March 6, 2025 • 35 mins
Join us as we unravel the intriguing tale of Finland's national anthem, "Maamme," which unexpectedly emerged from a light-hearted student celebration into a powerful symbol of national identity. We’ll explore how this song, initially penned to quench revolutionary fervor, ultimately became a rallying cry for a nation yearning for independence. Traveling over 7,600 kilometers from the last country, we’ll encounter a conspiracy theory that ridiculously claims Finland doesn’t exist and is in fact just a clever ruse to keep the waters of the Baltic Sea stocked with fish. Along the way, we’ll delve into the lives of the poet Johan Ludwig Runeberg and composer Fredrik Pacius, whose contributions shaped Finland's cultural landscape. With a dash of wit and historical context, we’ll reflect on how a simple tune transformed into a beloved anthem, bridging the gulf between past and present, and solidifying Finland's identity in the hearts of its people.
- https://www.doria.fi/handle/10024/66569
- Jussila, Osmo: The Grand Duchy of Finland 1809–1917 . Helsinki: WSOY, 2004. ISBN 978-951-029500-7
- https://web.archive.org/web/20070227172733/http://www.fimr.fi/en/tutkimus/fysikaalinen-tutkimus/vedenkorkeuden-vaihteluiden-ajalliset-muutokset.html
- https://www.national-anthems.org/history.php
- https://horserookie.com/how-far-can-a-horse-travel/#:~:text=Depending%20on%20the%20horse%20and,days%20to%20travel%201%2C000%20miles.
- https://www.mcislanguages.com/mcis-blog/fatherland-vs-motherland-what-is-the-gender-of-your-country/
- https://archive.ph/20121224213536/http://froste.oso.chalmers.se/hgs//Bifrost_01/
- https://kansallisbiografia.fi/kansallisbiografia/henkilo/2599
- Keskisarja, Teemu: Murder Angel. The human history of the Great Northern War , p. 246. Helsinki: Siltala, 2019. ISBN 978-952-234-638-4
- https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/finland/
- https://web.archive.org/web/20161020135441/http://www.tuglas.fi/v%C3%A5rt_land_maamme_mu_isamaa,_mu_%C3%B5nn_ja_r%C3%B5%C3%B5m
- https://research.chalmers.se/publication/197898
- Jonsson, Leif (1990). Guardians of enlightenment: [19th century student songs as a form of "public art" in Swedish society] . Studia musicologica Upsaliensia, 0081-6744 ; NS, 11 [Student song in the Nordic countries] ; [1]. Uppsala: Univ. page 31
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Foreign hello and welcome tothe Anthems Podcast.
I'm Patrick and I'm here totell you the story of a song that
(00:21):
helps to tell the story of a nation.
Today we are traveling 7,686kilometers, or 4,786 miles, and I
was kind of hoping we could dothis one on horseback.
It looks like it is actuallyphysically possible, whether or not
geopolitical realities andneeding to feed a horse and a human
(00:41):
over a very long distancewould allow for it.
I got wrapped up in trying tofigure out how long it would take
since an average horse can dolike 25 miles a day if the human
can ride, which to be clear, Ido not know how to do.
I got this from referencenumber five in the show notes.
At that pace, it will takevery close to 192 days for us to
(01:05):
ride to Finland, officiallyknown as the Republic of Finland.
We are in the land of athousand lakes because of a wacky
conspiracy theory that grewout of a Reddit thread.
Now, conspiracy theories arenot a new thing that came with the
Internet, and neither are real conspiracies.
But every once in a while itspawns one kind of novel and less
(01:28):
scary than some of the stuffthat's happening regarding the other
conspiracy theories.
Ready?
Finland doesn't exist and isactually just open water that the
Japanese and the Russiangovernment have a fishing agreement
about and they use it to feedtheir people.
You got a Nokia phone?
No you don't.
That is a fake company.
(01:49):
Been to the capital, Helsinki?
No you have not.
That is just in a bit ofeastern Sweden.
Of course this is nonsense andit actually grew out of a thing that
some guy's parents told himand is a funny idea, but that is
how we got flat earthers, sobe careful.
(02:09):
Either way, dispellingmisinformation around Finland is
a good excuse to tell youabout Mame or our country.
It turns out that I didn'treally know much of anything about
Finland apart from Helsinkibeing the capital.
I also knew that the best ryebread I've ever had originated in
a Finnish kitchen, and I amgenuinely afraid of trying salted
(02:32):
black licorice, which I hearis something somehow popular over
there.
But food preference is liketaste in music.
I don't knock anything thatpeople are eating, even though I
might refrain because I thinka fed human is the best kind.
I also think that Finland isthe land of a thousand lakes because
the land of 188,000 lakesdoesn't really have a ring to it
(02:54):
or any marketability, butwe're going to move quickly on before
you notice I'm not funny andwe'll spend a couple of minutes listening
to an anthem.
Enjoy Ra Sa My firstimpression is that we've got an anthem
(05:09):
here.
Before I knew anything elseabout it, I knew the song fit the
bill.
It's a very western soundinganthem, which here makes sense because
Finland is part of Western Europe.
With the choir and a smallishbrass ensemble playing outside while
a crowd is partly singingalong in the background, it captures
the spirit of the song in some measure.
(05:29):
It's a welcoming sounding tunefrom a country where they'll welcome
you to enjoy a sauna with themif they like you.
I was actually very surprisedat how serious the Finnish people
take their sauna.
Gotta tell you though, a nicerelaxing steam cleanse in a special
little house on the side of alake sounds pretty good.
So let's find out where we'vegotta go to make that happen.
(05:52):
Finland is one of the Nordiccountries and we've already been
to one other when we learnedabout Iceland.
Unlike that nation, Finland isattached to the mainland European
landmass.
Easiest way to find it, Iguess is to go to the northern part
of Russia's eastern border andeverything on it north of St.
(06:16):
Petersburg is Finland, exceptfor the last maybe 160km.
Because Norway sort of wrapsaround the shoreline on the Scandinavian
peninsula.
It means that Finland'swestern border is Russia, to the
south is the Gulf of Finlandwith Estonia on the other side, west
is Sweden and the other sideof the Gulf of Bothnia plus a land
(06:39):
border to the northwest.
We round out the perimeterwith Norway to the north.
All told, Finland is just abit bigger in landmass than the British
Isles and is mostly boreoriole, forest, saunas, lakes with
honest and direct people.
And seriously, why so many lakes?
(07:00):
I wonder aloud.
It sent me on a search thatled me to the new to me term for
this episode.
And we're back to geology herewith post glacial rebound.
In a strange twist ofgeography that is slightly frustrating
given the conspiracy theorythat brought me here, a whole bunch
of modern Finland used toactually be underwater.
