80 years old | Only Ismo Sajakorpi remains from the Kivikasvo foursome: “I miss my friends and great times together”

Stone facegroup has already gone down in history, but its leader Ismo Sajakorpi continue to work in music and theater. His last play direction was a comedy that premiered at the Seinäjoki City Theater in November Kekkonen’s daughter.

The scripts of the musical and musical comedy are currently being read in theaters. Sajakorpi calmly waits to see if his career in entertainment will continue. There are plenty of ideas and energy.

“I always have something going on. You have to think, read, write or draw. It has been my custom for over 50 years,” says Sajakorpi.

The theater he has watched the world for a couple of decades longer, as his first performance took place at the age of 8 at the Pyynik summer theater in Tampere. Conductor Jorma Panula found him in the theater stands and asked for his operetta. Music went hand in hand, because as a high school student, Sajakorpi led a dance group and played as a pianist in Tampere restaurants.

Kivikasvot was born in the army, when the four founding members happened to attend the same RUK course. The first records were not successful, but Matti Kuusla took the four as assistants on his TV show, and it opened the way to the screen.

Sajakorpi studied film at the same time. He was offered a four-year scholarship to a film school in Tokyo, but missed the trip.

“The offer was unique, but the idea of ​​starting film studies from scratch and learning Japanese for a year seemed impossible. A TV series had been promised for the stone face, and it was a terrible desire to be able to do it.”

About the program became the most popular in Finland in a couple of years. Stone-faced there was humor, skits and musical numbers, and the four personalities of the group supported each other.

“We realized that we are amateurs as actors, but we threw ourselves and had a good time, and people liked it. After our first TV series, we were asked to make a show for Kalastajatorpa. After that, other big restaurant venues and concert stages opened.”

During the busiest times, Kivikasvot did midsummer concerts by plane, so that the group could reach four places in the same evening. However, flying on water level resulted in dangerous situations, and it was abandoned. TV publicity didn’t change Sajakorven’s life, because Kivikasvoi didn’t have time to move around other than at gigs and in the TV studio.

Over the years, hundreds of Kiviface TV programs were created. The most important thing for Sajakorve was the vampire operetta Bat castlewhich combined humor, music and horror.

In autumn 1980 Sajakorpi was hired as the director of MTV’s entertainment programs, and it opened up the possibility of creating his own comedy and thriller series. On his weekends, Sajakorpi watches a horror movie on TV Marked and a psychological thriller Nightmare. They were shown in 2011 at horror film festivals in Helsinki and Ia, and the director was invited as the guest of honor as a pioneer of Finnish horror.

After the recession of the 1990s, MTV closed its TV theater and incorporated its entertainment distribution. Sajakorve’s TV career ended.

“There were no longer big entertainment shows with humor and a story combined with music, song and dance. There were game shows, quizzes and the first reality TV shows. I realized that this is not my world anymore.”

Sajakorpi returned to the theater side to do Komediateatteri Arena’s spring revues and then moved on to become a freelance writer-director. A musical play by Georg Malmstén of life was particularly memorable, because Sajakorpi also played the role of the main character in it.

Cooperation With the stone face continued through the years. Although the composition of the group changed from time to time, Checkmate “Fred” Siitonen remained Sajakorvelle’s close partner. The men were united by a long common history.

“In the early stages of Kivikasva, we were best friends because we hardly knew anyone else in Helsinki. Fredi sometimes stayed in my 17-square-meter student room, and we talked in the dark about the universe, soul wandering or music,” Sajakorpi recalls.

“Later, Fredi used to drive to Kivikasvo’s rehearsals and recordings from his gigs around the country. He was the singing star of our group, and even though he was basically shy, performing made him brave, and he dared to go crazy.”

Stone-faced the founders included Sajakorpi and Fredi, when the group ended its career after 52 years on the Finlandia Hall stage in autumn 2017. The other members of the original foursome Georg Dolivo and Ilkka Lähteenmäki was called to the stage from the audience. Now Sajakorpi is the only one of them alive.

“None of us realized at the time how little time was left. Fredi, Ilkka and Jori were called away every year. The main thing in my mind has been the limitations of life and missing friends and great times together. Fortunately, I have been able to do theater work and write. I feel like I’m still alive!”

Sajakorpi has been able to do almost everything on stage, on television and in the theater. When he was young, he wouldn’t even have dreamed of such a thing. The road has just led from one happy coincidence to another, thanks to many well-meaning people.

What would you tell your 20-year-old self?

“Try any creative work that interests you, but then focus on the genre that’s most important to you. Maybe then you will have time for civilian life as well.”