Sisu-À-Go-Go

Artists

Album Info

Release Date: 1974

Label: Scandia

Ask any group of Finns to translate "sisu" - then step back. You'll get as many replies a machine gun has bullets. "Strength", "courage", "guts", "stamina", "trucks" and "buses". Fair enough; you can evidently rely on "sisu" to get you through a tough situation (strength, courage, guts, stamina) or to get you to a rugged location (Sisu trucks and buses). They can, too. But what it is that makes the Finns feel that "sisu" is their private property - a truly Finnish quality? Could it be those Finnish winters when the darkness sets in at mid-afternoon and the temperature of the winds blowing across the frozen Baltic or from the arctic circle can make even a Polar Bear long for the Mediterranean? It's possible. Or try making a farm out of a rock garden. In Finland, once you subtract the tens of thousand of lakes, the land that's left is roughly 80% rock and 20% dirt. Guts? What makes a Finnish pine tree in the bautiful and bouldery archipelage grow to full height with "a teaspoon of soil and a temple of stone" as a diet? "Sisu"? Who knows? Maybe it's also that extra something it takes to be able to get to sleep during those famour summer "white nights" when even in southern Finland the sun only makes a brief departure, leaving you with moore than enough light to play tennis, bob for apples or go fly a kite. Who wants light all night? Maybe a tablespoon of December darkness in a cup of Finnish June would make "sisu" unnecessary. Or would a kilo of Finnish summer in a pot of Finnish winter do the trick? Or a sack of soil for each bucket of stone? Who cares? It's there, and all signs indicate that it's there to stay. If we really need an up-to-date phrase for "sisu" including "buses, guts, strength, trucks, stamina and courage" why shouldn't we settle for that old rousing cheer - "Go Go"?
- Tim Andrews -

"Sisu trucks are of famous Finnish first-rate quality"

Recorded at the Finnvox-Studios, Helsinki
Scandia-Music Co, LTD
Helsinki 1974

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