The relations of Finland and Sweden have a long history.
The area that later became Finland was annexed by Sweden during the 13th century and was ruled by Swedish monarchs up until 1809. Finland was a fully integrated part of the Swedish realm, and, legally, the Finns had the same rights and duties as all citizens. But the language used in administration and education was Swedish. During the 20th century, after Finland’s 1917 freedom from Russian rule, much of the governmental administration and higher education was conducted according to old tradition with disproportionate amounts in Swedish.
During World War II, Sweden declared its neutrality, but in the Winter War it declared itself Non-belligerent and supported Finland’s cause to a certain, but limited, extent. This included over 8,000 Swedish military & airforce volunteers. Sweden also accepted and cared for a host of Finnish “war”-children during World War II. After the war, Sweden had a clear head-start in the post-war economic development, much due to its neutrality in the war, making the Finnish-Swedish relationship similar to that of Finland and Estonia of today since the 1990s. Since the mid-1990s, the inequalities between Finland and Sweden can be seen as balanced, and the relations between the two countries can be seen as equal and good.
Now in September of 2013, both Finland and Sweden will offer to one another their finest purveyors of noise in an historic collaboration between Sweden’s Joachim Nordwall and Finland’s Mika Vainio. The collaborative record, titled Monstrance, will represent the continuing bond between these two nations and will be released on Touch on September 2, 2013. And just as Sweden brings the best out of Finland, so does Nordwall bring the best out of Vainio, as according to Boomkat, Nordwall “encourages him to drop the Pan Sonic percussion tics and strike a little further out into the unknown.” Hear the track “Irkutsk” below:
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Monstrance tracklist:
01. Alloy Ceremony
02. Live at the Chrome Cathedral
03. Midas in Reverse
04. Irkutsk
05. Praseodymium
• Mika Vainio: http://www.media-loca.com/mikavainio
• Joachim Nordwall: https://soundcloud.com/joachim-nordwall
• Touch: http://www.touchmusic.org.uk