(07:21):
The shortest answer to thequestion, excuse me, what is that?
Glaciers are very heavy andthey had a bunch of time during the
ice age to sit on top of theland and push all of it toward the
center of the planet a bit more.
Then when the ice melts andit's gone, the landmass starts to
(07:41):
float back up unevenly, but ata rate that is measurable and In
Europe they measure it with aGPS system called the Bifrost.
Just like the Rainbow bridgeto Asgard from Norse mythology.
In fact, there is so much landmass rise that the Bothnian Sea and
the Bothnian Bay are going toseparate from each other in a little
(08:02):
bit over 2000 years.
Interesting stuff.
But enough of that.
It's time to figure out whereto get into the story.
We have a historicallyinteresting place in Finland.
It's not a country wrapped upin colonialism.
It has not been substantiallyaffected by the ancient Romans but
but it was still dramaticallyaffected by Napoleon's wars.
(08:24):
But it's been pretty quietthere compared to a lot of the rest
of Western Europe.
They have been in wars in themodern world though, such as the
three month long conflict thatresulted in a non communist win for
the so called whites when theydefeated the Reds.
After that they were on tofighting Russia to either take or
prevent the taking of territory.
(08:45):
And then they fought someNazis which I'm always a big fan
of.
The US did, did drag them intothe campaigns in Afghanistan and
Iraq.
But that is way past where weare going to be in history chronologically
speaking.
We just need to get to thecivil war that I mentioned.
Context does matter.
So I mentioned all these otherthings in order to frame how we're
(09:07):
going to talk about thewinding down of the Great Power era.
Because in pre 17th centuryWestern Europe it turns out that
the Swedish Empire was kind ofa big deal and a superpower.
But King Charles VII was youngand sort of new at being a king.
That prompted Russia and someof the allies to instigate an attack
(09:33):
on the Swedish Empire in 1700and it sparked the 21 years of great
Northern War.
Some of the end of thisconflict resulted in the founding
of St.
Petersburg, the end ofSweden's great power status, the
exile of Charles vii androughly the current Russia Finland
(09:54):
border.
It fluctuated in between thereand here.
But we'll get to that.
It also left more than half amillion people dead due mostly to
famine and left the populationof Finland at just 250,000 and also
still ruled by Sweden, albeitwith a shiny new parliamentary democracy.
(10:16):
That left the Hats and theCapps there, the two political parties
struggling for control andcourt loyalists with no influence
at all.
The Capps wanted a peacefulcoexistence with Russia and the Hats
wanted revenge.
In 1741 they got the majorityand gave the revenge thing a shot.
(10:37):
Resulting in the doomed RussoSwedish War, a two year occupation
of Finland and the Russianborder creeping ever westward by
1770, the parliamentarydemocracy thing was not really working
out all that well in Sweden.
And King Gustaf III staged acoup, starting a 1788-90 Russian
(10:58):
war that again went nowhere.
While causing many economicissues, it also resulted in yet another
Russian occupation.
Apart from those rough spots,though, it was relatively common.
Finland.
In the second half of thecentury, the population rebounded
significantly and theintellectual seeds of a separate
(11:19):
Finnish state were planted bythe Russian occupations.
We'll be circling back to thispoint in a little bit to brush up
on how it's Napoleon's faultbecause it's instrumental in moving
the timeline forward.
But first, we're going tostart getting to the point a little
bit earlier on than usual,because Johan Ludwig Runberg was
(11:42):
born on the 5th of February inthe year 1804 of the common Era.
And in a new spin on thingsfor the show, we have a pretty well
detailed record of this guy's life.
Runberg was born to Swedishspeaking parents in Finland, in Jakobstad,
on the Gulf of Bothnia.
(12:03):
He was a sickly boy and hecontracted something called scrofula
as a result of tuberculosis.
And it not only looks like itwas absolutely terrible to have,
but it kept him from learningto walk until he was nearly four
years old.
His family was kind of poor,though, so they sent him to a rich
uncle's house for schoolingfocused on classical Latin and Greek.
(12:25):
By 1822 he was tutoring andfive years later achieved a Master
of Philosophy and began ateaching career at the Helsingford
Lyceum, which is where heremained until 1836.
Then he moved over to Porvo onthe south coast of Finland, with
a professorship at the BorgiGymnasium, which is equivalent to
(12:50):
what Americans would call ahigh school.
He remained there from 1837until his death.
Ruenberg was of course, a poetand writing major works exclusively
in Swedish.
As early as 1832, with the elkHunters, he wrote many poems that
(13:11):
dealt with rural life inFinland, and that body of work led
to him being considered anational poet of the country and
an essential cornerstone ofFinnish culture and prestige in the
poetic world.
He wrote an astonishing 72collections of work.
But our poet was best knownfor the heroic epic the Tale of Ensign
(13:32):
stahl.
Written between 1848 and 1860,it was an episodically composed epic
poem containing tales of theFinnish War and is considered to
be one of the three greatestworks of Finnish literature, alongside
the Kalevala and the Seven Brothers.
I have not read those other two.
(13:54):
You'll hear more about thatwar from me in a little bit.
Right now we are interested inthe very first installment of the
Tales of Ensign Style, becauseit is in fact the poem Mame and the
very reason that the verytalented Finnish poet turned into
a person that I've read aliteral book's worth of information
(14:15):
about.
Johan passed on May 6th in1887 and is buried in a tome that
was made in Finland's firstpublic design contest.
As a widely loved man, thereare many tributes to him in Finland.
Most prominently is RunebergDay, celebrated on his birthday,
and the delicious RunebergTart, a pastry of almonds, jam and
(14:39):
icing that the poet was saidto enjoy as a breakfast on most days.
But before I tell you aboutthe circumstances of the anthem writing,
actually writing the anthem,we need to get to know the composer
a bit and then we'll catch upsome of the timeline.
Frederick Pasius was born inhamburg, Germany on 19 March in 1809
(15:03):
to wealthy wine merchants ofItalian origin.
Here again we have a fairlydetailed look at his life.
And again that is unusual formy show, at least so far because
there are many more to getthrough, so maybe well known people
turn out to be more common.
The young Pasius was initiallyapprenticed to a businessman by his
(15:24):
parents.
I'm assuming they intended forhim to become a wine merchant.
However, his father was also atalented musician and Frederick learned
to play the violin when he wasvery young.
At 15, a friend of the familysaid, hey, you should have him get
apprenticed in music insteadof being a businessman.
So the boy was sent off tostudy violin and composition in Cassel
(15:47):
from 1824 to 1827.
After that he spent about ayear doing concerts.
Then he moved to Stockholm andjoined the Royal Court Orchestra
as a soloist, and he stayedthere from 1828 until 1834.
