Some background on Vilma JÀÀ's music in the new trailer for Remedy's Control Resonant.
The specific song used is Manalan Mailla, and it is currently out on streaming services. It has been written by Vilma alongside Teemu Brunila (known for a variety of both Finnish and international hits) and Jurek (known particularly for Antti Tuisku's productions as well as a variety of huge Finnish hits). The two producers invited Vilma along for the project
The song is for a specific part of the game, but the Remedy office loved it and they decided to use it for the trailer as well.
The song is specifically a runo song, or a runic song, which is a form of oral poetry. This was suggested by Vilma JÀÀ. VilmÀ is known for using and mixing Ingrian and Finnish tradition, runic song and cattle calls as a part of her music, fusing them into more contemporary pop. So this is pretty par for the course for her music. In the article for HS she also highlights that she specifically used both Ingrian and Finnish tradition.
In other words, Vilma is known to do what every first year student at Folk Music Department, Sibelius Academy, learns to do, so đ€
I'd be less grumpy if she were more open about it instead of being like "yay this is my own type of creativity". When it's actually been The standard curriculum of the department for like. Decades?
I donât think she markets it as her own thing as much as the reportage on her does. She just openly states where her influences come from, which are Ingrian and Finnish music and runo song traditions and cattle calls. The press then brands her as the only one doing it, and because thatâs all the readers see, that becomes her image. Largely, she is one of the very few people making it big in Finnish music in this style, which is wild if this is standard curriculum for the academy. This is the first time Iâm hearing about that.
You do have a point there. Etno and folk music donât have the same mainstream appeal at this time, so to many people it is new, even if to the people within this genre her work is nothing special. I am also kind of sad that the entire style of mixing mainstream pop with these more traditional styles is characterized by her, but at least someone is making it visible within the field of Finnish music. I hope we see more artists take it mainstream in the future.
