Hector (musician)

Last updated

Hector
Hector 1970 2.jpg
Hector in 1970
Background information
Birth nameHeikki Veikko Harma
Born (1947-04-20) 20 April 1947 (age 76)
Helsinki, Finland
Origin Helsinki, Finland
Genres Suomirock, folk rock
Occupation(s)singer, songwriter
Instrument(s)guitar
Years active1965–present

Heikki Veikko Harma (born 20 April 1947) is a Finnish singer-songwriter who has also distinguished himself as a translator of song lyrics, but has written popular lyrics of his own too. To the public he is better known by the name Hector, which he has used since the release of his 1965 debut single "Palkkasoturi", a Finnish translation of Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Universal Soldier". His 1974 album Hectorock I became the fastest-selling record in Finnish history, selling 50,000 units within a few months. [1] Hector was at the height of his popularity in the first half of the 1970s, but his steady string of recordings provided occasional hits well into the 1990s. In the 2000s he made a strong return to popularity with Ei selityksiä, which became one of his most successful albums. In 2007 he made a farewell tour on big arenas, but has performed occasionally after that too. In 2011 he made a massive comeback tour and released a new album Hauras (Fragile) in 2014, ten years after his previous album.

Contents

Hector's work is very diverse in its musical styles. He is mainly known for his folk rock songs, but he has also made progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal songs. He has translated into Finnish works by Don McLean, Procol Harum, King Crimson, Neil Young, David Bowie and several other artists. Today he is considered, due to his extremely long (51 years) and distinguished career, as first a pioneer and later a mainstay of Suomirock. His lyrics have often a political and/or social component.

Some of Hector's songs are considered classics of Finnish popular music, such as "Lumi teki enkelin eteiseen" (Snow made an angel in the lobby), "Mandoliinimies" (Mandolin man) and "Olen hautausmaa" (I am a graveyard), and he can be considered a primary contributor to Finnish rock music of the 1970s. He has also written song lyrics for other Finnish singers. His song "Juodaan Viinaa" (Let's drink spirits) was covered by Finnish folk metal band Korpiklaani on their 2009 album Karkelo. [2] [ non-primary source needed ] Hector is the Finnish voice actor of The Muskrat in the Finnish-British animated television family drama Moominvalley (2019–). [3]

In addition to his music career, Heikki Harma has also worked as a music journalist on radio.

Discography

See also

Related Research Articles

The music of Finland can be roughly divided into folk music, classical and contemporary art music, and contemporary popular music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finntroll</span> Finnish black metal band

Finntroll is a Finnish metal band from Helsinki that combines elements of black metal and folk metal. Finntroll's lyrics are mostly in Swedish, the only exception being the song "Madon Laulu" on Visor om slutet. Finntroll's original singer, Katla, decided to use Swedish over Finnish since he was part of a Swedish-speaking minority in Finland and the sound of the language seemed to better suit the band's "trollish" outfit. Despite several vocalist changes, this tradition has continued.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rauli Somerjoki</span> Finnish rock singer

Rauli Somerjoki, known professionally as "Badding", was a Finnish rock singer born in the town of Somero into a family of five children. His records were published on such labels as Love Records.

Rock and roll entered Greece in the middle of the 1960s. Greek rock performers in the field include Pavlos Sidiropoulos, Dimitris Poulikakos. Greek rock bands well known globally are Aphrodite's Child, Socrates Drank the Conium and The Last Drive.

Rock music has been performed and heard in Lithuania since the mid-1960s. At first, repression by the Soviet authorities meant that rock was performed only at illegal gatherings, while music from the West was available on Radio Luxembourg or smuggled records. As pressure eased somewhat, rock musicals began to be released, such as Velnio nuotaka and Ugnies medžioklė su varovais.

Comedy rock is rock music that is comedic in nature. Oftentimes it is mixed with satire or irony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midnattsol</span> German gothic/folk metal band

Midnattsol are a gothic/folk metal band from Germany. The band was founded in 2002 by Norwegian vocalist Carmen Elise Espenæs and German guitarist Christian Hector. The band's name is a modified spelling of the Norwegian word midnattssol, which means 'midnight sun'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olavi Uusivirta</span>

Olavi Uusivirta is a Finnish rock/pop singer, songwriter and actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgar Allan Poe and music</span>

The influence of Edgar Allan Poe on the art of music has been considerable and long-standing, with the works, life and image of the horror fiction writer and poet inspiring composers and musicians from diverse genres for more than a century.

