Update on the
Journal of Finnish Studies Summer issue, which is coming together nicely:
Included in the issue are articles relating to Finn halls and the music of Finns in the Industrial Workers of the World from Jim Leary and Aaron Goings; in addition to those from Leary and Goings are articles from Tim Frandy and Hilary Joy Virtanen, which analyze the significance of song in the Finnish American working class; and lastly Paul Niemisto looks at the material culture of sheet music in the Finnish American community. Pekka Gronow penned the Conclusion, and I wrote the Foreword concentrating on an idea of working class theory that I've been developing for a while now.
All of the articles are in and are going out for peer review. Jim and Hilary have been doing great work getting the edition together and three out of the five contributors have tapped into a great resource...audio recordings from 1938 fieldwork done by Alan Lomax in the Finnish American community surrounding the Lake Superior area.
The "Lomax Recordings" are a treasure trove of ethno-musical history regarding the culture of Finnish Americans...and this issue of
Journal of Finnish Studies chronicles how this musical culture, through song, was expressed in the Finnish immigrant and Finnish American working class.
Look for this issue soon, it is going to be good. Subscription information for the
Journal of Finnish Studies at:
http://www.finnala.com/JFS_subs_and_ads.html.
