Swedish Perspective

• Date: 09.04.2008
• Book: Popular Music from Vittula: A Novel
• Author: miinna

Review

‘Popular Music from Vittula’ takes place in a little village in the far north of Sweden, in Pajala, in the 60’s, and it describes Sweden, the people, the nature, traditions (proud and less proud of), the sadness, the joys, the strengths and weaknesses - to sum it up; a good book to read if you want to get into the mind of a Swede.

I thought I’d share some quotes from it, that I marked out, and that I thought were hilarious (it is a very funny book!).

There’s a music teacher who comes to Pajala from Skåne (where I come from, far south) and he brings a 12 geared bike, which no one has ever seen. And he goes on practice runs with it from village to village;

“One day he returned from a practice run to Korpilombolo followed by two Norrbotten spitzes, a Swedish foxhound, a Jämtland wolfhound, two Norwegian elkhounds, plus a few more of mixed race. They were all white-eyed and intent on murder. Greger pulled up outside the police station and was immediately attacked by the pitch-black Labrador that had taken on a leadership role in the hysterical pack. Greger waited for the right moment, then calmly kicked it on the snout with his fancy cycling shoe, whereupon the cur staggered back to his friends yelping and whining. Then he strolled with dignity into the police station. The duty officer had to chain them all up, apart from the Labrador, who needed veterinary attention”.

The main character, Matti, and his friend Niila are both into rock music, and forms a band. Meänkieli is a form of Finnish spoken in Tornedalen, Sweden (and is one of Sweden’s 5 official languages).

“In the beginning me and Niila often discussed whether our rock playing would be considered knapsu or not. The word is Meänkieli and means anile, in other words things that only women do. You could say that a man’s role in Tornedalen is basically one thing. Not to be knapsu. It sounds simple and obvious, but the whole thing is complicated by special rules that usually takes decades to learn, especially for men who migrate from southern Sweden. Some things are always knapsu and should be avoided by men. Such things are changing curtains, knitting, rug-weaving, milking by hand, watering flowers and such. Other things are as definitely manly such as tree felling, elk-hunting, dovetailing, raftage and outdoor dance-floor fighting”.

Other things one can accomplish…

“In Tornedalen creativity was mainly about surviving. One could respect, even admire the clever craftsman who could carve out everything from a butter knife to a Mora clock from the tree trunks of the forest, or the woodsman who had motor failure and drove his snowmobile 9 kilometers on a mixture of heart medicine and home-made liquor, or the old woman who picked 30 kilos of gooseberries without a bucket in her cleverly pinched-together underpants, or the bachelor who got himself a year’s supply of cigarettes across the border when he transported his dead brothers’ coffin home, now that he had died on the Finnish side after all…”

Some parts are more isolated than others. I have to be honest, I have had a similar experience.

“One Sunday something unusual happened in Pajala. The church was filled up. It was a regular morning service, the minister was the usual Wilhelm Tawe, and in an ordinary case there would have been lots of space. But this day it was overcrowded. The thing was, that the people of Pajala was going to get to see their first, living Nigger”.

This is a description of what happens when a boy beats another. I think it’s sad to say, that these probably apply on adults too, in some degree… Hehe :P

“The chains of beating worked as follows. Two boys starts to fight. Anders hits Nisse and Nisse starts to cry. I’m not going to immerse in the reason of the fight, previous hostilities or possible underlying family feuds. One boy has caned another and they both go home. This is when the chain starts. The beaten, Nisse, immediately tells his 2 year older brother. The older brother goes out into the village and keeps his eyes open, and the next time he sees Anders he beats him up in revenge. Anders then goes home crying to his own 4 year older brother who goes out into the village and keeps his eyes open. The next time the brother sees either Nisse or Nisses brother he beats them up and also threatens them. Nisses 5 year older and big first-cousin gets a short summary of the situation and beats up Anders’ brother and Anders himself as well as some of his friends who have come with as bodyguards. Anders’ friends’ both friends’ 6 year older brothers then goes out into the village and keeps their eyes open. Nisses’ other brothers, cousins and relatives get a short summary of the situation, on who beat who and in which order, same thing on Anders’ side. Exaggerations for propaganda is common”.