IESAF celebrates its first decade with a live event.

AFTER ten years of bringing together the English-speaking community here in Finland, the International English Speakers’ Association of Finland is throwing a party to celebrate this important milestone.

“We are a large group of expat English speakers here in Finland,” explains IESAF predident Richard Berman. “We have groups in Vantaa, Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere and Turku and are growing all the time. We are non-profit and have over 5,000 members.”

THere’s no denying that 20 years is a long time, but for the local soul, funk, hip-hop, jazz, reggae, Afrobeat and world music scenes in Finland it might as well be a lifetime when looking at its evolution. Setting the trends and slowly garnering influence over this time, the Funky Elephant Festival celebrates the arrival of the end of its second decade with a suitable decked out extravaganza from 3-6 April at Helsinki’s The Circus and mbar.

Author David J. Cord reveals the story behind his latest work.

IT WAS an innocuous passage I came across while looking for something else. It was an ancient account of the Roman Emperor Lucius Verus, his mistress, and a plague infecting his army as they returned from war. After I finished reading it disappeared from my conscious mind.

THE oldest and most significant contemporary dance festival in the Helsinki area, Moving in November makes its way to the Capital Region from 1-9 November. With the events being staged in Kiasma Theatre, Stoa, Zodiak – Center for New Dance, Mediakeskus Lume and Espoon kulttuurikeskus, Louhisali, the festival proclaims its mission to present interesting contemporary works and artists to the metropolitan audience.

Kicking things off, Olga de Soto takes a plunge into history. Tracing the history of Kurt Jooss’ Green Table, a piece of art created a few months before Hitler rose to power in Germany, de Soto draws on interviews staged with artists, spectators and researchers, to create an image of a artists’ group whose journey is intriguing and inspirational to witness.

Coming from a family of artists, Ibrahim Maalouf has created his own style, combining sounds and techniques from different cultures. Recently seen in Finland as a part of his current tour for his latest release, Wind, the Paris-based trumpeter sat down with us to talk about music, multiculturalism and his admiration for Finland and the Scandinavian repertoire.