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Dear friend of Arkadia,

You are invited to A performance by The Only Finn in the Village on Thursday 8.5 at 6pm at Arkadia (Nervanderinkatu 11)

The Only Finn In The Village is a solo artist based in a small village in Portugal on the edge of Europe. This one man band was born when Finnish composer, pianist and songwriter Mikael Joonatan Kuosmanen moved to a small village in Portugal, next to the ocean, alone with piano.

The first gigs under the name The Only Finn In The Village will be held in May in Helsinki, London and Paris, where you can have the first taste of the past months of Mikael’s work.

http://theonlyfinninthevillage.tumblr.com
http://facebook.com/theonlyfinninthevillage
http://mikaeljoonatan.com

Welcome!

Warm regards,

Ian
www.arkadiabookshop.fi

– Entrance is free but a donation of €3 (or more!) to fund the event is suggested and would be most welcome. If you have no loose change or coins we gladly accept payment via Visa Electron or Mastercard etc. !

THE ONLY FINN IN THE VILLAGE – THE FIRST PERFORMANCE

Here’s Mikael talking a bit about the story behind The Only Finn In The Village:

“I moved to a small village in Portugal, because it was time for me to finally have a home where I can really concentrate on music. Before that I spent about 16 months without even an own room, because I worked in projects between different countries without regular income, staying a bit over here and there as I couldn’t afford living in a flat for example in Finland. I ended up to Lisbon, loved it and stayed. But I was really tired of not having a proper home, nor place to play piano. After first spring in Lisbon, I spent summer in Finland and started to think a bit about the idea of moving to the countryside of Lisbon, because there I could finally after all these years, maybe even afford to rent a house where I could have a piano and work in peace. At the same time the idea of putting up a new band/artist name was in my mind, to kind of separate my performing band/solo project from my other projects as a composer.

The process of finding a place was really long and mentally exhausting, it took me about 3 months to find a proper place, then another 3 months to really move in and settle down. It also took a while to after many months of sharing a room with several other people to get used to the situation of suddenly being there on the edge of Europe alone in a village where I don’t know anyone. I’ve really had to face my fear of being alone.

But then, few months after moving, I had the resources to start to focus on music, finally. And that’s what I’ve been doing the past two months, mainly playing piano like a crazy lonely composer, and figuring out which direction I want this project to go to. I’ve kind of abandoned most of my old songs, as I feel I’ve grown a bit out of them and now I’ve been reaching for something that feels more fresh and free at the moment. I wanted to focus on the acoustic piano, text and the possibilities of live acoustic performance. Kind of getting back to my roots.

Already before “isolating” myself to the edge of Europe, I’ve been rather outsider in the modern society for the past years. And specially now during this process quite a few times I’ve had to question why I do what I do and if all the sacrifices and the lonely struggle I’ve been through has been worth it, just to make my music.

But I believe so because that’s just so huge part of who I am and how I live and what I have to give for the world. Creating music is my way to feel deeper connection with the other people and the nature, my way to get out all the shit that needs to be let out, my way to reflect the human life and hopefully comfort and bring joy to others. My whole life I’ve been rather lonely wolf (or dog) without luck in my personal love life, but when I perform and can touch someone with the music, I often for a while can taste that love that I’ve always longed for in my personal life. It makes me feel understood, connected, accepted and meaningful. Specially now when spending a lot time alone only with piano, I’ve realized that the most important reason I do it, is the connection with the other people it brings.”