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1. When did you first sing in public, and how has it continued to this day?
I don’t remember—I’ve always sung. As a child, I sang in all school plays, celebrations, and was an alto and one of the soloists in the choir. Perhaps the strongest memory is from a solo performance when I was about 10 years old, singing at a conference in Eskilstuna in front of 2,000 people.
In my early twenties, I participated in both the Seinäjoki Tango Festival and the Ikaalinen Schlager Singing Competition, and I was a finalist in both in 1997. After that, performing gigs was my main livelihood here in Sweden for a few years, but then it took a backseat for a decade. During that time, I regularly recorded new Finland-Swedish music for use on the Swedish Radio’s Finnish-language channel.
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2. When did you move to Sweden and how does life there compare to Finland?
I was born and have lived my entire life here in Sweden. I had the opportunity to attend a Finnish-language primary school, and my hobbies and friends came from local Finnish associations. My heart’s roots run deep in the soil of Central Finland, as I spent every summer of my childhood at our cottage in Kinnula. The magic of those carefree childhood summers is a bit hard to weigh against the everyday life, work, and responsibilities here. Finland is my holiday home, and Sweden is my workplace.
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