The Shouting Men of Finland:

Creating a new art:

Take a group of men from the northern Finnish town of Oulu population 100,000 dresses them in dark suits with black ties made from the inner tubes of car tyres. “Mieskuoro Huutajat”, which literally means “Shouting Men Choir”, comprises a group of 30 men led by conductor “Petri Sirtio”, whose unique performance involves shouting out the words of a song in chorus instead of singing them. Long cardboards tubes are the only equipment used to provide special vocal effects.















“The Shouting Men of Finland” as the choir is popularly called, was founded in 1987 and has a large repertoire comprising not only Finnish patriotic songs but also foreign compositions like “The Star Spangled Banner” and the national anthems of various countries.




From the beginning, this new concept was recognized as a major breakthrough and an art form in its own right. Traditional singing choirs have given this choir their outer appearance and a basis for their expression. But this is as far as the analogy goes. When the choir find a song that pleases their temperament and warped sense of humour, the conductor starts dismantling it: the melody goes first and usually the text is also heavily trimmed. The remains are then cast into a completely new form; the complex rhytmic structure emphasises the essence of the text, or simply reflects the voices inside the human brain provoked by the language itself, music, urban or rural noise, or the blood circulation system.




The Bottom Line:

That is what I call as passion. Their unique musical performance, which is now recognized as a distinct art form, has captivated audiences across the globe. “Whatever we create it should be unique and should be admired by the world.”