Finnish American Music Series: Ralph and Jaana Tuttila, with Tom DuBois and Marcus Cederström

Finnish American Music Series: Ralph and Jaana Tuttila, with Tom DuBois and Marcus Cederström
Free and Open to the Public
February 27, 2021 11:00 am – 12:30 pm CT
Virtual (Zoom): Register online

Our friends at the Nordic Folklife project are kicking off their Finnish American Music Series of events with Ralph and Jaana Tuttila discussing Finnish-American music and dance in the Upper Midwest and performing songs from the University of Wisconsin Press publication Songs of the Finnish Migration: A Bilingual Anthology. Tom DuBois and Marcus Cederström, the book’s editors, will be offering insights into the significant contribution of songs to our understanding of the Finnish immigrant experience.

Jaana and Ralph (Rauli) Tuttila, members of the longstanding Minneapolis-based Finnish music group Finn Hall formed a second group called Laulu Aika in 2017 to recruit new performers of Finnish American music and dance. Jaana and Ralph also play together as a duo, singing and playing Finnish, Finnish American, Swedish, and other Nordic folk dance music on Nyckelharpa (Avoin viulu), mandolin, harmonica, ukulele, and accordion.

Tom DuBois is a folklorist who focuses on Finnish, Sámi, and other Nordic cultures. He has taught at both the University of Washington, Seattle, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a past Finlandia Foundation Lecturer of the Year and has a longstanding relation with FinnFest, having presented at many FinnFests over the years. Marcus Cederström is a folklorist working in the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic at UW-Madison as the community curator of Nordic-American folklore for the “Sustaining Scandinavian Folk Arts in the Upper Midwest” project. His research interests include immigration to the United States and Nordic and Nordic American folklife.

Co-sponsored by FinnFest USA and the Nordic Folklife project at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the music series features noted performers and scholars of Finnish-American folk music. Register at this link for this and future events. A link to the virtual program will be sent to your registered email address one day in advance of the event.

Although this event is free and open to anyone who can and wants to take part, the co-sponsors do hope you will consider donating to the FinnFest USA organization, whose hard work and dedication makes events like this possible. If you have the ability to donate any amount of money to FinnFest to support future programming, please visit their donation page.