For this week's #MondayCovers I've chosen Olavi Virta's excellent Finnish language version of "Moody River":

Olavi Virta: Moody River (1961)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRJ4PTGGgo8

Pat Boone had the international hit with the song, but his version was actually a cover as well - the much more obscure original (Southern Sound 101) had been done by Chase Webster, who also wrote the song.

#music #olavivirta #moodyriver #patboone #chasewebster

This week's #TuneTuesday theme is #steppingstonesongs.

Of course, tango as a musical form originated from Argentina, but it has had a very special impact on the history of Finnish popular music as well. If you've ever been curious about the Finnish version of tango, a good place to start would be one of the classic tango recordings of Olavi Virta (1915-1972), the all-time most popular Finnish male singer:

Olavi Virta: "Täysikuu" (1954, translation of the title: "Full Moon")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pr7gfUfHFQ

Written by the profilic pair of Toivo Kärki and Reino Helismaa, the song was originally featured in the 1954 movie "Minä soitan sinulle illalla".

For background information on the Finnish tango craze, there's no better place to start than this article by music historian Pekka Gronow:

Pekka Gronow: "Once I waited for someone - the story of the Finnish Tango" (1995)
https://www.fmq.fi/articles/once-i-waited-for-someone

#music #tango #finnishtango #olavivirta #reinohelismaa #toivokarki

Wonderful #concert tonight in Espoo, Finland when we had guests from Italy. The grreat #VinicioCapossela played his story rich songs for us for an hour and a half.

#Theatrical performance with sad #ballads #couplets and every other genre of music you could expect from this 58-year old italian.

Didn't understand much even there was an translator to help us know what the maestro told us between the songs. Still, I had visions of sea, Morricone's desert, Italian street party and what else. One song was about a warehouse in Lübeck where they stored all the abandoned pianos after the war. You can imagine how vivid that image and song was.

He also surprised us by singing finnish #OlaviVirta evergreen "Hopeinen Kuu" in almost perfect finnish and knowing the late great #MattiPellonpaa now deceaced most trusted actor of #akikaurismaki .

Great night. #livemusic showed it's power once again. You got lost in his #music even when the songs weren't top notch (which they were usually). I can recommend this man from the bottom of my heart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYlRTiLK1w0

#NowPlaying #ItalianMusic #keikat #LiveMusic #gigs #LiveMusic #WallunKeikat #WallunMusaVinkit