At the end of this month, Korpiklaani will play as the main performer of a concert organized for Ukraine in Poland. Accordionist Sami Perttula also remembers a vomit-tasting concert trip to Ukraine.
Sami Perttula plays with Korpiklaan in Poland for Ukraine. TOM WAS
The folk metal band Korpiklaani will play on Friday, August 26, as the headliner of a charity concert in Rzeszów, Poland. The concert is part of the Rockowa Noc festival, which raises funds for Ukrainian defenders and their families.
Accordionist of Korpiklan Sami Perttula says that the request to appear came in April.
– After that, we went through the matter with the band, we were immediately ready to play. It is also great that we were asked to participate in such an event, because we are happy to express our support for Ukraine and those suffering from the war.
According to Perttula, the aim is to show the concert on Ukrainian television and it will also be streamed live on YouTube.
– According to the information we have received, the concert is of great importance in Ukraine. This is already explained by the fact that Rzeszów, a city of 200,000 inhabitants, located about a hundred kilometers from the Ukrainian border, has received about 80,000 people who fled the war.
– President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi has named Rzeszów the “City of the Saviour”, which speaks for itself.
Korpiklani releases a new one at the concert Crystal mania– single, which fits the theme of the event.
– The song tells about the musician’s sadness towards war and the senselessness of war. Krystallomantia’s words are our vocalist Jonne Järvelän handwriting.
– I believe that the concert as a whole will be very emotional, because in addition to the Poles, there will be a lot of people who fled the war in the audience.
Korpiklaani releases a new song at the concert. TOM WAS
Paats at war
Perttula says she is very sad about the war events in Ukraine.
– Many people have a big problem there. There’s something going on that really shouldn’t be happening, I can’t understand a war of aggression against an independent country.
War is also familiar to Perttula through his own family, as his fathers were involved in the Winter and Continuation War.
– Those generations took care of our independence when we were in a similar situation as Ukrainians now.
– My grandmother also told me how my father fought in bed at home almost every night, so the memories of the war were with him for the rest of his life.
In practice, Perttula did not have time to meet her priests, because one died before her birth and the other two months after her birth. However, he has a great memory as told by his parents.
– I have a twin brother Tony. When papa saw us, he had said that good-looking boys are not scumbags, Perttula smiles.
Many memories
The raven clan is much more popular in many European countries than in Finland. During the busiest times, Perttula has accumulated a couple of hundred foreign travel days per year. The band has also played several concerts in Russia, which includes two train trips from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok.
– There is nothing negative to say about our shows in Russia, we were received very hospitably and positively everywhere.
– However, the situation now is that Russia probably won’t have any issues for a long time. It is also sad that the majority of Russians still do not know what is happening in Ukraine.
Perttula also remembers a concert trip to the Ukrainian Carpathians that took place almost ten years ago. The trip consisted of a flight to Warsaw, Poland, and from there a bus with a Swiss band to Ukraine.
– We left Warsaw in the evening, intending to arrive in Ukraine in the morning. The bus was a basic bus, meaning there were no sleeping places.
Perttula ate the ration she bought in Warsaw during the trip. After that, the man tried to get some sleep on the bus, where the coolness had descended after the heating device failed.
– I noticed in the morning that I was vomiting, the reason was probably the food I ate. It just so happened that the vomit rushed out onto my pants at the same time.
– However, stopping the bus didn’t work, so I sat for the rest of the journey with vomit in my lap as the cool car rumbled forward on the winding and bumpy road.
The mood of the accordionist was still dark after arriving in Ukraine. When he finally got to the concert venue, located about a kilometer above, after staying at the hotel and changing his clothes, the unpleasant feeling changed.
– We went to the concert venue on a ski lift, surrounded by magnificent forest and meadows and also wild horses. At that moment, the thought of why the hell I’m doing this job turned into joy.