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Joulupukki in front of Helsinki Cathedral

Joulupukki is a Finnish Christmas figure. The name Joulupukki literally means Christmas goat or Yule Goat. The Finnish word "pukki" comes from the Teutonic root "bock" (equivalent of the English "buck", "Puck", or "billy-goat") and is an old Scandinavian tradition. Over time, the figure became more or less merged with Santa Claus.

There is a long Finnish tradition of persons dressing in goat costume to solicit or perform for leftover food after Christmas. Historically, such a person was an older man, and the tradition refers to him as a nuuttipukki.^{[citation needed]} The term now also describes the practice, reportedly continuing in some parts of Finland.

Today Joulupukki looks and behaves mostly like his American version, but there are differences. Joulupukki's house and workshop are situated in the mountains of Korvatunturi, whereas the American counterpart resides at the North Pole. Another difference is that instead of sneaking in through the chimney during the late night hours, Joulupukki knocks on the front door during the Christmas Eve celebrations. When he comes in, his first words are traditionally "Onkos täällä kilttejä lapsia?" (Are there (any) well-behaved children here?)

He usually wears warm red clothes, uses a walking stick, and travels in a sleigh pulled by a number of reindeer. Unlike the American version, the reindeer do not fly. In Lapland, pulkka rather than a sleigh can be encountered. The popular song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in its Finnish translation, Petteri Punakuono, has led to Rudolph's general acceptance in the mythology as Joulupukki's lead reindeer. Joulupukki has a wife, Joulumuori ("Old Lady Christmas"), but tradition doesn't have much to say about her.

Home[link]

Joulupukki lives in Korvatunturi in Finnish Lapland.

Joulupukki's assistants are called tonttu, or more precisely joulutonttu (from Swedish tomte); they are not elves, but essentially human, often dwarflike in character. They usually wear similar attire to Joulupukki's, and males also have a white beard; but joulutonttu are often smaller in size and may be of any age and either gender. While only a rather large, aged person can convincingly dress as Joulupukki, conveniently everyone can dress as a joulutonttu, with less special attire required.

Trivia[link]

• The location of Joulupukki's workshop comes from a children's radio show called Markus-sedän lastentunti (Children's hour with Uncle Markus) hosted by Markus Rautio and broadcast by the Finnish Broadcasting Company between years 1927–1956.

• Finland's Joulupukki received over 700,000 letters from children all over the world in 2006, according to a news report by the Finnish Broadcasting Company, YLE.

• The US-based Coca-Cola Santa Claus was designed by the son of Finnish emigrants, Haddon Sundblom.

• Joulupukki is a prominent character in Rare Exports, a movie based on the award winning shorts by Jalmari Helander.

Joulupukki's dark side[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Pagans used to have festivities to ward off evil spirits. In Finland these spirits of darkness wore goat skins and horns. In the beginning this creature didn't give presents but demanded them. The Yule Goat was an ugly creature and frightened children.

It is unclear how this personality was transformed into the benevolent Father Christmas. Nowadays the only remaining feature is the name. The process was probably a continuous amalgamation of many old folk customs and beliefs from varied sources. One can speak of a Christmas pageant tradition consisting of many personages with roles partly Christian, partly pagan: A white-bearded saint, the Devil, demons, house gnomes. Nowadays the Joulupukki of Finland resembles the American Santa Claus.

Popular radio programs from the year 1927 onwards probably had great influence in reformatting the concept with the Santa-like costume, reindeer and Korvatunturi as its dwelling place. Because there really are reindeer in Finland, and Finns live up North, the popular American cult took root in Finland very quickly.

See also[link]

• Finland at Christmas around the world
• Korvatunturi
• Rare Exports
• Santa Claus Village
• Yule Goat

References[link]

External links[link]

• Santa Club
• Santa Claus Foundation
• Weihnachtsmann - Santa Claus - Joulupukki ... in Finnland

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Alexi Laiho
Alexi Laiho at the 2009 Ilosaarirock festival
Background information
Birth name	Markku Uula Aleksi Laiho
Also known as	Wildchild,
Born	(1979-04-08) April 8, 1979 (age 33) Espoo, Finland
Genres	Melodic death metal, power metal, neo-classical metal
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Guitars, vocals, Drums, bass, keyboards, violin, banjo
Years active	1993–present
Labels	Spinefarm, Nuclear Blast, Century Media
Associated acts	Children of Bodom, Sinergy, Kylähullut, Impaled Nazarene, Thy Serpent
Website	www.cobhc.com
Notable instruments
ESP Alexi Laiho Signature Models, Jackson Randy Rhoads

Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho (born Markku Uula Aleksi Laiho^{[citation needed]}; April 8, 1979) is a Finnish singer, composer, and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead guitarist as well as lead vocalist for melodic death metal band Children of Bodom, and he is also the guitarist for Sinergy and Kylähullut. He has previously played with Thy Serpent and Impaled Nazarene on occasion, as well as Warmen and Hypocrisy.

