Review: Kielletyt laulut
FORBIDDEN SONGS
Dramatised and directed by Pirkko Saisio, the music-filled performance is a statement on behalf of the silenced and oppressed in Russia. Skilled actors together with a good band guarantee a provocative and swinging evening.
Jussi Tuurna laconically tells the audience that according to the news, a Russian journalist has been murdered again. But don’t worry, the orchestra pulls off a bloody rally and the actors sing “Give it a go”. Then actors Jonna Järnefelt, Pirkko Saisio and Janne Marja-aho throw knives at the red star on stage and declare their manifesto: “Old Russia is dead, long live the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union is dead, long live democracy. Democracy is dead, long live the new Russia.”
The performance, dramatised by Pirkko Saisio, is energetic, provocative and unbowing musical theatre. Perhaps bows are made unnoticed, because the stage is covered with yesterday’s Russian-language newspapers, where you can spot past and present despots. Elina Lifländer’s set design has also included a few burnt Lada’s that have given their all.
As a title, Forbidden Songs , it arouses curiosity and questions. Is it or political incorrectness? Maybe both. In the programme , Jukka Mallinen thoroughly examines the Russian singing tradition and notes that a strong genre has emerged among the underworld. In these songs, the narrators are political prisoners, murderers, whores and the oppressed.
Individual life destinies emerge in fine interpretations. Although the performance does not have a clear plot, the stories are intertwined in a kaleidoscopic way. There is a lot of material specially translated and adapted for the performance, including Vysotsky, of course. The voice of the oppressed and the longing for freedom pierces through.
The songs are confusing and at the same time captivating. Saisio sings appealingly about lesbian weddings in a solo where bassist Sara Puljula giggles from behind her bass. Jonna Järnefelt sings briskly that she is not an “institutka”, but just an ordinary slut. Janne Marja-Aho makes the audience laugh with his wacky falsetto voice when he talks about the queen of whores, Madame Banjou.
For example, poverty gets its share of social criticism, which flashes in the lines between the songs. Jonna Järnefelt peels potatoes and Saisio urges her to peel them thicker, because the skins are left for the poor and the potatoes for the rich. Minority nations are touched upon in Janne Marja-Aho’s fine oriental solo.
Special thanks are due to the great band, Jussi Tuurna, Sara Puljula and Topi Korhonen, who create an incredible swing acoustically and by changing instruments. The audience was shaking! Thanks are also due to the skilled sound engineer Ari-Pekka Saarikko, whose mixing was precise and the reverbs conjured up wonderful soundscapes. The actors’ voices hold up well, and for Saisio, a certain hoarseness was only suitable for bringing charisma.
The performance is at its most ironic and interesting with the texts of the Russian absurdist Daniel Harms . In the short story, the criminal played by Marja-Aho proves his complete innocence in front of a court of law, his participation in an irrational and perverse mass murder. He is waiting to be rehabilitated. However, the rest of the choir breaks out with a splendid Kurt Weil-esque rejoicing “Emme rehabilitoi”, composed by Jussi Tuurna and lyrics by Pirkko Saisio. Of course, there is also a Slavic wistfulness in the performance, but I was most struck by the almost punk-like “Mutsi mä diggaan huijarii”, which appeals to Anna Politkovskaya and in which Putin and Medvedev also get to hear their praise.
The suitably long performance received furious applause from the audience and an encore was also heard. Perhaps this proves something of the same mentality and sense of solidarity among our peoples, especially when we move from the contemplation of the Gazprom pipelines to the ordinary, oppressed people. The experience is shared. Congratulations to the City Theatre for a handsome and thought-provoking musical injection.