Laila Kinnunen: Sä muistatko metsätien (Do You Remember the Forest Road)
The Finnish songbook “Suuri toivelaulukirja” tells us about the background of this song as follows: “Trumpet player and music director Eugen Malmstén has recorded some five hundred songs sung by himself and has composed easy listening tunes. This song was one of the most popular hits in Finland in the late 1930s. Eugen explained that he sang it during the Winter War in the Lemetti encirclement in Karelia, at the field telephone exchange for signalmen, without realising that it was the first ever phone-in show, which was transferred by telephone to all the tents.” (Quoted from the Suuri toivelaulukirja no. 5, p. 208, translated by Taina Pemberton.) * * * * * Tämän laulun taustasta kerrotaan Suuressa toivelaukirjassa näin: ”Trumpetisti ja orkesterinjohtaja Eugen Malmstén on laulanut levyille viitisensataa iskelmää ja säveltänyt kevyttä musiikkia. Tämä kappale kuului Suomen suosituimpiin iskelmiin 1930-luvun lopulla. Eugen kertoo laulaneensa sen sodan aikana Lemetin motissa viestimiesten puhelinkeskuksessa tietämättä, että kysymyksessä oli ensimmäinen puhelintoivekonsertti, joka välittyi puhelimitse kaikkiin telttoihin.” (Lainaus Suuresta toivelaulukirjasta nro 5, s. 208.) Sä muistatko metsätien (Do You Remember the Forest Road) Sung by Laila Kinnunen Music by Eugen Malmstén Lyrics by Kerttu Mustonen (Engl. transl. by Taina Pemberton) Arranged by Esko Linnavalli Accompanied by the Esko Linnavalli Orchestra Recorded in 1965, Scandia Label, Helsinki, Finland Photos: iStock LAILA KINNUNEN (1939–2000) was an exceptionally skilled and versatile Finnish singer. Kinnunen was just 15 when she won a singing contest intended for adults with George Shearing’s “Lullaby of Birdland”. In 1957, at age 17, she succesfully recorded her first song, an Italian “Lazzarella” in Finnish. Kinnunen mastered a wide range of popular music from American jazz and pop songs to Russian waltzes, and from Latin rhythms to Finnish tangos. She performed and recorded songs in more than 10 languages, including at least Finnish, Swedish (learned as a child evacuee in Sweden during WWII), English, Italian, German, Russian, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Afrikaans, Hebrew, Japanese and Danish. She used many of them easily or perfectly. Whenever Kinnunen started singing in a language that was not familiar to her (such as Russian and Hungarian), she had a language teacher. Kinnunen was brilliant in front of an audience and infallible in the recording studio. In the 1960s, she worked internationally, appearing in many TV programmes and performing in nightclubs all over Europe, such as Cannes, Leipzig, East and West Berlin, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Munich, Rostock, Sopot, Brussels, Zürich, Bucharest, Bratislava, Lisbon, Madrid and Granada. In her homeland, she also performed in many floor shows and played several roles in musicals and operettas, including the hilarious role of the Argentine dancer Tangolita in Paul Abraham’s 1932 jazz operetta “Ball im Savoy” (Ball at the Savoy), and the leading role of Maisie in Sandy Wilson’s “The Boy Friend”. However, Laila Kinnunen’s intensive and unique singing career ended early, at about age 30, due to her personal problems. During her career she recorded 160 songs with various record companies (mainly with Scandia), and many hundreds of soundtracks for television, radio and movies. FRIENDS TALK ABOUT LAILA “She achieved the same effect with her singing as a musician does with their instrument. She listened to music with every part of her being and was also a skilled improviser who threw herself into the music.” – Jaakko Salo, conductor, arranger, composer and producer “If I had to describe Laila with one word, it might be ‘band’. ‘Band’ contains it all.” – Esa Pethman, jazz musician and composer “She radiated a unique energy and above all she was a natural performer.” – Adriano Vinciguerra, the Italian musician and restaurateur who started the first pizza restaurant in Finland “Her musicality was truly amazing. She was a phenomenon! [...] I often asked her what was she doing here, why didn’t she go abroad. ‘Go to Paris, I’m sure you’d soon be singing at Salle Pleyel like Edith Piaf in her time, or go to Rome...’ Laila just laughed.” – Italian musician and music director Victor Esposito, who worked in Finland in the 1960s “Laila was a brilliant singer who impressed me deeply with her spontaneity and talent.” – Italian singer Umberto Marcato, who worked in Finland in the 1950s and 60s. “I thought, here’s a woman who’s a performer to her core, singing is not just singing to her but much more. [...] She practised the songs so well that when it was time to record, Laila just walked through the door and sang everything onto the tape on the first go.” – Rauno Lehtinen, conductor, arranger, musician and composer The quotations about Laila Kinnunen are from the book “Lailan laulu” (2002) by Tuija Wuori-Tabermann and Tommy Tabermann. – Engl. transl. by Taina Pemberton
