Ilosaarirock briefly in English
This year is the 32nd consecutive year of the Ilosaarirock, and it has been sold out in advance for the past six years. Rokki, as the event is informally known, has grown to be one of the main events of the Finnish rock-festival calendar. Organizing the event is done mainly by volunteers and music enthusiasts. The aim is to develop and create a well-oiled machine that offers a wide range of bands and services to the festival going public. Everyone works together towards creating an experience that rewards all the hard work.
That really is the driving force for the volunteers who make
it happen every year. Even though most of the work is done by
volunteers, no less than a professional standard is required. The
Rokki is still owned and run by Joensuun Popmuusikot Ry and it shows in
the end result. Popmuusikot is a association dedicated to
promotion of live- music in the county of Pohjois-Karjala where Joensuu
is located. Their main aim is to better the quality of
live-music. They also have a section dedicated to helping local
bands with financial aid for recording demo tapes and actual
recordings.
Ilosaarirock was originally created for the public, not as a profit making sceme for the organizers. Year after year everything possible is done to create a safe and enjoyable enviroment both for the bands and the public. Last summer we included the adjoining beach to the festival site and it was received well by the public and local authorities alike. This summer we will do the same again but with a wider range of performers and artists. Because of this addition to the festival site we have decided to put more tickets on sale, 19 000 in total. We will also make our bar areas bigger so that the queues should ease up a little. Welcome and look forward to seeing you!
My IlosaarirockFirst thing that comes to mind when I think about Rokki,
is when I sat behind the main stage lying in the grass and gazed
at the sunny sky above. That is the most vivid image in my mind
mainly because I was alone at that time. Nobody should do that.
Rokki with a capital R is a huge collective experience that
brings people together in extreme surge of happiness when the sun peeks
through the clouds first time after the rain. Rokki to me is
somehow a mystical and an alluring feeling that is shared, but
cannot be described. I don’t know if the Rokki would mean so much to me if I wasn’t from Joensuu, probably not. I love my Rokki and it is impossible to compare it with any other festival. It is the highlight of the summer as it is a chance to get all your friends together in one place. It is like your favourite summer camp, but you can sneak out to party the night away. In my Rokki the music is not the main thing. We always
criticise the band choices every spring with passion, and there are
always only two of your favourite bands in the final line-up. In the
end it doesn’t matter if it’s punk or funk as long as it rock’s. Even
humppa (an style of dance In my Rokki people have fun for three days solid. Even
those whose tent is floating in the ditch and their shoe gets stuck in
the mud. Everyone knows that is all a part of it. The duration of
the life changing weekend also include packed lunches that are getting
stampeded by herds of elephants and plastic pints smashing under your
feet, long highs of getting drunk and coming down slowly. Janne Kettunen Translation Erja Gunn |
Outsider on the Inside