DRAWING on sounds from five continents, the annual Tampere Jazz Happening offers a swag of goings-on between 31 October and 3 November.

Held for the 32nd occasion, the various jazzy sounds range from pop jazz to a more experimental avant-garde, with fresh sounds, jazz legends and four world premieres tossed in for good measure.

Following a memorable perfromance at Ilosaarirock, fans of Icelandic postrock outfit Sigur Rós have had to wait five years for their return. Now headlining their own gig for the first time here, they are appearing at Hartwall arena on Saturday 30 November.

While filling the cavernous arena may initially seem a little on the ambitious side, given the fact that they haven’t reached wider publicity here, the venue is actually being transformed into an intimate venue, so as to fit the visual ambitions of the spectacle they are taking around Europe in November.

Turkish folk band Nefes has been performing ancestral rhythms in Helsinki for over 20 years now.

While Turkish food has made itself known through the widespread abundance of kebararies and eateries around the country, what about the rest of the original, authentic Turkish experience? Offering this is Nefes, a group of eight professional and amateur musicians who joined forces a long time ago to delight Finland’s inhabitants with the hypnotising melodies of the country where the Oriental and Occidental worlds melt together.

FOLLOWING on from the earlier edition this year, Night Visions festival is taking over Helsinki’s Maxim and Kinopalatsi cinemas over Halloween, from 30 October to 3 November to be precise.

Offering more than 30 offerings, the festival showcases a range of horror, fantasy, science fiction and action flicks – many of them not to be seen on Finnish screens otherwise.

Top additions to this year’s programme include Filth, based on Irvine Welsh’s novel, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s much-lauded porn addiction comedy Don Jon.

THINGS are about to get seriously multicultural in the Capital Region once again, with the arrival of Etnosoi! Held since 1988, the festival brings together a wide collection of international sounds each year.

Heading the line up this year is English folk artist Sam Lee, who comes to town on the back of some serious industry buzz for his first gig ever on Finnish soil.