Anti-climax

HH567637
Originally uploaded by arianne.smidt

Last week was supposed to be Geert Wilders' boost to worldwide fame. The Dutch right-wing populist politician had been drumming up fear and anxiety for months by keeping the release date of his film Fitna secret. Fitna is a calculated attack on Islam and Qur'an. Foreign journalists - including a friend of mine from Finland - travelled to Amsterdam to interview muslims and to witness the likeable violence.

On Wednesday afternoon I got a call from my journalist friend. She was hunting for images of the multicultural clash in Slotervaart, one of Amsterdam's problem neighhbourhoods as characterised by the government. My friend told me on the phone that what they met were Dutch muslims fed up and tired to talk about the issue.

Wilders did not shot himself to grandiose lecturer fees and to international talk shows. His film was pulled off from all websites, he was blamed for using people's work without permission and - most importantly - people sort of consciously ignored his attack on islam after a day. The most common remark I heard was not irritation and anger, it was:"You know, I started watching it and it was really really boring and badly done. I just fastforwarded through it."

Ignoring was not only a Dutch reaction. Altogether it seems that Mr Wilders' attack was miscalculated and ineffective. I may still be proven wrong but as things are now, there is reason for joy. One should not underestimate one's audience, Mr Wilders: we just won't take any sort of crap.

Today on my way to work I glanced through Metro (flat tire, that's why the tram). Mediamatic - the brilliant Dutch new media and culture organisation - did it again: superb reaction to Wilders' film: www.fitna.nu

Problem With Youth

View to Kamppi, shopping center in Helsinki Finland
Originally uploaded by reiskas

I remember when I was a teenager and we took the bus to Helsinki, we did not hang out in the cute little designer shops - we went to the shopping mall Forum and to the department store Stockmann. At that time I thought Helsinki consisted of the triangle Railway Station - Stockmann - Bus Station. And to be very honest, I was quite content.

Two years ago a gigantic mall called Kamppi was opened in the centre of Helsinki and today - as it would be a grand surprise - the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper writes about the way the teenagers have claimed it their space. They write about how these 13-17-year-olds hang out there every day. According to the article, teenagers come even from the neighbouring towns and municipalities to hang out.

The interviews with the adults really got me annoyed. You found shop owners and real estate maintenance people complaining that these teenagers are using this semipublic space. In the comments on the website under the article someone expressed their concern for the fact that teenagers hang out in a commercial space.However, in the pictures you saw not hoodlums but happy young people. The article described how the teenagers hug and high-five each other and how there seems to be a truly communal feeling.

These views by the adults are concerns that I hear in my work producing StrangerFestival often: public officials are extremely concerned that young people "don't realise" that there are so many services and places provided for them. That they just go and make their own things - a way of working boosted by the Internet.

I find myself often thinking that maybe the problem is that they actually do realise what is on offer but they do prefer spaces where no one tells them what they should be doing. Let's face it, It is guite human actually: none of us really enjoy being pushed around.

Most youth cultures have some sort of rebellion and DIY (Do It Yourself) mentality written into them. This seems very difficult for the well-meaning adults to handle who would rather wish to monitor and control the teenagers. The Kamppi shopping mall case reminds me of the fuss around the Main Post Office and Museum of Contemporary Art KIASMA when a lot of babyboomers and pensioners expressed their great concerns that young skateboarders were using the squares around these buildings for their own use and "even skateboarding around the statue of our national hero Mannerheim". My head is about to explode in discussions like this: the same people who brand teenagers are passive and disinterested, are actually dissing every phenomena where young people are entrepeneurial, visible and creative.

The Artist Was There When Life Happened

samilukkarinen
Originally uploaded by amsterboy

"I don't want to present things like for instance Andy Warhol did by bringing Campbell's soup cans into an art environment. That is just changing the context. A regular thing does not turn interesting only by presenting it in an art gallery. (..) I don't want to make art that talks about art or raises discussion on art itself. (...) Sometimes people who demand more money, education and attention for art sound like those Formula 1 loonies who demand a Formula 1 track to every village."