Laiho was ranked #96 out of 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time by Guitar World.^[1] Guitar World magazine has also ranked him as one of the 50 fastest guitarists in the world.^[2] In addition, Roadrunner Records ranked Laiho at #41 out of 50 of The Greatest Metal Frontmen of All Time.^[3] In addition to this, Total Guitar did a voting poll to determine the greatest metal guitarist of all time, and he was voted #1 out of 20 metal guitarists.

Career[link]

In 2004, Laiho founded a side-project called Kylähullut, which was assembled together with Tommi Lillman (ex-Sinergy) and Vesa Jokinen 69er (from Klamydia). The band was created merely for the entertainment of the musicians, and takes a carefree approach to their music. The band's discography includes two EP's, and two full-length albums.

In February 2002 Alexi married Kim Goss during a private ceremony in Finland. Prior to the marriage, they dated for four years. In 2004 they separated, but still remain close friends. He has the letters "COBHC" (Children of Bodom Hate Crew) tattooed on his left hand and "HATE" tattooed on his right hand as an homage to Ozzy Osbourne, who has a similar tattoo with the letters O-Z-Z-Y, except it's on the left hand. Alexi has been featured on the cover of Young Guitar Magazine several times, as well as being on the cover of Guitar World along with master guitarists Steve Vai and Zakk Wylde. The "Wildchild" nickname is derived from the song "Wild Child" by the band W.A.S.P. he also has a clothing line called "wild child industries". His first guitar was a Tokai Stratocaster.^{[citation needed]}

Children of Bodom Played the 2008 Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards, Laiho also received the Dimebag Award for "Best Shredder", and he performed a track off of Children of Bodom's 2008's album, Blooddrunk.

Laiho appears on Canadian thrash metal outfit Annihilator's 2007 album, Metal, as a guest, performing a guitar solo on the song "Downright Dominate".

In spring of 2009 Children of Bodom was forced to drop out of their North American "No Fear Energy Tour" when Laiho broke his wrist after falling out of his bunk when the tour bus took a sharp turn on April 26, 2009, after the show in Palladium Ballroom, Dallas TX. Laiho originally planned to continue touring despite his injury, but was forced to cancel the last 6 dates when any efforts to alleviate the pain failed.

Guitar endorsements[link]

In January 2003, ESP Guitars announced a line of Alexi Laiho Signature Models. The US version guitars are a slightly different shape than what Alexi usually plays, as the SV shape is a copyrighted Jackson shape. So to avoid a lawsuit, ESP made the bottom horn slightly larger and also put in a cut-away to get to the higher frets, like a modified B.C. Rich Ironbird. Another difference is the use of solid black or yellow pinstripes on the paint finish instead of his traditional pinstriped design which lies on the bevels of the guitar.

The guitar comes in two finishes: black w/yellow stripe, white w/black stripe. The guitar has a neck-thru 25.5” design, using a 3-pc unfinished maple neck with a 24-fret ebony fingerboard and pearl saw-tooth inlays, although Alexi does not actually use these in live shows

The ESP Alexi includes white binding on neck and head, the ESP custom shop version comes with a natural maple neck while the LTD is painted, and it comes with professional-quality components including a Floyd Rose original tremolo, Gotoh tuners, Schaller straplocks and a single Seymour Duncan AHB-1 in the bridge position, (or an EMG HZ H4 humbucker). Alexi's personal guitars, as well as Custom shop, Standard, and the models made for the US market are equipped with an MM-04 preamp.

As of 2007, a cheaper model (the Alexi- 200) is also available, in either solid black or white finish. It's a bolt on, 25.5" Scale with the body made out of basswood, with a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. It features a Floyd Rose Licensed bridge and one EMG-ESP LH-301 bridge pickup. There is also a Limited Edition Alexi signature guitar (the ESP LTD Alexi-600SE) which is black and pink. He also has a Custom Shop and Standard version of the Black and Pink guitar in his traditional pinstriped design that is not available in the USA.

There are six ESP models that he actually uses (custom shop models are mostly seen in Japan)

1. Scythe (available in Standard version, Custom Shop Version and USA version) white with black pinstripes and Scythe inlays,Chrome hardware

2. Arrow Head (Alexi's first ESP signature) (Only available in Custom Shop version) Black with solid yellow pinstripes very much like the USA Alexi and the Alexi 600 but with pearl Arrow Head inlays, Gold hardware

3. Sawtooth (Custom Shop Version) Black with luminous pinstripes and luminous sawtooth inlays (Standard Version) Black with white pinstripes and pearl sawtooth inlays both the CS and STD version are available in chrome or gold hardware

4. Katakana (originally there were 10 made for the Finnish market, now available in a STD version) Black with yellow pinstripes 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 frets with pearl sawtooth inlays katakana (Japanese letter) inlays in the 12 fret which spelled "Alexi", gold hardware with larger cutaway, frets 21–24 scalloped.