Then a friend of his backedout of a job offer to be a lecturer
(16:11):
in music at the University of Helsinki.
But he told the school that heknew the perfect person for the role
and recommended his friendPassius, who was fairly immediately
offered the position once theyfigured out who this guy was.
And he was also offered itahead of five or six people that
actually applied for the job.
(16:31):
When he arrived In Helsinki in1837, they had one single 12 piece
orchestra in the city and noreal music scene to speak of.
So our composer founded amusical association, a men's choir
that still exists 186 yearslater and a full sized orchestra.
Frederick Passius isconsidered by many to be the father
(16:53):
of Finnish music, having madedozens of compositions, trained hundreds
of musicians and took part ina music filled life that expanded
his adopted homeland's culture.
In 1852 he composed the veryfirst Finnish opera.
And in 1848, a year that werun into a lot when we're in Europe,
(17:13):
he composed the music for Mame.
We'll discuss more about thatin a little bit.
Passius has been wellremembered in Finland after his death
on 9 January in 1818 91, withmany statues made and many books
written about him.
So Napoleon again and Russiataking Finland from Sweden.
(17:35):
Recall that I said it'sBonaparte's fault that the Finnish
War happened.
We're gonna have a little handwaving here about some of this because
the Napoleonic wars are reallycomplicated and messy and I would
enjoy not getting too mired inthe complicated mess that they are.
So Emperor Alexander the firstof Russia signed the Treaty of Tilsit
(17:56):
that divided Central Europebetween Russia and France at the
expense of the Prussian Empire.
Alexander used this as a sortof Damocles over Gustav's head.
That's the King of Sweden.
Lots of names here this time.
And he demanded that Swedenobey the continental system that
Napoleon established andblockade Britain.
(18:19):
However, Gustave literallythought that Napoleon Bonaparte was
the Antichrist.
So he attacked Denmarkthinking Russia would never invade
in the winter.
And in 1808 it turned out thatRussia can definitely hack it in
the winter.
And they launched a war thatI'll mention basically nothing about
except to say that it resultedin the Grand Duchy of Finland ruled
(18:43):
by the Tsar who was now alsothe Grand Duke of Finland.
The Duchy lasted all the wayuntil 1917 when the Bolshevik Revolution
happened and the communistsgave the territories of the former
Russian Empire the right ofself determination.
When the Finnish parliamenttook power on November 15th of 1917,
(19:06):
they voted to declareindependence on December 6th.
And on December 18th theSoviets officially recognized Finland
as a separate country.
The independence came with aseveral months long Civil War in
1918.
But the non communists wonthat war and the long fostered spirit
of an independent and separateFinland was finally set free.
(19:28):
We're going to take one moretime jump back to the run up to the
tumultuous and significantyear of 1848.
So we can talk about the birthof the anthem and the spark of that
spirit.
The widespread wave ofrevolutions that Swept Europe in
1848 and 1849 was notcontributed to by a revolution fervor
(19:50):
in Finland.
One of the things I say a lotreading history that combines my
historical legwork in mytraining in Calculus is that this
stuff is almost always a localmaximum, whether in place or in time,
or in substance.
That is, there's always abroader context that we have to consider
in the run up to larger events.
(20:11):
So in short, I'll be talkingabout this year again, and I have
before.
In Finland we do not run intoa situation where there was a revolution
in 1848, a violent uprisingstyle or otherwise.
But the springtime of thepeople in Europe was indeed felt
in the country.
The idea of Finland as anindependent entity, as I said, was
(20:34):
germinated during the initialoccupations of Russia.
But in 1848 it crystallizedamong academic circles in the two
year run of the Saima magazine.
That's S a I M A if I'mpronouncing it wrong.
And there was a graduationpoem written for the University of
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Helsinki that many people sayis the very beginning of Finnish
nationalism.
And in 1846 the studentsfounded the Academic Reading Society,
which is sort of a protostudent union.
All of this, coupled with thestudent habit of singing, worried
the powers that be.
And one of those powers thatbe at the university was the poet
(21:17):
Runberg.
And he responded to theraucousness of the students at a
May party with the distinctlycounter revolutionary Swedish poem
Vartland, which in English isour land, or in Swedish is Mame.
Music was written for it bythree different people in 1846, including
one composition by the poet,and it was performed at prominent
(21:40):
events at least twice, but itremained as just another song.
Then at Passius's school,after a 12 year ban, the students
were again allowed tocelebrate Flora's Day on May 13th
of 1848 with the intention ofcelebrating counter revolutionary
nationalism.
(22:01):
There was a strong interest inmaking sure that Russia felt like
Finland, was loyal and wouldspare them from harsh measures.
Recall, the country remainedin their hands until 1917, which
is like another 80 years or something.
Runberg's poem was used as thestarting point for the celebration,
and the singing teacher, whowas none other than Mr.
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Frederick Passius, wascommissioned to write a tune for
the peace.
Despite the idealized imagethe composition has garnered, the
piece it was really writtenwith a light touch, probably because
he only had two days to do itand get it rehearsed by the choir,
and then another two days toarrange it for and get it practiced
(22:44):
by the horn orchestra.
Plus all of that stuff had tobe hand copied for the musicians
because it's 1848.
I'm not going to say it was arush job, but it was certainly made
to happen.
In fairly short order.
After all, despite being, whatis, because of Frederick's inherent
skill, a good composition.
(23:06):
It was made for a Florida dayexcursion at the university on 13
May in 1848, and it was donein a hurry.
A procession set off from theuniversity to a venue just outside
of the city.
They played Mamey the wholeway to make sure that there was no
revolutionary music playedover it.
(23:26):
I have said national anthemsare a nationalist thing and this
is a pretty plain, if actuallyunintentional example of that happening.
There was a speech, moreperformances of the anthems, and
the kids got too drunk tothink about revolution.
It sounds about right for theend of a few of these things.
The song was first adopted bythe student union, but it spread
(23:50):
through the 1850s and 60sthrough student quarters from Helsinki.
It first made an appearance atan official event in 1856, but it
really became popular in the1870s, which is when it became common
to sing just the first andlast verse.
Among other things, itdramatically changed the tone of
(24:11):
the song.
This is probably notspecifically what got the song on
track to be the anthem, Eventhough in 11 first poem feels real,
real long.
But what I think reallycemented Maame as the de facto anthem
in Finland was the short civilwar that determined a non communist
future.
Because this song became thesong of bourgeois celebration.
(24:35):
And when the so called whiteswon, it vaulted up the anthem status
despite debates, challengesand nearly a century passing.
With all that, I'll say thatwe have the anthem and I will go
on to discuss the song itself.
