Facts about Rokumentti, Ilosaarirock Festival and Rock Club Kerubi
Facts about Rokumentti
Rokumentti Rock Film Festival - Finland's Biggest Rock Film Festival
Held in Joensuu, in the heart of Eastern Finland, Rokumentti Rock Film Festival is a film festival specializing in music films. With unique movies, great gigs and intimate clubs, Rokumentti is like a blaze of light that wakes up the city to a new life for five days in the darkest November. Rokumentti expands beyond the multiplex cinema Tapio to Joensuu's clubs, pubs and cafés and of course to our own restaurant Kerubi.
Rokumentti Rock Film Festival features the most current high quality international music films. The annually changing theme program dives into those hidden sides of society and humanity that are usually trailed away. While the films are, above all, entertaining, they also offer a sharp and critical view of different phenomena, not bowing down to any taboos. The guest directors, both domestic and international, aim to deepen the discussion and raise opinions. For the industry professionals, Rokumentti offers the Summit seminar where topical issues of music industry are covered with notable thoroughness.
Rokumentti equals wild energy and passion — executed with great proficiency. Five days of gigs, clubs, parties, seminars and of course the best music films of the world. That's Rokumentti for you!
Rokumentti Rock Film Festival from November 16th to 20th, 2011.
Facts about Ilosaarirock
This year we celebrate the 40th Ilosaarirock Festival. The first festival, called Rock Rieha (Rock Rave), took place in 1971 on the island Ilosaari (its literal translation is "Fun Island") in river Pielisjoki that runs through the heart of Joensuu. That is where the festival got its name. And this year, due to the opening of Rock Club Kerubi, Ilosaari Summit (although not Ilosaarirock) takes place on that very same island.
Rokki, as the event is informally known, has grown to be one of the main events of the Finnish rock festival calendar. The 21 000 tickets on sale have been sold out in advance every year for more than a decade now. There are a total of five stages at the festival, in addition to the club evenings, held at the actual festival site on Friday and in Rock Club Kerubi on Saturday and Sunday. During its entire history, the festival has presented bands and artists coming from both Finland and abroad and representing a multitude of popular music genres. Ilosaarirock is well regarded by the national live music industry with many of the Finnish major promoters, manager agents and concert venue owners dropping in at some time over the weekend.
Ilosaarirock Festival is organized mainly by volunteers and music enthusiasts, making the event unique in both the Finnish and the global context. The aim has been to develop a festival organization that works like a well-oiled machine, yet does not compromise a bit of the ultimate feel-good atmosphere. Everyone works together, this way creating an experience that rewards all the hard work. 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 a non-profit institution, Joensuun Popmuusikot ry (Joensuu Pop Musicians' Association) and not a commercial business. This shows in the end result. Joensuun Popmuusikot is an association dedicated to the promotion of live music in the county of North Karelia, the capital of which Joensuu is. Its main object is to raise the quality standards of live music, but it also has a section dedicated to helping local bands by offering them financial aid for recording demo tapes and fully produced albums.
Ilosaarirock Festival was originally created as a great party for the public, not as a profit making scheme for the organizers. This means that we are particularly selective when it comes choosing our sponsors and partners, and there is little advertisement seen on the venue. Year after year everything possible is done to create a safe and enjoyable environment both for the bands and the festival-goers.
Ilosaarirock Festival has become known for its characteristically original programme, and every year the festival offers an opportunity to see dozens of exciting artists both from Finland and abroad. During the three-day festival weekend some 100 bands take to the Festival's five stages and clubs.
Facts about Rock Club Kerubi
Kerubi was a legendary rock club in Joensuu that vanished in the early 2000s. Now the club has risen again, better than ever. Two big stages with the best sound and light, an excellent restaurant with Karelian flavor plus the tastiest hamburgers and the most popular indie disco in town. And the greatest thing of all, Kerubi is effectively run by Joensuu Pop Musicians' Association, the same association that is behind Rokumentti and Ilosaarirock Festival.
To call Kerubi a rock club is in fact an understatement, because it is so much more. The building it is situated in, Karjalantalo, is really a culture center. It hosts different cultural events from seminars to theatre shows and movie screenings - both during and outside of Rokumentti — and art shows. The building also hosts the pop/jazz and folk music departments of the North Karelia University of Applied Sciences.
Kerubi is located in Ilosaari, a beautiful and peaceful island in the middle of the town. The island itself is a birthplace to Ilosaarirock, one of the oldest rock festivals in Europe.
