«Existential loneliness can be very close to its opposite: the experience that you are deeply connected with everything that exists», says Heta Bilaletdin from the Finnish underground punk band Olimpia Splendid. In the self-produced podcast they talk about being lonely, the economic depression and their music video «Jukka-Pekka». A podcast from the Norient exhibition Seismographic Sounds produced by Jonna Karanka and Katri Sipiläinen.
Olimpia Splendid: «Jukka-Pekka»
The Band says: This is a song in Gibberish about the burning heat in a cactus desert. The director says: This is a video highlighting the monotonous rhythm of the song, inspired by famous Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki. We say: This is a wonderful clip about the bleakness of everyday life, questioning the idolatry of musicians, artists and bands.
Quotes from the Podcast
#beingconnected
«Feelings are networks. Existential loneliness can be very close to its opposite: the experience that you are deeply connected with everything that exists. Loneliness can also be something very concrete and unwanted.»
Heta Bilaletdin
#beingalone
«We are simultaneously alone and together in this time we share. The origin of the word ‹alone› is from the 13th century. It comes from ‹all plus one›. In the end one can never feel lonely.»
Jonna Karanka
#nature
«I've lived by myself in the countryside with the company of three cats and a radio, books and records. The time I spent there at the village called ‹the backwoods› increased my capability to receive and concentrate everything that came outside of my mind was precious. I have rarely listened to music and lyrics as intensely or experienced nature – the sound of bees in apple trees and the first flowers in the spring – so strongly.»
Katri Sipiläinen
#market
«Sometimes I feel we are living in an arrogant showing-off culture where looser things like being lonely are a taboo and people only want to underline their independence and healthy habits and success to keep their value in the market high. Awful.»
Heta Bilaletdin
#music
«I don't know many better ways to use my time in this planet than playing music with my friends. Music comforts lonely hearts.»
Katri Sipiläinen
#jukka-pekka
«In the video there is a cashier in a small shop checking out lemonade and chips monotonously. In the end he goes outside, lits his cigarette and reveals that he is wearing an Olimpia Splendid sweater under his working uniform.»
Katri Sipiläinen
#consumerism
«The protagonist is almost drowning in the sea of cheeseballs, coke, and marshmallows.»
Jonna Karanka
#productplacement
«The clip is full of product placement in a sense of parody.»
Heta Bilaletdin
#materialism
«The human soul is confronted with materialism.»
Jonna Karanka
#capitalism
«The capitalism encourages people not to care about each other but to compete. The economic depression gave an excuse to push working life into an even worse direction where an individual has less and less rights and freedom of choices. At the same time people feel empty and buy stupid snacks. It's a lonely world, if you don't question it and try to fight it.»
Heta Bilaletdin
#DIY
«We are children of the DIY idea.»
Katri Sipiläinen
#gear
«We have tiny amplifiers and all the gear is cheap and crappy.»
Heta Bilaletdin
#makingmusic
«Making music is about being together, finding unity through sound.»
Jonna Karanka