Musically speaking, we have asong that is accidentally just the
right music for a Finnish anthem.
(24:56):
I say it's just the rightmusic because that's what the country
collectively picked over time.
But actually it's quitedifferent from what you would expect
to be the anthem in a placelike Finland.
The composition is light andalmost a danceable tune, even if
it's a little bit low energy,with a tempo of 60 to 80 beats per
(25:17):
minute and an original key ofB flat major.
Remember that this is a songwritten not just for a student celebration,
but also to keep other morerevolutionarily worded songs off
of people's lips.
Despite its simplicity, orperhaps in part due to it, the originality
(25:40):
of Passius's composition hasbeen disputed.
As early early as 1875, claimswere made that it was mostly just
a variation of a German folktune called the Pope Song.
Modern sources are more clearthough, and they say that the song
was inspired mostly by thePolish Mazurka music, which is kind
(26:00):
of a pre poka folk dance thathappens in three quarter time just
like Mame and was also a verypopular couples dance in Finland
well into the 20th century.
An interesting composition toend up backing an anthem.
Now lyrically, I was initiallyundecided about this thing.
I'm not sure.
(26:20):
I wasn't sure how I was goingto present the lyrics to you folks.
The original compositionclocks in at 11 verses of Swedish
or Finnish iambic pentameterand it's a lot to hand to you talk
about and then say, but reallyall we need are the first and last
verse and then have to talkabout the whole thing again because
the tone is very different.
(26:41):
I know I've done stuff likethis before and I probably will again,
but each of these songs is aunique creature with its own place
in history and the overalllexicon of my show, so each has got
to be considered on its own merits.
So in short, ish, I guess weare not hearing all 11 verses of
the song, so I will justconvey the first and final because
(27:02):
that is how it is sung.
The tone is very different.
As I have said a couple times,Ruenberg's poem was written to repress
the revolutionary spirit ofthe students.
Have I made the right choice?
I have no idea, but it feelscorrect in the moment and maybe there
are no wrong answers in thiskind of decision.
Regardless, here are the lyrics.
(27:23):
And please note that the poemwas originally written in Swedish,
translated into Finnish andthen English, which is what I will
be reading it in.
Also note that in aperformance of the song, the last
four lines of both verses arerepeated twice.
But I'm not going to do that here.
(27:46):
Our land, our land, Ourfatherland Ring out dear word, O
sound no rising hill ormountain grand no sloping dale, no
northern strand There is moreloved to be found than this.
Our Father's ground, Thyblossom hidden now from sight shall
(28:10):
burst its bud Air long lo fromour love shall rise all right.
Thy son, thy hope, thy joy,Thy light and higher Once more full
and strong shall rise OurCountry Song the work starts off
with a triple invocation ofour land to immediately establish
(28:35):
a reverential tone to the fatherland.
I mentioned way back somewhereon this show that there is some interesting
history and etymology withrespect to the choice of motherland
versus Fatherland versus agender neutral term.
My most recent reading on thatcan be found in reference 6 in the
show notes.
In Northern and NordicEuropean countries, fatherland is
(28:59):
generally more common.
Same thing happens in SouthAmerica, but that is not specifically
important here, just interesting.
Maybe because this was writtenin Finland when it was part of Russia
and motherland is more commonin Russia.
But Runberg was a Swedishspeaker that was born in Finland,
(29:21):
so layers and layers.
Runberg goes on to say thatFinland is a land with no equal in
its beauty and nothing is more loved.
At least I'm pretty surethat's what the line means, because
every translation I've foundthat gets this into English, and
there are many of them, isequally awkwardly phrased, so we're
(29:41):
going to chalk that up toslightly archaic Swedish language
idiosyncrasies.
As the verses change, the songturns from a sacred extolling of
nature's virtue to speaking ofa metaphorical national destiny.
Describing some hidden blossomwaiting to bud is symbolic of the
restrained but real potentialin a nation restrained by Swedish
(30:03):
and Russia.
Runberg writes of people'slove for their country being like
the light of the sun andemphasizing the collective effort
of the people.
The poem ends with linessuggesting a future full of patriotic
pride and self determination.
Kind of timeless stuff.
Mommy is an interesting songbecause despite not having been written
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as an anthem, it was writtenas a nationalistic song.
So it unintentionally checksoff a lot of boxes that I expect
to see in an anthem.
I don't understand Swedish,but when I look at the poem in that
language, you can still seethe repetition in structure and and
the use of alliteration.
Runberg uses these devices tounderscore the interconnectedness
(30:46):
of land and ancestry thatcombines with the imagery to provide
a tangible sense of place.
Very useful for a song thatbecomes tied to the Nation.
Since it's 1846 when he'swriting a local maximum in patriotic
fervor in place and time.
The inclusion of Romantic erastyle writing about the country is
(31:08):
not a surprise, but it helpsto explain why it's had such staying
power for the Finnish people.
Although it's pepperedthroughout the entire 11 verses of
the original, we really onlysee one metaphor here in these two.
But comparing the country to aflower emphasizes growth and it's
a very anthem appropriate topic.
(31:30):
Finally, this anthem fostersan emotional connection between Finland
and and the people by imbuingthe nation with human qualities such
as blossoming, shining andbeing loved.
A text that intertwinespatriotism and national appreciation
while viewing the homeland asa sacred and beloved entity makes
Mame make some sense as thesong that came to be the nation's
(31:53):
anthem.
If we were to listen to theentire poem as originally written
though.
Ah, the tone's super different.
You should give it a read, butclearly I don't think you need to
for the story to make sense asI read it to you.
The piece opens by setting atone of devotion and pride, and it
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ends by looking forward with adetermined hope.
The song frames Finland as aland to be cherished and containing
a heritage for its people tolove for generations.
And we got a good story thathas shown me that sometimes there
is in fact a whole lot of information.
The journey continues and andI suppose we can go on to the credits.
(32:35):
The writing, recording andproduction for the show are done
by me and I wrote and playedthe theme music.
The music was used with my permission.
Unless otherwise noted, theanthems I play are public domain.
Some equivalently free thingor a thing I got permission to play
or made a good faith effort toget permission to play.
This time I have reached outto the person that posted the audio
(32:59):
I'm using despite it beingCreative Commons license, and I have
not yet heard anything back asof this recording.
My sources are contained inthe show notes and the most direct
way to get to those show notesis@anthemspodcast.com the show is
also can credentialed, whichmeans you can report incidences of
(33:20):
harassment, abuse or otherharm on their hotline at 617-249-4255
or on the website at Creator Accountability.
You can also go there andvolunteer your time or join up as
a creator.
I can be found on Facebook andWhatsApp as the anthems podcast and
(33:40):
also I am now on Reddit as theAnthems podcast.
