The Northern Anxiety of Terveet Kädet: From Global Buzz to Unknown Local Heritage
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 30/05/2019

A hardcore-punk band Terveet Kädet from the town of Tornio in northern Finland reached global audience in 1980s, and the location was essential for its music. As the sole border town to Sweden, Tornio was the place in Finland to keep up with the current international beat in music, comics and hardcore porn. The singer ‘Läjä’ Äijälä, the only permanent band member until the disbandment in 2015, mixed these sources of inspiration with the northern anxiety: a peculiar state of mind stemming from harsh climate and oppressive inward-turned society. The resulting mix is undeniably barbarous, but also unique and strangely appealing. Surprisingly, in 2010s Terveet Kädet transmuted from an unfamiliar oddity into local heritage. As with the case of Sex Pistols and 6 Denmark Street, this was ill conceived by the general public, thus calling attention to the processes of heritagization and sensemaking of the experienced past at present.

Janne Ikäheimo (University of Oulu) and Katariina Vuori (freelance
writer/literary art instructor)

TAG Deva 2018
Session: ‘In the Mix’: Recalibrating Music, Heritage and Place