Klima Kalima - Finn Noir (2013)

These songs are dedicated to the Finnish film noir. Films by Matti Kassila, Aki Kaurismäki and Mikko Niskanen have served as an inspiration for the music. This album is not a sound track but rather a reminisce of a certain feeling that each film has left in my mind.
As a child I was fascinated by the inspector Palmu films. The flair of 1960s Helsinki combined with the great characters and a lot of humor and excitement. The stories where written by the great Mika Waltari, who perhaps is the internationally best known Finnish author through his bestseller "Sinuhe, the Egyptian". A few years later I saw Aki Kaurismäki´s work Calamari Union. This film is an incredible odysseia of 12 Franks, who are crossing Helsinki but dying one after another trying to do it. Also made in the romantic 1980s, Kaurismäkis film "Ariel" is incredibly sad and funny at the same time dealing with hard Finnish facts of life. Mikko Niskanen´s "Eight Deadly Bullets" was an early 1970s TV film based on a true story about a poor farmer in the Finnish countryside, who gets in trouble with the police and ends up shooting four policemen. To me this film is a finno-ugrian variation of a wild west story.
"Things will turn out right" was sung by the great Topi Sorsakoski with the Finnish titel "Kunhan palaan takaisin". This song was heard in the Kaurismäki film "Man without past". Topi Sorsakoski had an intensive life and he died a way too soon. To me, he was the last great Finnish Iskelmä-Singer in the line starting from Olavi Virta, the master of the Finnish Tango. "The song "Cafe Brutale" is inspired by a composition of Olavi Virta called "Sä et kyyneltä nää". "Cafe Brutale" is a Finnish term for coffee without Cognac. I think Finnish Iskelmä-music and alcohol are as close as dog and its fleas.
"Maister i Margarita" is referring not only to the fantastic book by M. Bulgakow but also to Soviet Union- style tour management experienced by Klima Kalima in the beautiful home town of Lev Tolstoi, Tula (Russian Federation). I think Finnish and Russian culture have a lot in common at least when it comes to using only minor keys in popular music. I could imagine Tarkovsky being an inspiration also for these Finnish film makers. Aki Kaurismäki certainly must have been inspired by Russian ways of decorating a restaurant. His film "La Vie de Boheme" is a sad story about how difficult it is to be an artist, something that every jazz musician can sing a song about. In the Suite "La Vie de Boheme" we imagined a trip through St. Petersburg ending up in Leningrad. These films show a culture that is unique, a warm side of dark Nordic reality. We were inspired by these pictures in all of their beauty and roughness.
The band Klima Kalima has been working together over 10 years in this formation and we have been working hard to find our own voice. The explosive Oliver Steidle on the drums and the strong Oliver Potratz on the bass are among the most sought-after colleagues in Berlin. This town was also the reason how this Fenno-German group came together in the first place. There is a certain roughness in Berlin that goes along with the dark Finnish pictures.

Tracklist:

1. La vie de Bohme I, Saturday Night in St. Petersburg
2. La vie de Bohme II, Sunday Morning in Leningrad
3. Ariel
4. Things Will Turn Out Right
5. Maister i Margarita
6. It Is Gas, Inspector Palmu
7. Cafe Brutale
8. Stars Will Tell, Inspector Palmu
9. Calamari Union
10. Eight Deadly Shots

Personnel:

Kalle Kalima - guitar;
Oliver Potratz - bass;
Oliver Steidle - drums.