These quotes from an interview with Finnish artist Jani Leinonen in VELI magazine were very much in line with my feelings today as I walked through the exhibitions of the Museum of Contemporary Art KIASMA in Helsinki. I found myself being extremely moved by Nan Goldin's photography and one painting by Sami Lukkarinen (see pic). Let me try and explain why.

Goldin is a renowned American photographer who has made a career from documenting her own life and those usually considered to be on the downside: transsexuals, prostitutes, sexual minorities, victims of domestic violence, junkies and HIV positive people. Lukkarinen is a young Finnish star of the art world whose painting is part of a series where he worked with photos people used in their personal ads online.

Goldin's photos show people not at their best: with a bruised eye, sweaty and shiny forehead, bad hair day, in dirty underwear on a mattress that has turned brownish yellow surrounded by wallpaper that has lost its original colour ages ago. She shows people who look straight into the camera usually with a demanding look in their eyes, very seldom smiling. Goldin does not ask for pity for these people which a fresh and welcome take. She shows sex and life as they happen not in Hollywood but in cheap motels and run-down apartments. Her work shows human beings in full flesh, a bit scruffy but very present.

Lukkarinen's work then again shows people in the ways they see themselves at their best - often unconsciously reproducing common pornography and advertising imagery. They are not models but they push themselves out there, making themselves available for arousal and evaluation.

I found myself understanding and even supporting Leinonen's remark. I want art that makes me feel like something and says something about things that truly matter and which produces not just a new setting but a new meaning and an alternative way of looking. Goldin makes me face the side of our society not celebrated normally in the media and she shook a bit of my world. Both artists call for attention for life in its full which is what art should be doing.

Say My Name

IMG_2135 - Version 2_marked.jpg
Originally uploaded by mamamess

Sometimes a meeting can really make your day. In the middle of Excel sheets and overwhelming emailing, it is so empowering to meet people who really make change happen. My meeting today with Nirit Peled boosted the rest of the day.

Peled is an Israeli-born documentary maker who has for the last years focused on women in hip hop. She is currently working on Say My Name, a full-length documentary on female MCs and the women they inspire. She showed me the trailer and I found myself warming up from the inside. The strength of these women who are in the public eye characterised as rowdy and loud, was unbelievable. And the most amazing fact was that stars like Erykah Badu were completely shadowed by the normal women from the streets of Atlanta, New York and London. These girls kick ass.

I loved it, loved it, loved it. The trailer led us into a lengthy discussion on why these girls are so seldom heard and so often talked about. Through the interview we saw not rowdy but smart and frank women comfortable with their sexuality and opinions.

Nirit Peled works also with companies like Nike and MTV. It was brilliant to hear her insight on how these partnerships work. I am getting more and more convinced that often we in the non-profit sector could learn from commercial actors who seem to know how to tap into people's aspirations, how to talk to people directly and how to get them make and give their best. For instance a lot of these women take a lot of distance to classic feminism whereas a lot of women's organisations would see many of these openly sexual girls as victims of a chauvinist culture. Without dissing the protection agenda of the feminist movement, I would still claim that we should be using the modern means we have to make sure that as many of us as possible have the chance for a voice.

I really don't have problems with Nike, MTV and Dove making money by empowering women, I really don't. It is not like public funders would not have an agenda - sometimes it feels like the commercial funders are just much more honest with theirs.

Self Esteem Is What We Should Focusing On

As I was cycling to the gym today, my iPod (on shuffle) started playing this song from the Swedish glam band The Ark. I found myself listening to the lyrics in detail for the first time and realised that the message of this song is just briliant.

Last week I had a discussion at work on what does all this video making do to these teenagers. If they would feel like singer Ola Salo in this song, we would have reached a lot. The attitude he is propagating is wonderful: focusing on the essential for you, not on what others might find giving you stature.

