Vesa-Matti Loir’s son disputes Jari Tervo’s curfew at the funeral – This is how the inner circle reacts to the harsh accusations

An artist who died in August 2022 Vesa-Matti Loirin and author Jari Tervon Loiri.-the biography became a topic of conversation again last week. Stop– magazine interviewed people close to Loir in its article, who claimed that Tervo had used the book interviews when making Vesa-Matti Loir’s drunk farm and the publication of the book that Loir regretted afterwards.

In the biography published in 2019, Loiri talked about his drug addiction and sex life, among other things, which caused a stir at the time of publication.

– Vesku was always very careful about his privacy, and he would never have told such things publicly. This is clear proof that Vesku was drunk and under the influence of drugs when he wrote the book, a person in the close circle told Seiska.

According to Seiska, the biography angered Loir’s close circle, which is why Jari Tervo was banned from the funeral organized in September 2022.

– I don’t know if there can be a curfew at the funeral, but I wasn’t invited there, comments Tervo himself I stand by the video.

The claims come in the aftermath of the widely reported Loire’s will dispute. A daughter in a fight Jenni Loiri and ex-wife Riitta Loiri disputed the entertainment artist’s last will in the district court of Länsi-Uusimaa and lost.

Iltalehti interviewed several people close to Loir for this article, who now refute the aforementioned claims. Son of Vesa-Matti Loir, Sampo Loiri immediately denies Jari Tervo’s curfew in a handshake.

– Not true at all! All in all, it was a confusing time, and for example I didn’t remember to send Jari Tervo an invitation to the funeral, says Sampo Loiri.

– I am of the opinion that he and Vesku were friends. I’m sorry that he didn’t get an invitation in the midst of all the fuss.

According to him, the vast majority of relatives would have welcomed Tervo to the funeral. Also Vesa-Matti Loir’s childhood friend and hospice care for the legend for the last six months of his life Jorma “Nona” Alvesalo says that he was surprised by Tervo’s absence from the funeral, because the two had a close friendship. He states that not all people close to Loir were invited.

– There are also people who were not invited because the family members who sent the invitation did not know everyone. Vesku had such a wide circle of friends, says Alvesalo.

According to Seiska, long-term friends Ilkka Vainio and Hannele Lauri did not receive a funeral invitation. Lauri told Iltalehti that he had pneumonia. Ilkka Vainio admits that he was not invited to the funeral.

– Vesa-Matti is always dear to me, and we are doing well. The fact that there was no invitation to the funeral does not change anything. Many others did not receive an invitation. All Vesku’s friends wouldn’t have fit in that church anyway, says Ilkka Vainio.

The close people interviewed by Iltalehti do not believe that Loir regretted the book project or that the legend was drunk with the intention of exploitation.

– This is about the personal opinion of a few people, not any collective narrative. We relatives are not generally against Jari Tervo or think that Vesku would have regretted the book. He was even more proud of it, says son Sampo Loiri.

He says that he discussed the matter with other family members. According to Sampo Loir, his father’s drinking habits were known in close circles.

– It was common for Vesku that when he got close to people, he himself offered them booze. It was his habit to throw open the bottle cap and screw up his friends. It was a way to get to know each other, which often happened at his own suggestion. When drinking with friends, the situation may have gotten violent at times. Sometimes even the TV may have gone bad or Vesku’s rib may have been damaged when falling. At the end of the day, the most important thing has always been love, warmth and friendship, says Sampo Loiri.

Nona Alvesalo is on the same lines.

– Yes, they had a cuppa with Tervo, but I don’t think that Vesku would have been forced to write such a book in his drunken state. That’s how much I talked to him about it. I wonder what is this close circle that has been asked for comments? Vesku didn’t have any haters who start saying such things, Alvesalo marvels.

– I don’t believe in those claims. We talked about doing the book, and it didn’t come out that he had any regrets. Besides, nothing would have been published if Vesku had said so. Anything could have been removed from there. Vesku did drink small amounts of cognac, but it didn’t affect him so much that he was deranged. There have been attempts to question Vesku’s legal capacity, but that is not true at all.

