home country” was written in 1863 and is better known as “Täällä pohjan tähden alla”, which means “Here under the North Star”. This poem has been an inspiration for a series of books, songs and movies. Here the poem is sung by Ville Valo from HIM and Kari Tapio, a Finnish pop-artist who has been entertaining in Finland since 1975. Listen to this and feel the Finnish melancholy!
Here under the North Star,
is our earthly home,
but beyond the stars lies
that to which we come.
Here like flowers we have but
little time to go:
there life will be endless
as the angels know.
There hearts sigh, and
a tear fills the eye;
There the heart shines bright, and
eyes contentment show.
To there I yearn for my
small heart to go;
It is to my earthly home,
I want to go
10. Nightwish – Nemo
A bright star of the Finnish rock scene, the queen of metal and the soprano singer Tarja Turunen is one of the best-known Finnish faces in the world of music. In Nemo, she is still with Nightwish, Tarja’s amazing voice perfectly combined with symphonic metal tones.