Boys Will Be Boys

Tarja Halonen
Originally uploaded by Explo

Yesterday I stumbled into the YouTube channel of the European Union where one of the latest entries was a video from an EU-hosted conference for leading women. Next to Condoleezza Rice and Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner stood the Finnish President Tarja Halonen.

Halonen's election has had a positive impact on women in leading position in Finnish politics. I would claim to see a link between having a woman as a president since 2000 and finally in 2007 having a Cabinet where the majority of members are women. This makes me proud.

However, it would be still premature to claim that Finland has reached equality. We still need a lot of work when it comes to attitudes. I remember from my student politician years a number of situations where I felt that I got special attention and was taken more seriously because I was a man. I remember a stakeholder meeting/dinner which included sauna. As all the decisionmakers from the stakeholder were middle-aged men, all the women in our Board and Secretariat were instantly excluded from the intimate in-depth discussions which continued in the warmth of the sauna. That experience made me turn against mixing work and sauna (equals breaking a tradition in Finland). Real boys don't need old boys' clubs.

Recently an employee survey in the Finnish Parliament showed widespread sexual harrassment and dirty talk by the older male MPs towards the young female staff. This week's big scandal in Finland has been Minister for Foreing Affairs Kanerva's SMS escapade with an erotic dancer half his age. Finally yesterday Kanerva apologised publically and said that he showed lack of judgement.

I was highly pleased - and must confess, surprised - to hear that the youngish leader of Kanerva's party Kokoomus (National Coalition) condemned Kanerva's "sense of humour" so strongly. Minister of Finance Jyrki Katainen belongs to the generation that understands the harm of this kind of actions to his party's image. The last year's have made Kokoomus the party of educated nurses, teachers and young liberals and this kind of action by Kanerva drives easily a lot of these people to the Greens.

Polished Like Gold

Call me a sentimental fool but this clip makes me smile and warms me up from the inside.

Our Shared Value

Where The Streets Are Paved With Gold
Originally uploaded by Darren Purcell

I realised again in the end of last week how much fun it is to spend 3 days with people who are passionate about what they do and what they believe in. Official sessions and plenaries in conferences like Network Effect are all nice but the most invigorating moments happen over lunch, dinner or in the bar table.

The Network Effect in Budapest gathered some 60 opinion makers from all across Europe with a strong Eastern European presence. It seemed to come as a surprise for some of the Western European participants that the East-West division was so present. This was most obvious in the discussion on the role of the nation and on ethnic diversity. This experience made me again wonder whose Europe are we talking about when we talk about common history and shared values.

When Western Europeans (myself included) were questioning the nation state, the Kosovar representatives were presenting their pictures from the independence celebrations some weeks back. When we (Brits, French, Dutch and some Nordics) got tangled into the Islam discussion, many of the participants could not really link it to their realities. And as we complained about the lack of energy in NGOs, the Russian and Ukrainian colleagues shared stories of personal excitement, engagement and risk-taking for things you believe in. It also felt that many people from the great old European powers tend to forget that for some of us independence is
1. rather recent
2. been contested rather recently

I sometimes wonder whether we could get further by recognising the differences out in the open rather than by pretending that we are all the same. I don't mean united in diversity, I mean saying things how they are, attempting to be precise and allowing confrontation. And above it all, asking questions rather than assuming. I caught myself assuming that a lot of people shared my Nordic ideals of parenthood only, to my surprise, finding myself defending equal parenthood alone in a group of five. And in the same way many people made great generalisations on the Nordic countries without recognising for instance the violent history of Finland.

I become more and more confident after experiences like this that the most powerful way to peace on the European level is to keep identity on hold and focus on areas such as common market, consumer protection, freedom of movement and environmental policy. Europe has to make sense, there are quite a few things already making us passionately believing in us and them.

p.s. Talking about image and reality: Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Ilkka Kanerva admitted today that he has sent over 200 flirtatious text messages to a woman half his age described in the Finnish media as an erotic dancer. It is not the first time he has been caught from this sort of behaviour. Before he was appointed as minister, he was caught promising position to young women in the Sports Word Championships. Then he promised to his parliamentary group to stop this sort of behaviour. This in the country which takes so much pride as a beacon of gender equality.

