varttina

[helen99]

The latest by Varttina (pretend the a's are umlauted), is good. I'm listening to it. The singer isn't Tarja, but isn't really trying to be either. It's Finnish folk music, sung in the native language. Don't expect "Woody Gutrhie" type folk music from them... Here's one roughly translated:

Mataleena
Music by Janne Lappalainen
Words: Mari Kaasinen, (Trad)

Mataleena, that young maid
bitter and twisted young maid
her heart is darkness
a land where nothing came to good

She'd had three baby boys
three she'd given birth to
three swaddled bairns
she'd had for her own

Mataleena, that young maid
bitter and twisted young maid
her heart is darkness
a memory of old evil

One of them she set fire to
He became a bright-glowing coal
It was fire that lulled him to sleep
flames that moaned for him

The second she threw in the water
held him under the waves
It was the sea-swell rocked him
dark ocean that took him

She dug a pit in the woods for the third
laid him to sleep in a grove
His cradle is birch-trees swaying
They watch over his everlasting sleep

That's what she did with her three baby boys,
the three she'd given birth to.


I think this was written during the winter when they don't get much sun...
I want to adopt an odd Finnish name.
http://www.varttina.com/main.site?action=news/view&id=79&ngid=1&varttinaSession1=3dca9586562da216f5517187e50a64a6