Literature A young Russian couple moved into a small and humid rental apartment in Helsinki, where the story of one of the most famous music families in our country and Muska began.

The hell I will not the only one to whom Muskasta comes to mind first From crocodile rock familiar pianoro.

Translation published in May 1973 Elton Johnin of the song Crocodile Rock was a giant hit that same summer that hung on the charts for eight months. In Finland, the song is still best known as a rough interpretation of Muska.

The single had consequences. Published at the same time Rauli Badding Somerjoen Styling and planing with the song Crocodile rock winged the record label Love Records for a commercial breakthrough. At the same time, Muska became a permanent celebrity.

Muska had become familiar to the general public a couple of years earlier when his first single Write on the postcard rose to the lists. Prior to that, Muska had become one of the performers of his big brother Kirkan for a summer tour.

In a few years in the early 1970s, Finns were admired by three singing Babitzin siblings: SammynKirkan and Muskan – Anna and Elder followed later. Everyone has left their mark on their domestic music history.

Mary “Muska” Babitzin such a singer had not been heard or experienced in our country before. Muska has been considered Finland’s first female rock singer for its hoarse sounds and initial energy.

Released by Christmas 1973, Muskan’s self-titled album is ranked high after evaluating important rock albums of the 1970s. All in all, the records have been released in eight to four decades – only the 1980s were left out when the business took the singer away.

Based on Muska’s music career alone, it’s no wonder he hasn’t had a comprehensive biography of him so far. There has been information, but in fragments here and there.

Interesting stories are not limited to Muska’s career as a musician. In addition, he has worked as a music promoter and clothing retailer. These jobs have carried Muska and his wife Hannu “Kala-Hande” Conceals around the world.

Nonfiction Sauli Miettinen now fill in the biographical shortage.

Muska is a fluent and carefully backgrounded package that tells the story of the Babitzin family, and especially its musical siblings, in addition to Musk’s career twists and turns. Alexandrin (Sammy), Kirillin (Church), Muscat, Georgijin (Age) and Annan growing up and their relationships to this day.

For the book, Miettinen has interviewed dozens of people who influenced Muska’s career and followed it. The archival work has produced clarifications to the supposed facts of the singer’s story. For example, Muska’s 50-year career was spectacularly celebrated on tour in 2019, which went wrong for a year – in fact, Muska only took part in Kirk’s tour in 1970. The two-room apartment often mentioned in the childhood home has now shrunk to a studio.

Book begins as a rock biography at a surprising angle when Muska talks about his family. The roots of Babitzin’s émigré family go far back to the Russian Empire and its upper class. Elisabethmother was born in Karelia in 1917 and Leo-father in St. Petersburg in 1914.

Scholarship was valued in both families, and wealth was sufficient. Muskan Anna– The grandmother’s grandfather had served as a professor of physics at the University of Tartu, and several male ancestors served as high-ranking officers in the tsar’s army. Family stories, among other things, flicker in family stories Anton Chekhov and Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

Both property and social status disappeared during the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Many of Muska’s relatives fled to France, but some remained in Finland.

After World War II, a young couple, Elisabeth and Leo Babitzin, moved into a small and humid rental apartment on Huvilakatu, which at the time was anything but a luxury neighborhood.

The wood-heated apartment was rugged. There was a shared toilet in the hallway, but cold water still entered the kitchen. The family, which had grown to seven, did not move from the studio to more than 60 square meters in Maunula until 1961.

Also the description of Muska’s youth and ending up as a singer is an interesting read. The timeline in the world of music is far from the current power output in the industry: music schools, talent competitions, song camps and streaming figures.

At the turn of the 1960s and 70s, the toddler years of Finnish popular music were lived through. The districts were small and the business innocent. At the Helsinki backyards and school parties, young musicians were introduced, some of whom became big stars a few years later. Bands elevated to post-canonized ensembles were born and disbanded for a moment.

Leo Babitzin had hoped that his children would have studied and graduated in traditional prestigious professions. It happened differently. The music took the siblings with them one at a time.

Firstborn Sammy learned to play the guitar and Kirka the accordion, and everyone in the family loved singing. Sammy’s first recording I’ll get you back appeared in 1966, but Kirka was the family ‘s first singing star with her single Wait a minute next year.

In those days, Muska, who was approaching adulthood, attended the Lapinlahti joint lyceum and dreamed of a career as an architect, but in his spare time he lived in music circles and clubs. The singer Muska ended up with Kirkan and Ilkka “Danny” Lipsanen thanks to brainstorming. If one singer on Babitz’s stage drew an audience, how would two Babitzins work?

After being persuaded, Muska joined as a performer on the 1970 summer tour of D-Production A wild entertainer. The tour and the intense gig that followed was a ticket to Muska’s profession as a musician.

No wonder the school was dropped.

Muskan The most active years of singing date back to the first half of the 1970s, when he had time to scold all the main gig venues in Finland and also the less important ones.

It went from work: touring on bad roads was dangerous and the country still lived in two realities when the band wanted to perform rock and the stage audience demanded bars. Hand wrinkles were not avoided.

After the buoyancy of the first album faded, Muska’s main job was working in the program office with his wife.

The program agency Muzakka was born when Muska’s cooperation with D-production failed. Hannu Salakka, who had already sold gigs of his own band in the 1960s, realized that there was no program agency in Helsinki that focused on rock.

At Muzaka, Muska’s diverse work image included invoicing, cleaning, cooking, making coffee and handling travel tickets, as well as the work of a naturally performing artist.

A couple of years later, the office crashed into a moderately imaginative idea to hold a giant concert at a Mallorcan bullring. However, promoter activity continued.

Muzaka’s successor, Rodeo, took care of domestic rock artists, but soon began importing foreign artists as well. In the early 1980s, the duo began to reflect the duo’s own musical favorites, such as the pioneers of the old blues generation. John Lee Hooker, Albert King and Big Joe Williams. Rodeo also organized tours of foreign artists in Europe.

Outside eyes the most exotic twist on Muska’s career path was moving to California and throwing herself into the clothing business.

The change in life began with a vacation trip to the United States in 1985. New York was exhilarating and Texas gorgeous, but Los Angeles made a lasting impression.

“Coming to the lodge was insane as the warm air blew in my face. And those scents! We were downright in shock: this cannot be true – this is so cool, ”recalls Muska in the book.

After a month-long vacation, Muska and Salakka decided to return to Los Angeles as soon as possible, as the promoter’s work could be run from there as well. The move took place the following year.

Life in the California sun changed in the fall of 1991 after an old acquaintance Reiska Tuomikoski contacted. The businessman was received a business idea.

In the early 1990s, the popularity of Levi’s 501 jeans had exploded with a global television advertising campaign. Demand was also strong in Finland, but only expensive trousers made in Belgium were sold here.

At Tuomikoski’s proposal, Muska and Salakka began importing jeans to Finland. The business started to run and Finnair’s cargo from Finland was denim trousers and later other clothes and fabrics.

However, the atmosphere in the new homeland tightened when riots broke out in Los Angeles in the spring of 1992. When a truck full of clothes driven by Muska and Salaka was robbed under threat, a new habitat began to be questioned.

In 1994, the couple returned to Finland after seven American years.

Today, Muska is still touring, even though he received his artist pension in 2015.

Sauli Miettinen: Muska. Like. 350 s.

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