Although I'm mostly just thereto get information for the show.
I don't post stuff, but youmight see my name pop up.
So potentially hi, I havebasically no advertising budget,
so I try to get the episodesonto whatever platform I can with
(34:01):
the hashtag anthemspod.
Think Instagram, Mastodon,Blue Sky, Twitter or whatever.
I'm not on any of those platforms.
It would be cool if youhashtag the post of some kind like
that, and perhaps it helpsdispel the ridiculous notion that
Finland does not exist.
As always, you can email mecorrections, comments, concerns,
(34:23):
suggestions, ideas,instructables or actual instructions
on how to do stuff.
Even ask mequestions@anthemspodmail.com perhaps
you want me to hear exactlyhow mad or pleased you are with me.
If so, call me or text at2/1203-7598375 or better still, leave
(34:50):
me a review wherever you canso more people can hear me or give
me a rating on your podcast.
Same reason it helps.
Maybe you're going on a mediumlength cruise next week and you get
invited up to have dinner withthe captain and he thinks this episode
is interesting enough to playfor the entire ship.
But even if the only thingthat happens is that you listen again
(35:12):
next month, that's very cool.
And you're still cool fordoing that later.
Sa.
Foreign hello and welcome tothe Anthems Podcast.
I'm Patrick and I'm here totell you the story of a song that
(00:21):
helps to tell the story of a nation.
Today we are traveling 7,686kilometers, or 4,786 miles, and I
was kind of hoping we could dothis one on horseback.
It looks like it is actuallyphysically possible, whether or not
geopolitical realities andneeding to feed a horse and a human
(00:41):
over a very long distancewould allow for it.
I got wrapped up in trying tofigure out how long it would take
since an average horse can dolike 25 miles a day if the human
can ride, which to be clear, Ido not know how to do.
I got this from referencenumber five in the show notes.
At that pace, it will takevery close to 192 days for us to
(01:05):
ride to Finland, officiallyknown as the Republic of Finland.
We are in the land of athousand lakes because of a wacky
conspiracy theory that grewout of a Reddit thread.
Now, conspiracy theories arenot a new thing that came with the
Internet, and neither are real conspiracies.
But every once in a while itspawns one kind of novel and less
(01:28):
scary than some of the stuffthat's happening regarding the other
conspiracy theories.
Ready?
Finland doesn't exist and isactually just open water that the
Japanese and the Russiangovernment have a fishing agreement
about and they use it to feedtheir people.
You got a Nokia phone?
No you don't.
That is a fake company.
(01:49):
Been to the capital, Helsinki?
No you have not.
That is just in a bit ofeastern Sweden.
Of course this is nonsense andit actually grew out of a thing that
some guy's parents told himand is a funny idea, but that is
how we got flat earthers, sobe careful.
(02:09):
Either way, dispellingmisinformation around Finland is
a good excuse to tell youabout Mame or our country.
It turns out that I didn'treally know much of anything about
Finland apart from Helsinkibeing the capital.
I also knew that the best ryebread I've ever had originated in
a Finnish kitchen, and I amgenuinely afraid of trying salted
(02:32):
black licorice, which I hearis something somehow popular over
there.
But food preference is liketaste in music.
I don't knock anything thatpeople are eating, even though I
might refrain because I thinka fed human is the best kind.
I also think that Finland isthe land of a thousand lakes because
the land of 188,000 lakesdoesn't really have a ring to it
(02:54):
or any marketability, butwe're going to move quickly on before
you notice I'm not funny andwe'll spend a couple of minutes listening
to an anthem.
Enjoy Ra Sa My firstimpression is that we've got an anthem
(05:09):
here.
Before I knew anything elseabout it, I knew the song fit the
bill.
It's a very western soundinganthem, which here makes sense because
Finland is part of Western Europe.
With the choir and a smallishbrass ensemble playing outside while
a crowd is partly singingalong in the background, it captures
the spirit of the song in some measure.
(05:29):
It's a welcoming sounding tunefrom a country where they'll welcome
you to enjoy a sauna with themif they like you.
I was actually very surprisedat how serious the Finnish people
take their sauna.
Gotta tell you though, a nicerelaxing steam cleanse in a special
little house on the side of alake sounds pretty good.
So let's find out where we'vegotta go to make that happen.
(05:52):
Finland is one of the Nordiccountries and we've already been
to one other when we learnedabout Iceland.
Unlike that nation, Finland isattached to the mainland European
landmass.
Easiest way to find it, Iguess is to go to the northern part
of Russia's eastern border andeverything on it north of St.
(06:16):
Petersburg is Finland, exceptfor the last maybe 160km.
Because Norway sort of wrapsaround the shoreline on the Scandinavian
peninsula.
It means that Finland'swestern border is Russia, to the
south is the Gulf of Finlandwith Estonia on the other side, west
is Sweden and the other sideof the Gulf of Bothnia plus a land
(06:39):
border to the northwest.
We round out the perimeterwith Norway to the north.
All told, Finland is just abit bigger in landmass than the British
Isles and is mostly boreoriole, forest, saunas, lakes with
honest and direct people.
And seriously, why so many lakes?
(07:00):
I wonder aloud.
It sent me on a search thatled me to the new to me term for
this episode.
And we're back to geology herewith post glacial rebound.
In a strange twist ofgeography that is slightly frustrating
given the conspiracy theorythat brought me here, a whole bunch
of modern Finland used toactually be underwater.
(07:21):
The shortest answer to thequestion, excuse me, what is that?
Glaciers are very heavy andthey had a bunch of time during the
ice age to sit on top of theland and push all of it toward the
center of the planet a bit more.
Then when the ice melts andit's gone, the landmass starts to
(07:41):
float back up unevenly, but ata rate that is measurable and In
Europe they measure it with aGPS system called the Bifrost.
Just like the Rainbow bridgeto Asgard from Norse mythology.
In fact, there is so much landmass rise that the Bothnian Sea and
the Bothnian Bay are going toseparate from each other in a little
(08:02):
bit over 2000 years.
Interesting stuff.
But enough of that.
It's time to figure out whereto get into the story.
We have a historicallyinteresting place in Finland.
It's not a country wrapped upin colonialism.
It has not been substantiallyaffected by the ancient Romans but
but it was still dramaticallyaffected by Napoleon's wars.
(08:24):
But it's been pretty quietthere compared to a lot of the rest
of Western Europe.
They have been in wars in themodern world though, such as the
three month long conflict thatresulted in a non communist win for
the so called whites when theydefeated the Reds.
After that they were on tofighting Russia to either take or
prevent the taking of territory.
(08:45):
And then they fought someNazis which I'm always a big fan
of.
