musiikkia ja jääkiekkoa

Last year, the Finnish metal group Lordi won the Eurovision music contest. This was the first time Finland won, although it had participated since 1961. It was also the first time a metal group won; the contest is usually dominated by folky pop music. The company that wins the contest one year hosts in the next, so this year Eurovision was held in Helsinki. For a week before the finals, the city was teeming with bands and tourists from all over Europe. Although I didn't watch the actual event, I did meet a bunch of American friends to hear Finnish hip-hop live in Senaatintori.
(Thanks to Katherine for the photo.) You can see snippets from "Don Johnson Big Band" at Leasa's blog and Laura's blog. The little girl dancing around in her huivi (headscarf) was quite charming! Audrey guided us to a Czech bar next to Rautatieasema for dinner (very tasty) and Marian Helmi for drinks afterwards.

The next night included another big event: Finland played Canada for the world hockey championship. Senaatintori is the principal civic space in Helsinki, and the sloping pavement and steps up to the cathedral form an ampitheater. A big crowd of blue-and-white clad fans showed up to watch the game on the giant TV screens set up in the square. The game took place in Russia.Although Finland was outskated by Canada, 4-2, the fans were still chanting "Su-o-mi" until the end.In Finland it's legal to drink alcohol in public, so there's nothing amiss with the beer bottles in these fellows' hands. The pantti (deposit) of 15 cents per can or bottle ensured that almost everything got recycled, and the bottles that did get broken somehow got cleaned up overnight.