Jukka Perko & Hurmio-Orkesteri

Saxophonist Jukka Perko's juxtaposition of American jazz and Finnish schlager reached historical proportions in November 2000 when the album "Music of Olavi Virta" became the first ever release of Blue Note Finland. The time is now ripe for recounting the tale, weighing up the pros and cons and glancing into the future.

No European integration can ever change the fact that the archetypal Finnish soulscape is brooding and melancholy. Ergo, most of the local tangos, schlagers and evergreens are minor-key mini-operas of heartbreak and loneliness. The most renowned interpreter of these passionate and often tragic feelings was iconic singer Olavi Virta (1915-72), a Nordic counterpart to the likes of Carlos Gardel and Frank Sinatra. The Finnish tango emperor passed away when saxophonist Jukka Perko was merely four years old, but the universal language of music provided these gentlemen with a meeting point beyond time and place. Without Virta's and Perko's commitment to their art, the first ever release of Blue Note Finland would have been something very different.