Eternal English Suomi
» Mr.Zelo Home » Short History » Teaching » Recordings » Poems » Eternal » Contact Information » Pictures		(Quotations partly translated from Jukka Järvelä: Homma kävi. Erään pikkukaupungin pophistoria. [Job Well Fixed. The Pop History of a Smalltown]) The most important band in Hämeenlinna in the end of the 1960's was the Eternal, which never made a record but performed widely in Southern Finland. The band assembled in early 1967 with the name Eternal Nuisances, but later, due to pronunciation problems, the name was shortened to the Eternal. The first composition was Harri Sissala (vocals), Hannu Hakamäki (guitar), Markku Jaakkola (bass), Aarno Mallat (guitar), and Jouko Kumpulainen (drums). Then first Kumpulainen, and later Hakamäki, were changed to drummer Seppo Airasvuo and guitarist-vocalist Markku Kujala. The third drummer in 1968 was Juhani Lustre, and in 1969, Mallat was replaced by saxophonist Esa Hämäläinen. Like many other bands in Finland in the sixties, the Eternal played British and American cover pieces. The band started making covers of the songs of Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, but it also introduced several blues pieces, and played strong versions of great soul performers such as the Spencer Davis Group and Ike and Tina Turner. This built the road to a deeper style of soul, for which the Eternal became famous for and played in their most successful year in 1969. The greatest moments for the Eternal were on great arenas, such as the Pop Festival of Mustikkamaa Island in the summer 1968. The band swept the audience along with its soul pieces and was ranked best in the concurrently arranged national band competition. One of the memorable gigs in the beginning of the band's career was under the radio antenna towers in Lahti. The band's amplifiers suddenly started broadcasting the YLE radio's evening prayer when the strong electric field, engendered by the antenna masts, penetrated through their loudspeakers – a rather confusing moment for a true rock band. Other large and famous music arenas where the Eternal performed were the Tampere Ice Hall and the Natsa in Helsinki, a site where every band with any real self esteem wanted to perform. In Mustikkamaa, the Eternal's audience went frantic and the festival security had to intervene when fans rushed onto the stage. At the Tampere Ice Hall, the band members did not even make it to the stage before the fans surrounded the lead vocalist Harri, stealing his jewelry and trying to tear off his clothes. A larger catastrophe was avoided when the Eternals managed to clear their way onto the stage, where the fans could not get to. Otherwise the band's fans mainly wrote intimate letters to the band members and visited their shows. To celebrate the summer, the band had had a seamstress to make them colourful suits with a flower decoration, and this made some jealous buffoons joke that the band had made its success by the means of clothes. During the hot summer of 1969, the quintet had, at one point, three performances in one day, all in the opposite parts of South Finland. This soul summer ended with the most terrific performance of the Eternal's whole career in the ruined fortress of Aulanko, with the help of a great light show. The Eternal disbanded in the fall of 1970.

Eternal

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(Quotations partly translated from Jukka Järvelä: Homma kävi. Erään pikkukaupungin pophistoria. [Job Well Fixed. The Pop History of a Smalltown])

The most important band in Hämeenlinna in the end of the 1960's was the Eternal, which never made a record but performed widely in Southern Finland. The band assembled in early 1967 with the name Eternal Nuisances, but later, due to pronunciation problems, the name was shortened to the Eternal. The first composition was Harri Sissala (vocals), Hannu Hakamäki (guitar), Markku Jaakkola (bass), Aarno Mallat (guitar), and Jouko Kumpulainen (drums). Then first Kumpulainen, and later Hakamäki, were changed to drummer Seppo Airasvuo and guitarist-vocalist Markku Kujala. The third drummer in 1968 was Juhani Lustre, and in 1969, Mallat was replaced by saxophonist Esa Hämäläinen.

Like many other bands in Finland in the sixties, the Eternal played British and American cover pieces. The band started making covers of the songs of Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, but it also introduced several blues pieces, and played strong versions of great soul performers such as the Spencer Davis Group and Ike and Tina Turner. This built the road to a deeper style of soul, for which the Eternal became famous for and played in their most successful year in 1969.

The greatest moments for the Eternal were on great arenas, such as the Pop Festival of Mustikkamaa Island in the summer 1968. The band swept the audience along with its soul pieces and was ranked best in the concurrently arranged national band competition. One of the memorable gigs in the beginning of the band's career was under the radio antenna towers in Lahti. The band's amplifiers suddenly started broadcasting the YLE radio's evening prayer when the strong electric field, engendered by the antenna masts, penetrated through their loudspeakers – a rather confusing moment for a true rock band. Other large and famous music arenas where the Eternal performed were the Tampere Ice Hall and the Natsa in Helsinki, a site where every band with any real self esteem wanted to perform. In Mustikkamaa,

the Eternal's audience went frantic and the festival security had to intervene when fans rushed onto the stage. At the Tampere Ice Hall, the band members did not even make it to the stage before the fans surrounded the lead vocalist Harri, stealing his jewelry and trying to tear off his clothes. A larger catastrophe was avoided when the Eternals managed to clear their way onto the stage, where the fans could not get to. Otherwise the band's fans mainly wrote intimate letters to the band members and visited their shows.

To celebrate the summer, the band had had a seamstress to make them colourful suits with a flower decoration, and this made some jealous buffoons joke that the band had made its success by the means of clothes.

During the hot summer of 1969, the quintet had, at one point, three performances in one day, all in the opposite parts of South Finland. This soul summer ended with the most terrific performance of the Eternal's whole career in the ruined fortress of Aulanko, with the help of a great light show. The Eternal disbanded in the fall of 1970.