Finnish American Music Series: Lyz Jaakola and Finnishinaabe Fusions
Finnish American Music Series: Lyz Jaakola and Finnishinaabe Fusions
Free and Open to the Public
April 24, 2021 11:00 am – 12:30 pm CT
Virtual (Zoom): Register online
Our friends at the Nordic Folklife project are continuing their Finnish American Music Series of events with Elizabeth “Lyz” Jaakola, who will perform and discuss original compositions in a range of musical genres encompassing her dual Anishinaabe and Finnish American experiences.
Jaakola is an Anishinaabe/Finnish American and Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa member. An experienced music educator, activist, and musician, she serves on the Cloquet City Council, performs regularly for public media and festivals, and has recorded six CDs, had her music in local film, video and television, including the Emmy-awarded PBS documentary, Waasa Inaabidaa, mentored Native youth in music composition, and published children’s literature. Her 2005 album, Finndian Summer, focused especially on mixed heritage. More recently, Lyz found great pleasure helping Finnish author Katja Kettu and documentarian Maria Seppäla with a documentary, “Fintiaanit,” produced for Helsinki YLE in 2019 from a book they published in 2016 with photographer Meeri Koutaniemi. Trips back and forth from Minnesota and Finland were very satisfying and informative building further Finndian connections!
Co-sponsored by FinnFest USA and the Nordic Folklife project at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the music series features noted performers and scholars of Finnish-American folk music. Register at this link for this and future events. A link to the virtual program will be sent to your registered email address one day in advance of the event.
Although this event is free and open to anyone who can and wants to take part, the co-sponsors do hope you will consider donating to the FinnFest USA organization, whose hard work and dedication makes events like this possible. If you have the ability to donate any amount of money to FinnFest to support future programming, please visit their donation page.