The US did, did drag them intothe campaigns in Afghanistan and
Iraq.
But that is way past where weare going to be in history chronologically
speaking.
We just need to get to thecivil war that I mentioned.
Context does matter.
So I mentioned all these otherthings in order to frame how we're
(09:07):
going to talk about thewinding down of the Great Power era.
Because in pre 17th centuryWestern Europe it turns out that
the Swedish Empire was kind ofa big deal and a superpower.
But King Charles VII was youngand sort of new at being a king.
That prompted Russia and someof the allies to instigate an attack
(09:33):
on the Swedish Empire in 1700and it sparked the 21 years of great
Northern War.
Some of the end of thisconflict resulted in the founding
of St.
Petersburg, the end ofSweden's great power status, the
exile of Charles vii androughly the current Russia Finland
(09:54):
border.
It fluctuated in between thereand here.
But we'll get to that.
It also left more than half amillion people dead due mostly to
famine and left the populationof Finland at just 250,000 and also
still ruled by Sweden, albeitwith a shiny new parliamentary democracy.
(10:16):
That left the Hats and theCapps there, the two political parties
struggling for control andcourt loyalists with no influence
at all.
The Capps wanted a peacefulcoexistence with Russia and the Hats
wanted revenge.
In 1741 they got the majorityand gave the revenge thing a shot.
(10:37):
Resulting in the doomed RussoSwedish War, a two year occupation
of Finland and the Russianborder creeping ever westward by
1770, the parliamentarydemocracy thing was not really working
out all that well in Sweden.
And King Gustaf III staged acoup, starting a 1788-90 Russian
(10:58):
war that again went nowhere.
While causing many economicissues, it also resulted in yet another
Russian occupation.
Apart from those rough spots,though, it was relatively common.
Finland.
In the second half of thecentury, the population rebounded
significantly and theintellectual seeds of a separate
(11:19):
Finnish state were planted bythe Russian occupations.
We'll be circling back to thispoint in a little bit to brush up
on how it's Napoleon's faultbecause it's instrumental in moving
the timeline forward.
But first, we're going tostart getting to the point a little
bit earlier on than usual,because Johan Ludwig Runberg was
(11:42):
born on the 5th of February inthe year 1804 of the common Era.
And in a new spin on thingsfor the show, we have a pretty well
detailed record of this guy's life.
Runberg was born to Swedishspeaking parents in Finland, in Jakobstad,
on the Gulf of Bothnia.
(12:03):
He was a sickly boy and hecontracted something called scrofula
as a result of tuberculosis.
And it not only looks like itwas absolutely terrible to have,
but it kept him from learningto walk until he was nearly four
years old.
His family was kind of poor,though, so they sent him to a rich
uncle's house for schoolingfocused on classical Latin and Greek.
(12:25):
By 1822 he was tutoring andfive years later achieved a Master
of Philosophy and began ateaching career at the Helsingford
Lyceum, which is where heremained until 1836.
Then he moved over to Porvo onthe south coast of Finland, with
a professorship at the BorgiGymnasium, which is equivalent to
(12:50):
what Americans would call ahigh school.
He remained there from 1837until his death.
Ruenberg was of course, a poetand writing major works exclusively
in Swedish.
As early as 1832, with the elkHunters, he wrote many poems that
(13:11):
dealt with rural life inFinland, and that body of work led
to him being considered anational poet of the country and
an essential cornerstone ofFinnish culture and prestige in the
poetic world.
He wrote an astonishing 72collections of work.
But our poet was best knownfor the heroic epic the Tale of Ensign
(13:32):
stahl.
Written between 1848 and 1860,it was an episodically composed epic
poem containing tales of theFinnish War and is considered to
be one of the three greatestworks of Finnish literature, alongside
the Kalevala and the Seven Brothers.
I have not read those other two.
(13:54):
You'll hear more about thatwar from me in a little bit.
Right now we are interested inthe very first installment of the
Tales of Ensign Style, becauseit is in fact the poem Mame and the
very reason that the verytalented Finnish poet turned into
a person that I've read aliteral book's worth of information
(14:15):
about.
Johan passed on May 6th in1887 and is buried in a tome that
was made in Finland's firstpublic design contest.
As a widely loved man, thereare many tributes to him in Finland.
Most prominently is RunebergDay, celebrated on his birthday,
and the delicious RunebergTart, a pastry of almonds, jam and
(14:39):
icing that the poet was saidto enjoy as a breakfast on most days.
But before I tell you aboutthe circumstances of the anthem writing,
actually writing the anthem,we need to get to know the composer
a bit and then we'll catch upsome of the timeline.
Frederick Pasius was born inhamburg, Germany on 19 March in 1809
(15:03):
to wealthy wine merchants ofItalian origin.
Here again we have a fairlydetailed look at his life.
And again that is unusual formy show, at least so far because
there are many more to getthrough, so maybe well known people
turn out to be more common.
The young Pasius was initiallyapprenticed to a businessman by his
(15:24):
parents.
I'm assuming they intended forhim to become a wine merchant.
However, his father was also atalented musician and Frederick learned
to play the violin when he wasvery young.
At 15, a friend of the familysaid, hey, you should have him get
apprenticed in music insteadof being a businessman.
So the boy was sent off tostudy violin and composition in Cassel
(15:47):
from 1824 to 1827.
After that he spent about ayear doing concerts.
Then he moved to Stockholm andjoined the Royal Court Orchestra
as a soloist, and he stayedthere from 1828 until 1834.
Then a friend of his backedout of a job offer to be a lecturer
(16:11):
in music at the University of Helsinki.
But he told the school that heknew the perfect person for the role
and recommended his friendPassius, who was fairly immediately
offered the position once theyfigured out who this guy was.
And he was also offered itahead of five or six people that
actually applied for the job.
(16:31):
When he arrived In Helsinki in1837, they had one single 12 piece
orchestra in the city and noreal music scene to speak of.
So our composer founded amusical association, a men's choir
that still exists 186 yearslater and a full sized orchestra.
Frederick Passius isconsidered by many to be the father
(16:53):
of Finnish music, having madedozens of compositions, trained hundreds
of musicians and took part ina music filled life that expanded
his adopted homeland's culture.
In 1852 he composed the veryfirst Finnish opera.
And in 1848, a year that werun into a lot when we're in Europe,
(17:13):
he composed the music for Mame.
We'll discuss more about thatin a little bit.
Passius has been wellremembered in Finland after his death
on 9 January in 1818 91, withmany statues made and many books
written about him.
So Napoleon again and Russiataking Finland from Sweden.
(17:35):
Recall that I said it'sBonaparte's fault that the Finnish
War happened.
