Fredi

Fredi, or Matti Siitonen, is a Finnish singer who has established himself as one of the most succesful artists in Finland. He began his solo career as a folk singer back in the 1960’s and originally went by the name Folk-Fredi. From what I’ve read he dropped the folk part when folk went out of style. Personally I think he should have stuck to it!

I was pursuaded by an insightful post over a the Huuhkaja Päivänvalossa-blog to find out why Fredi seems to have a secured place in Finnish people’s hearts. Since a while back I’m on an explorative journey through Finnish music history in search of Finnish national identity. I want to understand the national spirit of Finland, because it really fascinates me. I like to think I can conduct some sort of folkloristic research on Finnish culture through music.

I was immediately hooked by the song tip I got through aforementioned blog, which was a song called Saarnaaja that Fredi wrote the lyrics to and recorded in 1975. It’s such a dark song, a tale of an abusive and alcoholic father seen through the eyes of a child.

This is the reality of many Finnish children. According to a survey (pdf-link) done by Fragile Childhood one in ten Finns have grown up in a substance abuse-family. In 2006 Unicef published a worldwide survey amongst children subject to abuse that was not flattering to Finland. This survey revealed that 61 000 Finnish children lived in abusive families. In this research any type of physical discipline was considered abuse, alongside psychological and sexual abuse.

Physical discipline of children is forbidden by law in Finland since 1984. Despite this figures have shown that the jurisdiction is not fully implemented in reality. Lastensuojelun Keskusliitto has conducted several surveys amongst Finnish parents about their views on physical discipline. The latest survey, from 2007, concluded that 27 per cent of Finnish parents considered physical discipline to be a justified method of raising children. That’s devastating if you ask me, but at least the number has decreased from previous year’s 29 per cent (Source).

Saarnaaja is a scary song. It sounds like a theme song from a 60’s horror movie and Fredi’s lyrics paint a picture that becomes more tragic for every verse. So, to conclude, it’s absolutely wonderful! This song seems like a very bold song choice for an artist like Fredi. It stands in stark contrast to the evergreens and melodramatic love songs that has become characteristic of his style. This is such a good storytelling song, I think it puts the folk back in Fredi.

Fredi – Saarnaaja

~ by Tina on October 14, 2008.