Finnish Jazz & Pop Archive- Preserving Finnish popular musicThe Finnish Jazz & Pop Archive (JAPA) collects all the materials related to Finnish popular music. JAPA gathers together both commercially available materials, including recordings, sheet music, videos, magazines, books, newspaper clippings, concert programmes, and so on. A good proportion of the archive's collections consists of materials that have never been commercially released: recordings, hand-written sheet music, correspondence, photographs, etc. For all the archived materials, JAPA has provided a basic commentary and classification so that researchers can easily find what they need. The collection catalogue can be found on JAPA's website (in Finnish only). Also, the JAPA's music collection, including recordings, videos, and sheet music, is being catalogued, song by song, into the VIOLA music database (in Finnish, Swedish, and English). Viola is maintained by the National Library of Finland. The photographic collection is being catalogued into the History of Popular Music database (in Finnish), coordinated by the Department of Folk Tradition, University of Tampere. JAPA has produced its own series of CDs which contains historically significant Finnish jazz recordings. Parts 1-4 of the series cover Finnish jazz from the years 1929-1960; parts 5 and 6 present Finnish jazz vocalists from 1929-1996. Parts 7 and 8 contain previously unreleased material from the years 1956-1964 and 1966-1969. CDs can be purchased at the JAPA office. JAPA also organizes concert
events as well as exhibitions on the history of Finnish popular
music. The "Stadi svengaa" (Swinging Helsinki)
exhibition,
that was established in the Spring 1993, attracted over 25.000 visitors
in the capital of Finland.
In
1995, JAPA arranged the Eugen Malmstén event, and in 1996 the
archive organized a cabaret that celebrated the 70th anniversary of
Finnish jazz. The
JAPA's
current exhibition, "The Swinging History of Finnish Jazz", showcases
pictures
and anecdotes from momentous occasions over the years of Finnish jazz.
The
exhibition can be put up easily almost anywhere. It can be booked for
music
festivals and other events at the JAPA office. Dr. Juha Henriksson has written A Short History
of Finnish Jazz whereas Dr. Janne Mäkelä has produced a
timeline for History
of Finnish Popular Music,
both which can be found on the JAPA web page. JAPA also runs seminars exploring
the study of popular music. For
example,
the "Jyväskylä Summer Jazz Conference", an
international
conference on jazz studies, is regularly organized in co-operation with
the
University
of Jyväskylä. JAPA was a partner in the TAPE project (Training for Audiovisual Preservation in Europe). Funded under the Culture 2000 programme of the EU and lasting between 2004 and 2008, TAPE was a three-year project for raising awareness and training by expert meetings, research, publications and workshops. TAPE focused on audiovisual collections that are not maintained by major national institutions yet have specific responsibilities for audiovisual heritage. Through a programme of activities TAPE explored the requirements for continued access to audiovisual materials and the application of new technologies for opening up collections that provide living documentation of the world of the 20th century. JAPA is actively taking part in digital conversion projects, funded by the Ministry of Education, which are converting old open reel tapes and C-casettes at risk of destruction to digital format.The
Ministry of Education is the main source of funding for the JAPA
activities.
Support is also received from the City of Helsinki as well as from
private
companies and foundations. Companies and individuals fund a significant
proportion
of JAPA's expenses with their membership fees. When you pay for
JAPA
membership, you support the archive's valuable role in preserving
Finnish
popular music forever. The membership fee is 20 euros / year (10 for
students);
the company/organization membership fee is 200 euros / year. The
lifetime
membership fee is 200 euros for individuals, 1500 euros for companies.
Do not hesitate to ask
for more information at the JAPA office! Collections:
Jaakko Harjula (Chairman), Raimo
Virtanen, Risto Blomster, Staff: Archive
director: Dr. Janne Mäkelä (Mr.) Office:
Finnish
Jazz & Pop Archive
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