We're gonna have a little handwaving here about some of this because
the Napoleonic wars are reallycomplicated and messy and I would
enjoy not getting too mired inthe complicated mess that they are.
So Emperor Alexander the firstof Russia signed the Treaty of Tilsit
(17:56):
that divided Central Europebetween Russia and France at the
expense of the Prussian Empire.
Alexander used this as a sortof Damocles over Gustav's head.
That's the King of Sweden.
Lots of names here this time.
And he demanded that Swedenobey the continental system that
Napoleon established andblockade Britain.
(18:19):
However, Gustave literallythought that Napoleon Bonaparte was
the Antichrist.
So he attacked Denmarkthinking Russia would never invade
in the winter.
And in 1808 it turned out thatRussia can definitely hack it in
the winter.
And they launched a war thatI'll mention basically nothing about
except to say that it resultedin the Grand Duchy of Finland ruled
(18:43):
by the Tsar who was now alsothe Grand Duke of Finland.
The Duchy lasted all the wayuntil 1917 when the Bolshevik Revolution
happened and the communistsgave the territories of the former
Russian Empire the right ofself determination.
When the Finnish parliamenttook power on November 15th of 1917,
(19:06):
they voted to declareindependence on December 6th.
And on December 18th theSoviets officially recognized Finland
as a separate country.
The independence came with aseveral months long Civil War in
1918.
But the non communists wonthat war and the long fostered spirit
of an independent and separateFinland was finally set free.
(19:28):
We're going to take one moretime jump back to the run up to the
tumultuous and significantyear of 1848.
So we can talk about the birthof the anthem and the spark of that
spirit.
The widespread wave ofrevolutions that Swept Europe in
1848 and 1849 was notcontributed to by a revolution fervor
(19:50):
in Finland.
One of the things I say a lotreading history that combines my
historical legwork in mytraining in Calculus is that this
stuff is almost always a localmaximum, whether in place or in time,
or in substance.
That is, there's always abroader context that we have to consider
in the run up to larger events.
(20:11):
So in short, I'll be talkingabout this year again, and I have
before.
In Finland we do not run intoa situation where there was a revolution
in 1848, a violent uprisingstyle or otherwise.
But the springtime of thepeople in Europe was indeed felt
in the country.
The idea of Finland as anindependent entity, as I said, was
(20:34):
germinated during the initialoccupations of Russia.
But in 1848 it crystallizedamong academic circles in the two
year run of the Saima magazine.
That's S a I M A if I'mpronouncing it wrong.
And there was a graduationpoem written for the University of
(20:55):
Helsinki that many people sayis the very beginning of Finnish
nationalism.
And in 1846 the studentsfounded the Academic Reading Society,
which is sort of a protostudent union.
All of this, coupled with thestudent habit of singing, worried
the powers that be.
And one of those powers thatbe at the university was the poet
(21:17):
Runberg.
And he responded to theraucousness of the students at a
May party with the distinctlycounter revolutionary Swedish poem
Vartland, which in English isour land, or in Swedish is Mame.
Music was written for it bythree different people in 1846, including
one composition by the poet,and it was performed at prominent
(21:40):
events at least twice, but itremained as just another song.
Then at Passius's school,after a 12 year ban, the students
were again allowed tocelebrate Flora's Day on May 13th
of 1848 with the intention ofcelebrating counter revolutionary
nationalism.
(22:01):
There was a strong interest inmaking sure that Russia felt like
Finland, was loyal and wouldspare them from harsh measures.
Recall, the country remainedin their hands until 1917, which
is like another 80 years or something.
Runberg's poem was used as thestarting point for the celebration,
and the singing teacher, whowas none other than Mr.
(22:23):
Frederick Passius, wascommissioned to write a tune for
the peace.
Despite the idealized imagethe composition has garnered, the
piece it was really writtenwith a light touch, probably because
he only had two days to do itand get it rehearsed by the choir,
and then another two days toarrange it for and get it practiced
(22:44):
by the horn orchestra.
Plus all of that stuff had tobe hand copied for the musicians
because it's 1848.
I'm not going to say it was arush job, but it was certainly made
to happen.
In fairly short order.
After all, despite being, whatis, because of Frederick's inherent
skill, a good composition.
(23:06):
It was made for a Florida dayexcursion at the university on 13
May in 1848, and it was donein a hurry.
A procession set off from theuniversity to a venue just outside
of the city.
They played Mamey the wholeway to make sure that there was no
revolutionary music playedover it.
(23:26):
I have said national anthemsare a nationalist thing and this
is a pretty plain, if actuallyunintentional example of that happening.
There was a speech, moreperformances of the anthems, and
the kids got too drunk tothink about revolution.
It sounds about right for theend of a few of these things.
The song was first adopted bythe student union, but it spread
(23:50):
through the 1850s and 60sthrough student quarters from Helsinki.
It first made an appearance atan official event in 1856, but it
really became popular in the1870s, which is when it became common
to sing just the first andlast verse.
Among other things, itdramatically changed the tone of
(24:11):
the song.
This is probably notspecifically what got the song on
track to be the anthem, Eventhough in 11 first poem feels real,
real long.
But what I think reallycemented Maame as the de facto anthem
in Finland was the short civilwar that determined a non communist
future.
Because this song became thesong of bourgeois celebration.
(24:35):
And when the so called whiteswon, it vaulted up the anthem status
despite debates, challengesand nearly a century passing.
With all that, I'll say thatwe have the anthem and I will go
on to discuss the song itself.
Musically speaking, we have asong that is accidentally just the
right music for a Finnish anthem.
(24:56):
I say it's just the rightmusic because that's what the country
collectively picked over time.
But actually it's quitedifferent from what you would expect
to be the anthem in a placelike Finland.
The composition is light andalmost a danceable tune, even if
it's a little bit low energy,with a tempo of 60 to 80 beats per
(25:17):
minute and an original key ofB flat major.
Remember that this is a songwritten not just for a student celebration,
but also to keep other morerevolutionarily worded songs off
of people's lips.
Despite its simplicity, orperhaps in part due to it, the originality
(25:40):
of Passius's composition hasbeen disputed.
As early early as 1875, claimswere made that it was mostly just
a variation of a German folktune called the Pope Song.
Modern sources are more clearthough, and they say that the song
was inspired mostly by thePolish Mazurka music, which is kind
(26:00):
of a pre poka folk dance thathappens in three quarter time just
like Mame and was also a verypopular couples dance in Finland
well into the 20th century.
An interesting composition toend up backing an anthem.
Now lyrically, I was initiallyundecided about this thing.
I'm not sure.
(26:20):
I wasn't sure how I was goingto present the lyrics to you folks.