Dedication

There have been very few TV programmes that I remember capturing me in the same manner as BBC Two's Choir: Boys Don't Sing. The programme is a typical public broadcasting take on reality television: youth meets empowerment. The programme idea is fairly simple: Choirmaster Gareth Malone goes to an all boys' school with the goal of making sports boys love singing.

I work with young people and we often struggle with the issue of sustainability. Malone's dedication is something I see also in my work: people working on a local scale on a long-term basis making change happen. Due to its superlocal take, Malone's experiment can be duplicated: he shows how change in young people starts from believing in them, taking them seriously and getting personally and emotionally involved.

Every time I have seen the show it has made me cry. The way singing helps these boys in believing in themselves is what culture really is about. It gives recognition and blows your mind. And most importantly, Malone guaranteed that once he left the school with the camera crew, the school board had guaranteed a choirmaster for the future as well.

This is what I call public broadcasting.

Class Dismissed

luokkaretkellä
Originally uploaded by amsterboy

Today over lunch at work we had a heated discussion on diversity. It was pointed out that very often people make assumptions on your background purely based on your nationality or looks and it seems to be widely shared notion that we all have a middle class background. Also I have heard several times the comment:"Oh you would not understand, you come from Finland." This usually refers to me not understanding hardships or conflicts or social struggle. These are often people who have never been to Finland and who easily mix Finland with for instance Sweden which has not had a war in centuries. A colleague of mine mentioned wisely today:"I mean we spend eight hours together every day and you know nothing about my family but you make a lot of assumptions."

Last weekend I read with great pleasure my friend Laura Kolbe's book on social classes in Finland. The goal of Professor of European History Kolbe and Cultural Anthropologist Katriina Järvinen was to break the silence on socio-economic backgrounds in Finland and shed light on the fact that we all do not belong to the middle class and that social mobility works both ways. The book is based on interviews and addresses issues of shame, humiliation and joy in a fresh and rare manner. Kolbe and Järvinen encourage us all to talk openly about class.

They pick on a highly important issue. Finland is not a flat society where everyone has the same chances. Although the social mobility in general has been rapidly upwards over the last few decades, only between 2003-2007 more than 100.000 new people were classified as poor in Finland. Finland had last year 650.000 people earning less than 750 euros per month (from a population of 5 million). Accidentally, in the project that I run, the researchers of Demos were last week in Finland interviewing young people and it was heartwarming to hear from them that the Finnish teenagers are concerned about the growing difference between the haves and the have nots.

To join Kolbe's and Järvinen's movement, I could say that I have belonged to the middle class all my life, maybe even upper middle class. My parents are part of the generation that experienced the fast urbanisation of Finland and who still believe passionately on the empowering role of education. We were never swimming in money but we never lacked a single thing. The economic recession of Finland in the 90s did not influence me in the same way as it did my friends from Eastern or Northern Finland. I remember one of my best friends telling how she saw it all through her mother working as a social worker and her father running his own company.

I am part of the generation Kolbe describes as the generation from the suburbs with detachment to the nation state and not a strong sense of community to the physical surroundings. Me and my friends belong to subscenes in Finland which can also be found from other European countries. My relationship with the countryside could well be described as awkward.

But I am conscious of my background. My mother comes from a big family which experienced the high price Finland paid after the Second World War. My grandmother had to abandon her home within a few hours and they were settled to a new part of Finland. On my father's side our family brings together Swedish-speaking bourgeois and Finnish-speaking working class. My uncle was a worker's son who was exceptionally allowed to play on the tennis court of the better people. Even our last name is part of the story of a birth of a nation: Lindstedt was changed into Laitio as part of the patriotic dream of an independent Finland.