Alvesalo adds that during the last six months of his life, Loiri, who had cancer, took strong painkillers, but his mind remained clear until the end. Vesku’s close friend has been of the same opinion since the 80s Jari Teittinen.

– Vesku was the sharpest person I have ever known. I know with one hundred percent certainty that Vesku pre-read everything that came into the book. There was no crying or regret, Teittinen says.

A project of great emotions

The story of the book’s birth has already been discussed once in the public: Tervo asked, Loiri refused, but after a year his mind changed and Loiri called himself with an affirmative answer. The piece was worked on in the capital region, Inari and Spain. Loiri himself wanted to go through his life to the bottom. According to Tervo, both were crying.

– There was also swimming in the pool. White wine was consumed, cigars and cigarettes were smoked. However, mostly work was done, Tervo described the process to Iltalehte in 2019.

He admitted that he had been short-tempered and that Vesku had tried to cheat on the train trip to Inari. However, the project was finished and it became an open and startling biography of its creators.

A friend who visited Loir’s home Ilkka Vainio says that he had a conversation with the artist when he had decided after a long discussion to make a book with Tervo.

– Veskua took on the books that were made without him and his permission. I remember his words: “What Tervo does will become my testament. This takes a hell of a lot of time when you have to remember all of life. It has been more than the doctors prescribe. Lots of good, bad, joy and sorrow, life and death, and I don’t want to offend anyone,” Vainio recalls.

– After the book was published, Vesku asked me whether Tervo had brought the book to the chapter.

When Loirbiography had been published, the artist and Jari Tervo marketed the work at the release event organized at the National Theater and at the Turku and Helsinki Book Fairs, according to information from Iltalehti Jenni Haukion called.

– We have become very good friends, Loiri said on the stage of the Turku book fair.

Vesa-Matti Loir’s credit guitarist and longtime friend Peter Lerche remembers the atmosphere at the National Theater at the time of the publication of the biography.

– I was at the book launch event at Kansallisteatteri, and we performed a few songs there. He was happy after that and we went to eat. We had a quiet evening after that. It is not a repentant person who would do that, he says.

– Vesku wanted to do this thing with Jari Tervo and happily sat with him for a long time and devotedly.

He does not want to take any position on the allegation of Loir getting drunk and abusing him.

– I think that that doesn’t deserve a comment, Lerche sighs.

Alvesalo is not surprised by Vesku’s openness in the biography, because he says his friend was always straightforward.

– In that book, the facts are boldly told, I don’t think it’s obscene at all. Hannu Salaman Midsummer dances was also a work that caused such a stir in its time. After all, the things Vesku talks about are quite normal. When we talked with Vesku about the book on a general level, he said that the book has Loiri and a dot – after that there is nothing else to tell. He had freely told those things in the book, says Alvesalo.

Jari Tervo: “The finished book did not come as a surprise to Loir”

Iltalehti reached Otava’s director of marketing and communications Kirsi Tähjänjokiaccording to which Loiri started the book project of his own free will and chose the author he wanted for it.

– We have not come to our knowledge at any point during the book writing process or afterwards that Loiri regretted making the book. On the contrary, he specifically wanted Jari Tervo to write his story, Tähjänjoki tells Iltalehte.

Iltalehti also reached out to author Jari Tervo, who wanted to comment on the new buzz that arose from the book.

– When the biography project was announced, Vesa-Matti Loiri announced publicly that he wants to tell everything, and he wants to tell everything specifically to me, says Tervo.

– Loiri lived another three years after the book was published. He never told me or my publisher Otava that he regretted the project. He kept the book as his testament.

According to Tervo, Loiri himself was able to influence the outcome of the book.

– The finished book did not come as a surprise to Loir. He read the script and wanted a few changes. The script was corrected as he wanted.

Tervo also feels that there has already been enough discussion on the topic.

– I think the memory of a great artist deserves peace, he says.