One of my all time favourite songs is Tänään tahdon laulaa by Kaija Kärkinen & Ile Kallio. For those of you who don’t speak any Finnish, the literal translation is ”Today I want to sing”. Now, I can’t actually sing to save my life. I might occasionally hum quietly when the music is playing so loud that even I can’t hear myself. I only get a bit louder when I’m walking alone in a forest, the croaking seems to scare off bears. But, back to the song. It has a symbolic meaning to me – Kaija is singing about singing to help her get through the depressing news shouted out from every media. I use photography for the same purpose. I know I got a bit extreme in my earlier blog entry. I have no intentions of throwing myself off a cliff – for one thing, it will not save the world, and for the other, it won’t do any favours for me personally either. There are just times that all the bad news get too overwhelming and you seriously start to wonder what is going on. Those are the times when I need to take the camera and go out and take a deep breath and concentrate on what is good in this world and what is worth saving – and ultimately, what is worth worrying about and worth doing whatever little you can to be part of the solution.Plant apple trees, not problems.
…jos uutiskuvaa kaiken kertovaa
en muuttaa voi, en siihen kiinni jäädä saa
varjojen vankilaa
en enää itselleni tahdo rakentaa
valheita tai tositarinaa
jaksan kyllä kunhan tänään laulaa saa
tänään tahdon laulaa, laulaa vaan
tänään täytyy valoa saada
tähän vankilaan
omenapuita maailmalle
vielä istutan
tänään tahdon laulaa, laulaa vaan…
…if I can’t change the news
I can’t let the sorrows break me
prison of shadows
I don’t want to build
lies or the truth
I will listen to, just let me sing
I want to sing, sing today
I need some light
in this prison
apple trees around the world
I will plant
I want to sing, sing today…
Finnish lyrics by Ile Kallio & Kaija Kärkinen. I haven’t asked for their permission to reproduce the lyrics or make a poor translation of them, so my sincere apologies for that. If you would like to have more information about the duo or let them know that I’ve ripped them off, please surf to Dex Viihde Oy. Be warned – it’s all in Finnish.