The Land of Dreams: Recovering Musical Memories of the Finnish Immigration
We are collecting memories of the music of Finnish immigrants from North America and Soviet Karelia from the late 19th century to the present day. Responding is easy and even small recollections are important!
Have you heard stories of Finnish immigrants singing and playing in churches, workers’ halls or lumber camps? Do you remember your mother humming at home? Did you hear workers singing while at work or during strike marches? What kind of music did people dance to? Which songs gave you comfort? What kind of music did you not like?
Music played an important role in the lives of Finnish immigrants, both in their everyday activities and during celebrations. The great wave of emigration from Finland to the United States and Canada from the 1860s onwards created a wonderful musical legacy. Singing and playing echoed in temperance societies, workers’ halls and churches, but also in homes and village communities. Finnish immigrants sang gruesome songs reflecting the toil and hardship of their labour and expressed their homesickness through melancholy tunes, but they also broke into defiant battle songs brimming with rebellious spirit.
In addition to singing, Finns played in brass bands, spelman (“pelimanni”) and dance music ensembles and other groups. In churches, the singing was accompanied by a harmonium or pipe organ. Finns recorded, collected and wrote songs. Some travelled from place to place, making a living from music. Music created a sense of community and helped people settle into their new homes. This tradition is still alive today in the United States and Canada.
In the 1920s and 1930s, people also left North America for Soviet Karelia in search of a better future. An interesting musical culture, about which relatively little is known, also emerged among the Finns who settled there.
The collection of memories is part of the research project The Land of Dreams – Migration and Music from the late 19th Century to the Present. We are collecting memories from all over Finland and North America. The collected material will be used for research on Finnish immigration and for academic, artistic and popular publications. The material will be stored in the archives of the Migration Institute of Finland.
What memories are we collecting?
The memories can be about your own, a relative’s, a family member’s or a friend’s musical activities at an amateur or professional level during the migration or after returning to Finland. The memory does not have to be a long story; it can be a small recollection of a lullaby or an evening hymn that your grandmother brought home. The memories can stir a range of emotions, from warmth to sorrow.
Feel free to write in your own style. If you wish, you can use the following questions as a guide:
- What kind of music did the migrant or returnee play/sing?
- What kind of memories or thoughts does this music bring to mind?
- What was the context of the music? Where or in what situation did the music-making take place?
- In what social settings did the person you remember spend their time (family, village, workplace, associations, church, etc.)?
- What songbooks or musical publications were used?
- What kind of musical greetings and materials were sent between the old and new inhabitants?
How to reply
There is no limit to the length of responses. In addition to text, we also accept photographs, letters, diaries, audio recordings, videos, memoirs, interviews, etc. Please only send material that you have the right/permission to submit. With your permission, the material will be stored in the Archives of the Migration Institute of Finland. With your permission, the material may be made available for research, teaching and study purposes in accordance with the rules of the archive.
Please send your reply by December 31, 2025, using one of the following methods:
- Electronic form
- Mail: University of the Arts Seinäjoki Unit, Kalevan Navetta, Nyykoolinkatu 25, 60100 Seinäjoki, Finland
- E-mail: saijaleena.rantanen@uniarts.fi or samuli.korkalainen@uniarts.fi
- Telephone: Saijaleena Rantanen +358 40 710 4200 or Samuli Korkalainen +358 50 406 0649
If you send your information by post, please label the envelope “Memory Collection” and include your contact and background information and permission to archive the material in the Migration Institute’s archives. Additionally, please indicate if you would like your name to be mentioned in research reports (books, articles, presentations, etc.).
Further information
Saijaleena Rantanen
saijaleena.rantanen@uniarts.fi
tel. +358 40 710 4200
Samuli Korkalainen
samuli.korkalainen@uniarts.fi
tel. +358 50 406 0649
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