I am grateful for the opportunities Finland has given me but I don't think it is all of my own doing. In my work I see constantly that we do not start from an even playing field. Class still matters in the same way as gender or ethnicity. Only for raising your own class consciousness, I recommend reading the book.

Top of the class

Working with video and youth, you get to see a lot of good stuff. But there are very few videos that would beat Francis Luke Wasser from Dublin and his video 24/7. Have a look. This makes me think of a basic premise of the Demos research we have commissioned around StrangerFestival: these are not expressions of who they are but these cultural expressions are tools for becoming who they will be.

Urgency, no urgency

Do Not Fall Off The Cliff Here
Originally uploaded by norwichrocks

This afternoon the Dutch organisation for international cultural policy SICA organised a session on Finnish and Dutch creative industries policy. As a true Finn, I made my way to Felix Meritis to listen - as was stated in the programme - what the Netherlands could learn from Finland. I however came up with a list for both:

Dutch from the Finns

1. Sometimes you really have to make choices.
2. Government policy helps in mobilising and stimulating people but does not deliver results by itself. And seeing results takes time.
3. Interest to creativity starts already from the way you teach arts in primary school.
4. Sense of urgency helps in making choices. Finland has several times been forced to choose rather than the Netherlands with decades of prosperity.
5. Design needs demystifying. Design is also about handy, practical and quality.
6. Patience.

Finns from the Dutch

1. It is not all about results, sometimes process and discussion matters as well. Hearing people out often helps in building commitment.
2. It is OK to be proud of your achievements.
3. How you present things does matter.
4. Diversity means often slowing down and more strive for concensus.
5. Sometimes investing in quality beats a good bargain.

New Folk Culture

StrangerFestival is proceeding. First videos are coming in and the workshops are currently going on in Slovakia and Finland. Romania has already finished their first two workshops, so has AT5 in Amsterdam. And the quality of the videos is brilliant which makes me extremely happy. This video is a good example of a clear message. Although it has been fascinating to show this in different settings and realise that people read different things to it. What do you think the maker is saying?

More videos available at www.strangerfestival.com.

More of this analysis will be done in the research we have commissioned the British think tank Demos to do. They are openly developing their project online which I think is a great way of keeing the ball rolling.

Jumping up together

Yesterday evening I had a long chat on what counts in the end, i.e. what is the foundation for happiness. We talked about what real friendship means and how moving to a new country makes you push yourself often to an oversocial mode even to gain 20 % of the social circle you had back home. We talked also about work. Career surely is important but if we actually take some time to think things properly, it is easily outruled by family, love and friends. Relying purely on career is an empty but common road to follow.

As I was thinking of subjects for this post, I went through the historical independence of Kosovo and the irritatingly evangelical empty rhetorics of Barack Obama. But it is difficult to say anything new on either of those subjects. The EU's recognition of the independence declaration made me smile whereas Obama's "momentum" makes me afraid of a post-electoral hangover. I must say - even sounding too much like a friend of the system - that I like Clinton's notion of being in the solutions business. But also her star is not shining as brightly in my eyes as some weeks back - Ms Clinton, dirty tricks may work on the short term but they are lethal for the system in the long run. Offering something yourself is better than bashing the other.

But back to the things that constitute happiness. I mean of course post-Bush and peace in Europe works also for my benefit but you get the point. A colleague of mine played this song of the Dutch singer Alain Clark to me at work last week on a sunny day. Even if it irritated me in the beginning due to its simpleness in melody and text, it truly makes me smile and makes me appreciate once more the fact that I have an amazing family and a group of true friends - although often too far away. It also made me think of a discussion I had with my awesome brother during the Christmas break. The foundation of happiness is fairly simple: when you have a firm basis and a 100% guaranteed safety net, it is easier to jump higher.

Smarter Than You Think

Juno
Originally uploaded by Le Marais

Through my work I often end up in situations where I am being asked questions starting:
"Why is it that young people are not interested in..."
"Are young people..."
"My children told me that young people today..."

