Jaakko Teppo

Jaakko Teppo is a popular Finnish folk artist, troubadour, and satirist, who entered the larger public consciousness in the early '80s. He won the "couplet singing" (a type of traditional humorous music) Finnish championship in 1978 and 1979, and followed up with a succession of humorous albums. Finland has had a long tradition of novelty songs, and Teppo is but one example of the popularity of an old-fashioned yet humorous look at one's fellow countrymen. His first record, 1980's Ruikonperän Multakurkku, was an instant sensation. (The title, Mud-Throat of Ruikonperä, is a play on he word kultakurkku — "golden throat," i.e., someone with a gorgeous voice.) His sharp, country-hick satire had a distinct blue-collar feel — Teppo was a machinist by trade — and his targets ranged from popular culture ("Pamela," about one of the lead characters on the soap opera Dallas, was a huge chart hit in 1980) to rude tourists ("Mikko-Sika Mallorcalla" — Mikko-Pig in Majorca), while he also took a stand for the working man ("Työttömän laulu" — Song for the Unemployed).

His stories were mostly set in the fictional town of Ruikoperä, a conceit more recently used by Neil Young on his Greendale record, which provided him with a vehicle through which he could make sharp observations of his surroundings. He released records like 1984's Onnen Kerjäläinen (Beggar of Happiness) and 1995's Pers'aukisten Piiritarkastaja (Inspector of the Flat Broke Circuit) into the mid-'90s when his musical career was, for most purposes, ended by a difficult illness. He had capitalized on his success by working as a columnist for newspapers and for the radio. He continues his writing, and his music has had a resurgence in the new millennium through his two sons, Ilja and Johannes, and through reinterpretations by the band Sössölandian Kultakurkut (the Golden Throats of Mushlandia), featuring both the popular rock musician Ismo Alanko and his brother, Ilkka Alanko of the band Neljä Ruusua (Four Roses). Karjalan Kunnailla 1984, an archived live performance, was released in 2007.