Helsingin Sanomat - International Edition (original) (raw)

Juice Leskinen, Finnish rock music icon, dies at 56 Finnish rock musician Juice Leskinen died at the Tampere University Hospital on Friday, November 24th. Born in Juankoski in the southeast of Finland in 1950, Leskinen, whose real name was Pauli Matti Juhani Leskinen, was one of the best-known songwriters and musicians in Finnish popular music.Leskinen's musical inspirations included John Lennon and Bob Dylan, but his songwriting also followed traditions set by Finnish artists such as Reino Helismaa, Jarko Laine, Eino Leino and Lauri Viita. While his best-known compositions have become evergreens in Finnish popular music, Leskinen was most influential as a lyricist.In the early 1970s Leskinen introduced an element of realism into the relatively young genre of Finnish rock music, inserting biting satire and overt humorous references to sexuality into his songs.His style was typified by an unconstrained interpretation of rough, provocative and mischievous elements Anglo-American rock lyricism adapted to Finnish culture.Leskinen's songs abound in intimately moving descriptions of human relationships, but equally popular were his satirical pieces with more-or-less good natured mockery of political and religious authority figures. Juice Leskinen's most successful years were in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In addition to music, his live performances included elements of stand-up comedy with plenty of spontaneous interaction with his audience, combining the tradition of devious humor of his native region of Savo with a British-style dry wit.Through his melancholy love ballads and his humorously upbeat pieces, Leskinen painted a self-portrait of a man who questions almost everything, has frequent failures in love, misadventures when drunk - a man for whom laughter and tears are never far from each other. Leskinen was a strong, stubborn, and openly self-centred personality. In addition to his habitual defiance of authority, his lifestyle included a disdain for advocates of healthy lifestyles. He drank copiously and was a chain smoker.Leskinen's health began to deteriorate in the late 1980s, but he continued to work intensely. In the 1990s he cut back on his live performances and recorded less, but started to write more: poetry, prose, columns, and song lyrics for other artists.Juice Leskinen studied to be a translator in the early 1970s, but his musical career took over before he completed his studies. During his 33 years as a recording artist he released 26 albums. His most prolific years were from 1973 to 1987, at which time he put out at least one album a year.In the late 1970s Leskinen managed to win over members of the younger punk generation.The albums that he made in the 1990s were no longer mega-hits, but in 2005 he teamed up again with Mikko Alatalo, a member of his first band Coitus Int, who is now a Member of Parliament for the Centre Party. The CD that they recorded together, Senaattori ja boheemi ("The Senator and the Bohemian") was a hit, reaching gold record status. Links:

YouTube: Juice Leskinen in 1983 "Rock and Roll and Blues and Jazz" (in English) Helsingin Sanomat