Usually I get slightly annoyed and attempt to show the foolishness of the approach with phrases like "well, the middle-aged mostly like". It often feels that reactions to youth have the following options: fear, scaremongering, overoptimism, condescension and ignorance. I hope StrangerFestival can broaden a few minds in that respect (website live, www.strangerfestival.com!)

Now, after tonight, I have a better answer to the fools: go and see Juno. The film starring the exceptionally talented Ellen Page (picture) as a 16-year-old who finds herself pregnant shows what keeps youth workers, teachers and youth journalists going: the wit, intelligence, empathy and enthusiasm of teens. Juno also reminds you how we adults are so often so shitscared for saying things as they are and feeling things like it feels natural.The film's dialogue is out of this planet: it is extremely clever, challenging and honest - just like the best discussions I have had in my work with people between 16-20 years of age. As an example, Juno's friend's reaction to the news about her being pregnant:"What? Honest to blog? Are you sure it's not a food baby? Did you eat a big lunch?"

And most of all, the film is superromantic. I mean seriously. Who would not like to be described by their spouse:"He is the cheese to my macaroni."

It is America, baby

I have had a day of YouTube. I remembered that a while ago I heard in a podcast Robert Redford describing taking part in the Kennedy Center Honor Ceremonies so I decided to check what we are talking about. I was hooked. It is a series of events celebrating great entertainers and sources of inspiration by other world-class starts performing their material. This is one of my favourites, honouring Beach Boys' Brian Wilson by a British boy choir Libera. I also highly recommend the parts like Oprah and Beyonce celebrating about Tina Turner or a parade of performances celebrating Diana Ross and Dolly Parton. Only Americans know how to do this right.

Restart

death of a star
Originally uploaded by shioshvili

It is Saturday afternoon, around three or so. The sky is clear and the sun is shining. I sit in my living room watching it. I have not managed to get myself out of the house by now. The reason for this is clear: five-day working week. Please do not take this as whining, it is purely a description of the state of affairs.

From January onwards I have switched to working a full week instead of Mon-Thu. Also the amount of work and my responsibilities have grown significantly from last year. Previously I used my Friday for this: wasting the day and recharging batteries. Now I find myself more and more often doing that on Saturday - very often I leave the house only late afternoon and do not build big plans for the weekend days. I am starting to understand how most people feel when they close the office door on Friday afternoon.

Over the last weeks I have forced myself to the gym at least three times a week. I feel that it has been the key for making it through some difficult situations and coping with the growing stress level.

I feel lucky now because our house is empty. My flatmates are doing their things which lets me sit here in peace. Doing a social job, managing a team takes its toll: I noticed yesterday after work that the thing I wanted the most was just to be left in peace for a while. I got myself to the gym and the yoga class was starting. Consciously I decided to go for headphones and complete isolation of 1,5 hours.

On Idols

Yesterday evening in the dinner table we had a discussion on politics and I asked me friend and colleague who she would say is her political idol. She could not come up with one but promised to come back to me on the issue. I mentioned Madeleine Albright in that interview as a determined woman playing the game with equal rules and not afraid to show strength. This interview shows why I like her so much.

Getting the job done

Senator Hillary Clinton
Originally uploaded by Laphoto1

If the US election would classify as an illegal drug, I would be by now either jailed or in rehab. I just cannot get enough, I just cannot. I am not that much into the mud-slinging but I am really driven by the in-depth journalistic analysis on the weaknesses and strengths of the candidates. Just yesterday I listened to NBC's Meet the Press at the gym (highly recommendable podcast) which reminded me again that the United States is the superpower of journalism.

