Night of the Arts

 

Last night was the Night of the Arts in Helsinki. It is the evening when you can watch and enjoy different arts for free all over Helsinki. 

First time I immersed myself in the Night of the Arts was when I was 16. I had just started a new school, Kallio Upper Secondary School of Performing Arts, and I went to the event with my class mates. One of our class mates had a performance - he was a magician - and we went to watch him. He magicked the bra away from one girl... uh, I guess he didn't really, but it was funny, especially as the girl was insisting in a slightly confused way that she was still wearing her bra. (She was drunk. Then and now, excessive drinking is an annoying side effect of the Night of the Arts. In my day especially, too many youth were drunk in the weekends.) 

Yesterday I wanted to show IT and PW how lovely it can be when everyone gets to see art. Unfortunately, IT had a long school day and was rather exhausted. We promised him a treat and I promised an early return. 

The Helsinki Cathedral hosted a cavalcade of choirs, of which we got to hear the Dominante Choir. They sang beautifully, as expected. I couldn't find the program anywhere, but the last piece they sang got even IT to pay attention. It was by a Finnish composer, with spiritual lyrics in Finnish, sounded at times Gregorian and at times thoroughly modern, and it reminded me of what sort of music I like to make with a choir. 

The program of the Night of the Arts could be found online, but there was so much stuff that we decided to just walk around for a while. Unfortunately Helsinki was large and we needed to be back at the Senate Square around 8 pm. We dropped in a bookstore that hosted writers, discussing their writing, but it was uncomfortably crowded. We listened to a band for a moment, but none of us liked the music. Instead we decided to eat a treat as we had promised Ilmari. On the way we saw a boy rapping while his friend played the drums, and then this: The Pupu Revolution (pupu=bunny). 

Crowds are definitely a feature of the Night of the Arts. Walking back to the Senate Square we ran into a huge one, and so did the trams. Aleksanterinkatu (the street) was clogged with people and there was a point when the security could not keep the street free. Trams were just stuck in the crowd. We were smaller than the trams, so we moved slowly forward until we could see the performance. 

The main event of the evening was a large scale circus show, Pedaleando Hacia el Cielo - Pedaling towards the sky. It was a collection of colorful red and white costumes, opera music (including Puccini's O, mio babbino caro!), air acrobatics, bikes and a huge crane that lifted combinations of them into the sky. Confetti and fireworks were also included. It was wonderfully moving. I loved it, PW loved it and even IT admitted it was good. But he also said he thought the red and white cupids were chickens first. Huh. 

After the last applause had died, we floated with the crowd towards the metro station, since I'd promised IT that we could go. PW decided to stay for a moment. While we boarded a crowded metro and a busier than normal bus, he saw some extraordinary things. A fabric creature moving on the roof of an art museum, a female "dervish" meditating by spinning around for hours. 

 

I felt lucky to be here in August to witness it. If you ever visit Helsinki, mid-August is a good idea. The unbearable heat should be gone and then there's the Night of the Arts.