Hotel gromada residency in Panajaarvi sept 09

The Juminkeko Foundation was very kind to invite Hotel Gromada to a short residency in Panajaarvi, Vienna Karelia, Russia along with Hannerina Moiseinen.

The remote village of Panaajarvi is situated eastern Karelia (north-east Russia) in a region called Vienna Karelia, home of the very ancient Finnish culture. Since it was ceased to the USSR in 1944  Karelia has always been a source a bone of contention between the two countries. Nowadays, even though the official position of Finland is that there is no border/ territorry claim whatsoever lots of people still feel Karelia is Finnish land. A recent exemple made it to the media (in french).

We were invited to work on the soundscape and thus recorded quite a few things even though the main sound there was the total absence of it and our gear would not permit such precise recordings... These sounds will be used in our future compositions. We also played a (crowded!) concert in the old village ancient church (turned into a disco during soviet time and now abandoned), picked up mushrooms and lingamberries, rowed up and down the river and enjoyed the silence...

More on Panajaarvi here and the Juminkeko Foundation on their website: http://www.juminkeko.fi/