I cannot vote but I feel still somewhat puzzled. Already at an early stage I found myseld inclined to support Hillary Clinton instead of Barack Obama. This choice is constantly tested, lately by the following factors:

1. Bill: The ruthless and ugly campaigning of the former president really disgusts me. Clinton reacted like a 6-year-old boy to Obama's comment in Nevada that Clinton was not reforming, modernising president. Clinton has been fiercely profiling Obama as a black candidate like Jesse Jackson. As Maureen Dowd pointed out in Meet The Press, this is an ugly strategy to drive the Latinos and whites on Hillary Clinton's side but it has a negative effect on the image of politics as a whole.

The other criticism on the Bill factor is a feminist one. Somehow his big role somewhat seems like Hillary Clinton's campaign would think that she cannot handle it on her own.

2. Obama's supporters: Most of the people I value in US politics and also most of the cool celebrities support Obama. He has most of the people who are cool (Scarlett Johansson, Oprah, will i.am., George Clooney), maybe with the exception of the fab America Ferrara. Obama is much more popular among young voters and he is endorsed by the leading Kennedys.

Still, I stick to Hillary Clinton. If Obama wins the Democratic nomination, I think he will become a wonderful president. But I trust Clinton more in getting the job done. The US is a mess after the Bush era and Clinton has an impressive track record. Madeleine Albright, one of my political idols, supports her. When Obama's talks in abstract soundbytes, Clinton focuses on what can be done.

I also dislike Obama's branding as the most Kennedy-like candidate: I don't see the same passion and emotional, personal involvement, I see a preacher. And every leader should create their own style, rather than warming up an old one. We all know that a dish is not as good on the next day when heated in a microwave.

And yes, the tears moved me too. Most people, even Obama supporters, state that Hillary Clinton face-to-face is an incredibly compassionate and warm person. And it is about time that the world is led by a woman.

All you need is love

A lesbian wedding. In my garden.
Originally uploaded by Athanassia

When you struggle days with Excel and Windows Vista, write emails about prospects of collaboration and seek synergies between action lines, it is sometimes easy to get tangled into the whole mess and forget what actually counts in the end: love. As corny as it sounds, this was my realisation this evening. My friend Jim Lucassen had directed Gluck's dramatic opera Orfeo ed Euridice into a church in Utrecht so I headed there after work with my flatmate. And what a delight it was.

During Christmas holidays I read the latest public diary of Professor emeritus Matti Klinge, one of the true living intellectuals in Finland. In his diaries - which I do admire for their clarity of thought - he wrote several times how appalled he was when the Finnish National Opera had modernised classics such as Jevgeni Onegin. Mr Klinge would not have liked today's performance where the ancient myths were blended with references to sexual minorities and the Church. Today's adaptation of Orfeo ed Euridice was somehow closer to one of my favourite plays, Kushner's Angels in America, which tackles the Reagan years of the US. And here I need to disagree with the honourable professor.

Orfeo ed Euridice story goes something like this: Euridice dies in the beginning, Orfeo, her lover, is given a chance by Cupid to retrieve Euridice from Hades if he promises not to look at her before they get back. In Hades the Furies try to stop him. When they finally meet after all this hassle, Euridice flips, loses it, as she thinks Orfeo does not love her anymore as he does not look at her. And ta-dah, Orfeo turns, Euridice dies. In desperation Orfeo wants to kill himself but Cupid stops him and everyone lives happy together.

Well, in today's adaptation Cupid was Virgin Mary, Furies were monks or something like that and Euridice and Orfeo were both women. So there's your Kushner reference. Gays and religion in the same cocktail.

I loved the opera. It was dramatic with Euridice beating Orfeo with the wedding buoquet and all that. It ended happily with the choir singing L' Amour triumphe. Glorious, glorious.

The best part of the production - even with the cleverness of the adaptation - was however the choir. I concentrated on their faces and the excitement of the amateur opera singers was evident. The audience was diverse as I assume it consisted strongly from family members and friends. Coffee and drinks were sold by volunteers. The atmosphere was far from snobby - it was warm and excited.

I think the director had done a good deed by also thinking of the audience when building up the modernised references. The story was easy to follow and the performance had drama and entertainment without jeopardising the artistic value. Wunderbar.