The Finnish songbook “Suuri toivelaulukirja” tells us about the background of this song as follows: “Trumpet player and music director Eugen Malmstén has recorded some five hundred songs sung by himself and has composed easy listening tunes. This song was one of the most popular hits in Finland in the late 1930s. Eugen explained that he sang it during the Winter War in the Lemetti encirclement in Karelia, at the field telephone exchange for signalmen, without realising that it was the first ever phone-in show, which was transferred by telephone to all the tents.” (Quoted from the Suuri toivelaulukirja no. 5, p. 208, translated by Taina Pemberton.) * * * * * Tämän laulun taustasta kerrotaan Suuressa toivelaukirjassa näin: ”Trumpetisti ja orkesterinjohtaja Eugen Malmstén on laulanut levyille viitisensataa iskelmää ja säveltänyt kevyttä musiikkia. Tämä kappale kuului Suomen suosituimpiin iskelmiin 1930-luvun lopulla. Eugen kertoo laulaneensa sen sodan aikana Lemetin motissa viestimiesten puhelinkeskuksessa tietämättä, että kysymyksessä oli ensimmäinen puhelintoivekonsertti, joka välittyi puhelimitse kaikkiin telttoihin.” (Lainaus Suuresta toivelaulukirjasta nro 5, s. 208.) Sä muistatko metsätien (Do You Remember the Forest Road) Sung by Laila Kinnunen Music by Eugen Malmstén Lyrics by Kerttu Mustonen (Engl. transl. by Taina Pemberton) Arranged by Esko Linnavalli Accompanied by the Esko Linnavalli Orchestra Recorded in 1965, Scandia Label, Helsinki, Finland Photos: iStock LAILA KINNUNEN (1939–2000) was an exceptionally skilled and versatile Finnish singer. Kinnunen was just 15 when she won a singing contest intended for adults with George Shearing’s “Lullaby of Birdland”. In 1957, at age 17, she succesfully recorded her first song, an Italian “Lazzarella” in Finnish. Kinnunen mastered a wide range of popular music from American jazz and pop songs to Russian waltzes, and from Latin rhythms to Finnish tangos. She performed and recorded songs in more than 10 languages, including at least Finnish, Swedish (learned as a child evacuee in Sweden during WWII), English, Italian, German, Russian, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Afrikaans, Hebrew, Japanese and Danish. She used many of them easily or perfectly. Whenever Kinnunen started singing in a language that was not familiar to her (such as Russian and Hungarian), she had a language teacher. Kinnunen was brilliant in front of an audience and infallible in the recording studio. In the 1960s, she worked internationally, appearing in many TV programmes and performing in nightclubs all over Europe, such as Cannes, Leipzig, East and West Berlin, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Munich, Rostock, Sopot, Brussels, Zürich, Bucharest, Bratislava, Lisbon, Madrid and Granada. In her homeland, she also performed in many floor shows and played several roles in musicals and operettas, including the hilarious role of the Argentine dancer Tangolita in Paul Abraham’s 1932 jazz operetta “Ball im Savoy” (Ball at the Savoy), and the leading role of Maisie in Sandy Wilson’s “The Boy Friend”. However, Laila Kinnunen’s intensive and unique singing career ended early, at about age 30, due to her personal problems. During her career she recorded 160 songs with various record companies (mainly with Scandia), and many hundreds of soundtracks for television, radio and movies. FRIENDS TALK ABOUT LAILA “She achieved the same effect with her singing as a musician does with their instrument. She listened to music with every part of her being and was also a skilled improviser who threw herself into the music.” – Jaakko Salo, conductor, arranger, composer and producer “If I had to describe Laila with one word, it might be ‘band’. ‘Band’ contains it all.” – Esa Pethman, jazz musician and composer “She radiated a unique energy and above all she was a natural performer.” – Adriano Vinciguerra, the Italian musician and restaurateur who started the first pizza restaurant in Finland “Her musicality was truly amazing. She was a phenomenon! [...] I often asked her what was she doing here, why didn’t she go abroad. ‘Go to Paris, I’m sure you’d soon be singing at Salle Pleyel like Edith Piaf in her time, or go to Rome...’ Laila just laughed.” – Italian musician and music director Victor Esposito, who worked in Finland in the 1960s “Laila was a brilliant singer who impressed me deeply with her spontaneity and talent.” – Italian singer Umberto Marcato, who worked in Finland in the 1950s and 60s. “I thought, here’s a woman who’s a performer to her core, singing is not just singing to her but much more. [...] She practised the songs so well that when it was time to record, Laila just walked through the door and sang everything onto the tape on the first go.” – Rauno Lehtinen, conductor, arranger, musician and composer The quotations about Laila Kinnunen are from the book “Lailan laulu” (2002) by Tuija Wuori-Tabermann and Tommy Tabermann. – Engl. transl. by Taina Pemberton