<i>Kevät</i> 2005 studio album by Rajaton

Kevät is an album by Finnish a cappella ensemble Rajaton, released in 2005. The word kevät means "spring" in Finnish. This album is decidedly different from the previous, more traditional albums by Rajaton. In each of the songs, one member acts as the soloist with the other five as back up. The album peaked at number three in the Finnish charts and was certified gold within six weeks of release.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carola Standertskjöld</span> Musical artist

Carola Christina Standertskjöld-Liemola, professionally known as Carola, was a Finnish jazz and pop singer. Her style was partially inspired by American singers of the 1950s. Simultaneously, it was in the spirit of the modal jazz scene going down in Europe in the 1960s. Mostly, Carola's jazz repertoire consisted in idiosyncratic versions of American songs in English, while her most famous jazz track "The Flame" was an original composition by Esa Pethman and the lyrics by the singer herself. As the vocalist for Esa Pethman's quartet and Hazy Osterwald's sextet in the early 1960s, Carola made fame in Finland and Sweden, and toured Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Switzerland. Her most significant recording is a session with the Heikki Sarmanto Trio from 1966, which the Finnish Music Information Centre considers among the original blueprints of Finnish jazz. Carola's recordings have been credited for the accosting tone of her contralto voice and her phrasing. The singer also co-produced the groovy approach of her supporting orchestras. In late 1960s and early 1970s, she performed in nine languages and a wide variety of styles, including chanson, schlager, Latin, rock'n'roll, and soul. After her death of Alzheimer's disease in 1997, Carola's music was revived in 2004 with two Best of albums and Carola & Heikki Sarmanto Trio reaching the Finnish charts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady in Black (Uriah Heep song)</span> 1971 single by Uriah Heep

"Lady in Black" is a song by the rock band Uriah Heep. It is the fourth track of their 1971 album Salisbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tapani Kansa</span> Finnish singer (born 1949)

Aarne Tapani Kansa is a Finnish singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heikki Silvennoinen</span> Finnish musician and an actor (born 1954)

Heikki Johannes Silvennoinen is a Finnish musician and an actor. He was a guitarist and a songwriter in several notable Finnish bands in the 1970s and 1980s, and has also recorded solo albums. He is best known in Finland as a member of comedy group Kummeli, which started a television show in 1991.

Medieval folk rock, medieval rock or medieval folk is a musical subgenre that emerged in the early 1970s in England and Germany which combined elements of early music with rock music. It grew out of the British folk rock and progressive folk movements of the late 1960s. Despite the name, the term was used indiscriminately to categorise performers who incorporated elements of medieval, renaissance and baroque music into their work and sometimes to describe groups who used few, or no, electric instruments. This subgenre reached its height towards the middle of the 1970s when it achieved some mainstream success in Britain, but within a few years most groups had either disbanded, or were absorbed into the wider movements of progressive folk and progressive rock. Nevertheless, the genre had a considerable impact within progressive rock where early music, and medievalism in general, was a major influence and through that in the development of heavy metal. More recently medieval folk rock has revived in popularity along with other forms of medieval inspired music such as Dark Wave orientated neo-Medieval music and medieval metal.

<i>Karkelo</i> 2009 studio album by Korpiklaani

Karkelo is the sixth studio album by Finnish folk metal band Korpiklaani. The title is the Finnish interpretation of the word "party", or otherwise meaning loosely "having fun" or to "frolic".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agents (Finnish band)</span> Finnish band

Agents is a Finnish band formed in 1979, playing rautalanka, schlager and rock'n'roll music. The head figure and musical director of the band is solo guitarist Esa Pulliainen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vexi Salmi</span> Finnish lyricist (1942–2020)

Veikko Olavi "Vexi" Salmi was a Finnish lyricist. He wrote the lyrics to numerous popular songs for several prominent artists, including Irwin Goodman, Jari Sillanpää, and Katri Helena. His career as a lyricist began in the 1960s, and continued until his death. During his prolific career, he wrote the lyrics for over 4,000 songs, more than 2,400 of which have been recorded. In addition to song lyrics, he authored several novels and one collection of poetry. Salmi's latest work also included collaborating with Ilkka Lipsanen on a 60th anniversary album, and he also acted as a judge on a television program on music lyrics, Biisikärpänen

Bangladeshi rock music, or Bangla rock music, is a style of music in Bangladesh that is derived from British and American rock music, mixed with Bengali classical and adhunik musical styles from the 1960s. The genre was introduced in the 1960s by a few bands who began developing a distinctive rock sound of Bangladesh. Bangladeshi rock is commonly divided into two categories; the "East Pakistan" rock scene, and the "Bangladesh" rock scene. From the 1970s to the 2000s, it was one of the nation's most popular musical genres.

Pekko Käppi is a jouhikko musician from Tampere and a part-time teacher at the Sibelius Academy. He is also a composer, a producer and a researcher. He is trained as an ethnomusicologist, specializing in traditional folk music. He performs together with his band K:H:H:L, which stands for ‘the bones of dead horses out of control’.

References

  1. Helopaltio, Kari (22 February 1975). "From the Music Capitals of the World". Billboard . p. 59. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
  2. "Karkelo". 25 August 2009.
  3. "Voice cast", gutsy.fi