5. Pink Sawtooth (STD&CS) Black with Pink pinstripes pink sawtooth inlays frets 20–24 scalloped, black hardware with larger cutaway

6. Blacky (STD&CS&USA) Matte black with gloss black pinstripes black pearl sawtooth inlays, frets 20–24 scalloped, black nickel hardware with larger cutaway

Note: The 2010 version of Scythe, Sawtooth, and Arrow Head has the larger cutaway like the Pink Sawtooths

Equipment[link]

Alexi Laiho uses the Lee Jackson Preamp from the very beginning of his career and still always employs it with other different amps and preamps, creating a stereo of Amp sounds. Note that, for the first half of his career, he used Marshall JCM 800 cabinets (with 75 watt Celestion speakers) and various power amps. After Hate Crew Deathroll, he started experimenting with different amp heads including the Krank Revolution, Marshall JCM800 KK (which he used to record Blooddrunk, and which he still uses frequently), and the Engl Special Edition EL34 head (in sinergy, mainly). As of late August 2011, Alexi is now signed with Engl and is currently using the e530 preamp with various poweramp and cabinet combinations since their last 2011 tour.

Laiho first used an Ibanez RG 220B (maple fingerboard) along with a jackson custom shop (bought from a member of the Finnish band STONE, which Roope Latvala was part of) to record the first Children of Bodom record and eventually switched completely to Jackson Guitars which he used for several years until 2 of his 3 Jacksons (the one with the WildChild sticker and the one with white pinstripes) were stolen. He asked Jackson to make him another one, but the time-table they gave him for its production was too long (around a years time). ESP came to him and said that it would take around 3 months for his new signature model to be up and running, so Alexi took this offer. Thus he switched to ESP guitars. The change occurred shortly after the release of Hate Crew Deathroll. His ESP guitars are based on the Jackson Randy Rhoads, except the body is cut slightly different on North American models. They all feature a single bridge pickup and double-locking tremolo. He is known for using a passive EMG ALX pickup with an on board active preamp circuit to boost the output signal as oppose to active pickups.

He also uses DR Strings Hi-Beam 11–50 gauge for D Standard tuning. For Drop C, he uses DR Jeff Healey Signature 10–56 Strings. He has also recently been given a signature set of DR strings. He uses Jim Dunlop Jazz III picks.

Tunings[link]

• D Standard (D G C F A D) : Hatebreeder, Follow The Reaper, Hate Crew Deathroll (except 2 songs), Are You Dead Yet? (Next In Line) Blooddrunk (Smile Pretty For the Devil; Done With Everything, Die for Nothing; Roadkill Morning), Relentless Reckless Forever (Not My Funeral, Cry Of The Nihilist)
• Dropped C (C G C F A D) : Hate Crew Deathroll (Sixpounder, Angels Don't Kill), Are You Dead Yet? (except 1 song), Blooddrunk (except 3 songs), Relentless Reckless Forever (except 2 songs)
• C# Standard (C# F# B E G# C#) : Something Wild

Discography[link]

See also[link]

• ESP Alexi Laiho

References[link]

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2011)

Laura Voutilainen

Sanna Laura Voutilainen (born May 17, 1975 in Jyväskylä), is a Finnish pop singer.

Career[link]

Voutilainen's debut single was called "Muuttanut oon maailman" but her breakthrough came with the 1993 single "Kerran" which reached the Top Ten of the Finnish charts in January 1994. Also in 1994 the singer's debut album Laura Voutilainen was released selling in excess of 120,000 units; Voutilainen was consequently honored as Finland's top female vocalist with the Emma Award for 1994, an honor she again earned for the year 1996. Voutilainen has released a total of six albums and since 1999 she has hosted a TV show of her own.

Voutilainen participated in the Finnish national preliminary round for Eurovision 2002 with the song "Addicted to You". With 46 points awarded by the jury and 36% of the public vote "Addicted to You" easily won the right to represent Finland at Eurovision 2002: despite heavy promotion - reportedly the most ever afforded a Finnish Eurovision entrant^[1] - and high expectations for its Eurovision placing, "Addicted to You" finished Eurovision 2002 in twentieth place out of a field of twenty-four and failed to reach the Finnish Top Ten, stalling at #11.

In 2007 Voutilainen made a bid to again represent Finland at Eurovision participating in Euroviisut 2007 the Finnish national preliminary for Eurovision 2007. Voutilainen was one of twelve contenders at Euroviisut 2007 each of whom sang two songs in the semi-finals with one of each contender's songs being advanced to the final: of Voutilainen's two semi-final numbers: "Kosketa Mua" and "Take a Chance", the last-named advanced to the Euroviisut 2007 final where it placed fourth.

Discography[link]

• Laura Voutilainen (1994)
• Kaksi karttaa (Two Maps) (1996)
• Lumikuningatar (Snowqueen) (1997) - Christmas album
• Etelän yössä (In the Southern Night) (1998)
• Puolet sun auringosta (Half of Your Sun) (2001 / Eurovision edition 2002)
• Päiväkirja (Diary) (2003)
• Tässä hetkessä (In This Moment) (2005)
• Lauran päiväkirja (Laura's Diary) (2006) - collection
• Kosketa mua (Touch me) (2007)
• Palaa (Come back) (2008)
• ((Sydänjää)) (Heart Ice) (2009)

See also[link]

• List of best-selling music artists in Finland

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official homepage of Laura Voutilainen

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