The original compositionclocks in at 11 verses of Swedish
or Finnish iambic pentameterand it's a lot to hand to you talk
about and then say, but reallyall we need are the first and last
verse and then have to talkabout the whole thing again because
the tone is very different.
(26:41):
I know I've done stuff likethis before and I probably will again,
but each of these songs is aunique creature with its own place
in history and the overalllexicon of my show, so each has got
to be considered on its own merits.
So in short, ish, I guess weare not hearing all 11 verses of
the song, so I will justconvey the first and final because
(27:02):
that is how it is sung.
The tone is very different.
As I have said a couple times,Ruenberg's poem was written to repress
the revolutionary spirit ofthe students.
Have I made the right choice?
I have no idea, but it feelscorrect in the moment and maybe there
are no wrong answers in thiskind of decision.
Regardless, here are the lyrics.
(27:23):
And please note that the poemwas originally written in Swedish,
translated into Finnish andthen English, which is what I will
be reading it in.
Also note that in aperformance of the song, the last
four lines of both verses arerepeated twice.
But I'm not going to do that here.
(27:46):
Our land, our land, Ourfatherland Ring out dear word, O
sound no rising hill ormountain grand no sloping dale, no
northern strand There is moreloved to be found than this.
Our Father's ground, Thyblossom hidden now from sight shall
(28:10):
burst its bud Air long lo fromour love shall rise all right.
Thy son, thy hope, thy joy,Thy light and higher Once more full
and strong shall rise OurCountry Song the work starts off
with a triple invocation ofour land to immediately establish
(28:35):
a reverential tone to the fatherland.
I mentioned way back somewhereon this show that there is some interesting
history and etymology withrespect to the choice of motherland
versus Fatherland versus agender neutral term.
My most recent reading on thatcan be found in reference 6 in the
show notes.
In Northern and NordicEuropean countries, fatherland is
(28:59):
generally more common.
Same thing happens in SouthAmerica, but that is not specifically
important here, just interesting.
Maybe because this was writtenin Finland when it was part of Russia
and motherland is more commonin Russia.
But Runberg was a Swedishspeaker that was born in Finland,
(29:21):
so layers and layers.
Runberg goes on to say thatFinland is a land with no equal in
its beauty and nothing is more loved.
At least I'm pretty surethat's what the line means, because
every translation I've foundthat gets this into English, and
there are many of them, isequally awkwardly phrased, so we're
(29:41):
going to chalk that up toslightly archaic Swedish language
idiosyncrasies.
As the verses change, the songturns from a sacred extolling of
nature's virtue to speaking ofa metaphorical national destiny.
Describing some hidden blossomwaiting to bud is symbolic of the
restrained but real potentialin a nation restrained by Swedish
(30:03):
and Russia.
Runberg writes of people'slove for their country being like
the light of the sun andemphasizing the collective effort
of the people.
The poem ends with linessuggesting a future full of patriotic
pride and self determination.
Kind of timeless stuff.
Mommy is an interesting songbecause despite not having been written
(30:26):
as an anthem, it was writtenas a nationalistic song.
So it unintentionally checksoff a lot of boxes that I expect
to see in an anthem.
I don't understand Swedish,but when I look at the poem in that
language, you can still seethe repetition in structure and and
the use of alliteration.
Runberg uses these devices tounderscore the interconnectedness
(30:46):
of land and ancestry thatcombines with the imagery to provide
a tangible sense of place.
Very useful for a song thatbecomes tied to the Nation.
Since it's 1846 when he'swriting a local maximum in patriotic
fervor in place and time.
The inclusion of Romantic erastyle writing about the country is
(31:08):
not a surprise, but it helpsto explain why it's had such staying
power for the Finnish people.
Although it's pepperedthroughout the entire 11 verses of
the original, we really onlysee one metaphor here in these two.
But comparing the country to aflower emphasizes growth and it's
a very anthem appropriate topic.
(31:30):
Finally, this anthem fostersan emotional connection between Finland
and and the people by imbuingthe nation with human qualities such
as blossoming, shining andbeing loved.
A text that intertwinespatriotism and national appreciation
while viewing the homeland asa sacred and beloved entity makes
Mame make some sense as thesong that came to be the nation's
(31:53):
anthem.
If we were to listen to theentire poem as originally written
though.
Ah, the tone's super different.
You should give it a read, butclearly I don't think you need to
for the story to make sense asI read it to you.
The piece opens by setting atone of devotion and pride, and it
(32:14):
ends by looking forward with adetermined hope.
The song frames Finland as aland to be cherished and containing
a heritage for its people tolove for generations.
And we got a good story thathas shown me that sometimes there
is in fact a whole lot of information.
The journey continues and andI suppose we can go on to the credits.
(32:35):
The writing, recording andproduction for the show are done
by me and I wrote and playedthe theme music.
The music was used with my permission.
Unless otherwise noted, theanthems I play are public domain.
Some equivalently free thingor a thing I got permission to play
or made a good faith effort toget permission to play.
This time I have reached outto the person that posted the audio
(32:59):
I'm using despite it beingCreative Commons license, and I have
not yet heard anything back asof this recording.
My sources are contained inthe show notes and the most direct
way to get to those show notesis@anthemspodcast.com the show is
also can credentialed, whichmeans you can report incidences of
(33:20):
harassment, abuse or otherharm on their hotline at 617-249-4255
or on the website at Creator Accountability.
You can also go there andvolunteer your time or join up as
a creator.
I can be found on Facebook andWhatsApp as the anthems podcast and
(33:40):
also I am now on Reddit as theAnthems podcast.
Although I'm mostly just thereto get information for the show.
I don't post stuff, but youmight see my name pop up.
So potentially hi, I havebasically no advertising budget,
so I try to get the episodesonto whatever platform I can with
(34:01):
the hashtag anthemspod.
Think Instagram, Mastodon,Blue Sky, Twitter or whatever.
I'm not on any of those platforms.
It would be cool if youhashtag the post of some kind like
that, and perhaps it helpsdispel the ridiculous notion that
Finland does not exist.
As always, you can email mecorrections, comments, concerns,
(34:23):
suggestions, ideas,instructables or actual instructions
on how to do stuff.
Even ask mequestions@anthemspodmail.com perhaps
you want me to hear exactlyhow mad or pleased you are with me.
If so, call me or text at2/1203-7598375 or better still, leave
(34:50):
me a review wherever you canso more people can hear me or give
me a rating on your podcast.
Same reason it helps.
Maybe you're going on a mediumlength cruise next week and you get
invited up to have dinner withthe captain and he thinks this episode
is interesting enough to playfor the entire ship.
But even if the only thingthat happens is that you listen again
(35:12):
next month, that's very cool.
And you're still cool fordoing that later.
Sa.
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