Use of popular songs - Jemina

I know this ad won't work well for people who don't understand finnish, but it being one of my favorites I wanted to share it here. 


This christmas ad for HOK-elanto is one of my favorites from Finland. It was a comment about uniting together as the diverse multi-cultural community we are during the refugee crisis. They took a stand for solidarity and said that everyone in Finland is a part of this country what ever their background is. The video is simple and really well made in my opinion. It kind of feels like a music video and is easy to watch. 

The thing that was powerful here was the choice of music. They did a cover of a finnish rock classic called "Land of Mournful Songs" (translated to english) which is an old song that every finnish person knows. The song has ironic lyrics about the way finnish people only seem to make songs about depressioner and generally are really negative. Like they were being about the refugees. Here is the link to the translated lyrics and a part that describes the song nicely. 

"From amidst the hills
From inside the earth
Fathers look upon their sons with pride
Unemployment, booze, axe and family
Snow, police and the last mistake

This land of thousands of mournful songs
Which flows into thousands of lakes
A tenacious people, the amount of whose self-pity
Is not measured with sense or determined reason."




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