History

The posthorn has, from late Medieval times, marked a time of joyful curiosity in small, remote towns. The post carriage brought with it sometimes a letter, sometimes a stranger from faraway and the postman brought news from leagues away.

The Finnish brass-septet is unique as a brassband; it is not used anywhere else. During the reign of Emperor Alexander the third, himself a wind-instrument enthusiast, military marching bands were formed almost solely from brass instruments and in Finland, the Conductor of the Guard, A. Leander refined it into the horn-septet (K. Karjalainen, Suomalainen torviseitsikko, Helsinki 1995). The septet's unique, charmingly soft tone of sound is based on all of the septet's instruments belonging to the same "cornet family" and so complementing each other's voices. Septet music has gone through a new come-back after the 1970's, with the professionals of the Kaartin Seitsikko leading the way, but the Sinetti-Seitsikko has also played its part in this progress.

Sinetti-Seitsikko is a traditional Finnish septet, based on the Post Office (Itella) and Tele (Sonera) in the capital region of Finland. It was founded in 1980 to continue the prestigious traditions of the Horn Marching Band of the Helsinki Postmen's Association of the early 1900's. The Marching Band's ranks boasted, for example, the famous musician-brothers Georg and Eugen Malmsten. After this highly traditional marching band "retired" after the wars, the marching band-notion was left to simmer for decades, only to resurface once again in the autumn of 1980.

Sinetti-Seitsikko was formed originally from the Helsinki region's brass instrument-playing Post-Tele staff members. Getting started was easy, since the people in Sinetti-Seitsikko already had behind them long careers as musicians in various windbands in the Helsinki region, and the framework for our music came from the above mentioned Postmen's Marching Band's old music, the valuable and timeworn sheetnotes of which we traced from the National Poetry Archives of the Suomen Kirjallisuusseura (Finnish Literature Association). The notes had been saved there at the last moment, while on their way to the landfill site. However, we soon found out that the music in question do not quite respond to the musical requirements of the modern day, but every now and then we like to remind ourselves of the musical atmosphere of the beginning of the 20th century by playing those aged tunes.

The Sinetti-Seitsikko has been very active ever since its founding. Besides performing within our own companies, we have participated on alternate summers in larger events, for example in the Lieksan Vaskiviikot, Hamina Tattoo and for three summers in the Arctic Canoe Race-event in the Tornio-river valley. However, the last mentioned event has had a few years of rest these past years. It is worth mentioning that especially the foreign paddlers expressed their amazement at the soft clarity of the wind music that could be heard for miles both up- and downstream from the band's location, giving the paddlers new strength to reach their destination. The event began at Kilpisjärvi and the goal was on alternate years in either Tornio or Haaparanta, and we provided the so-called Headland-point music as necessary. Other memorable events have been the Kuopio Tanssii ja Soi-event and the opening concert of the Naantalin musiikkijuhlat-event on one year, as well the Suonenjoen Mansikkakarnevaalit-event. Earlier on we used to take part in the hundred-year celebrations of different post offices (usually as the main performer). The Danish and Swedish Post Office's 350-year celebration was, for our part, the overture for the year 1988, which was the time of the Finnish Post Office's 350-year celebration. At that time we crisscrossed Finland so that the Southernmost place we performed in was Hanko, the Westernmost was Eckerö in Åland, the Northernmost was in Utsjoki and the Easternmost were in Lieksa and Joensuu. The events numbered beyond one hundred, and our good shape was well earned. Everything went brilliantly with the employer.

Besides performing, the Sinetti-Seitsikko has recorded long play albums at suitable intervals and the latest album came out on CD on Valentine's Day in 2003, with a theme of partner dance music. The record's art director was the Grand Old Man of dance music, Ossi Runne, playing a few solos for the record himself. On the two first records, general manager Pekka Tarjanne played his solos himself, backed by brass instruments, and showing his good friend, Kari Suomalainen, who it was that is "the second worst fagotto player in Finland". On the third album the general director at the time, Pekka Vennamo, performed with his bass-drum in Armas Maasalo's "Juhlamarssi". Both of the general directors had a background of "retuperä", and so they played their parts with due expertise. The art director of the third album was Teuvo Laine, who also made many arrangements especially for the Sinetti-Seitsikko in both dance - and show music.

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