Uusi reportteri
Vapaassa Sanassa aloittanut Vesa Lahtinen lupaa juttuja, joihin on helppo ottaa kantaa.

Kolumnit
Vapaassa Sanassa julkaistuja toimittajien kolumneja. Keväällä 2009 kolumneja on kirjoittanut Aku Karjalainen.

Toronto uudelle?
Mitä kaupungin perinteinen suomalaiskenttä voi tarjota tulokkaalle? Kaupungin "vanhat suomalaiset" varmasti yllättävät nykysuomalaisen, mutta kokemus voi olla kiinnostavakin.

Meille töihin?
Vapaa Sana ottaa vastaan Suomesta Centre for International Mobilityn kautta harjoittelijoita. Monikulttuurinen Toronto ja sen mediakenttä ovat todennäköisesti mielenkiintoinen kokemus. Muuhun palkkaamiseen VS:llä ei ole taloudellisia mahdollisuuksia. Hakemukset hoitaa CIMO Helsingissä. Lue tästä mitä Vapaa Sana edellyttää.

Mikä ihmeen Vapaa Sana?

Vapaa Sana on riippumaton viikkosanomalehti, joka ilmestyy kerran viikossa Torontossa. Lehden nimi periytyy 1930-luvulta.

Nimi johtaa joskus lehteä tuntemattoman pitämään Vapaata Sanaa ns hengellisenä lehtenä. Sitä se ei kuitenkaan ole.

Näillä sivuilla tarjoamme poimintoja sisällöstä, emme koko aineistoa. Vapaa Sana on tilauspohjainen lehti. Vuosikerta maksaa Kanadassa 100 dollaria ja GST-veron, nopeammin kirjepostina 150 dollaria.Tilaukset numeroon 1(416) 321 0808, klo 10-13 Toronton aikaa arkisin.

Yhtiömme

Kustannusyhtiö Vapaa Sana Press julkaisee viikkosanomalehtiä Vapaa Sana (Toronto) ja Canadan Sanomat (Thunder Bay). Yhtiön internetsivustot ovat www.vapaasana.com, www.canadansanomat.com ja www.finnishcanadian.com.

Yhtiön omistajapohja käsittää toistakymmentätuhatta kanadansuomalaista.

Kyselyjen johdosta ilmoitamme, että internetosoite vapaasana.net ei liity tämän kustannusyhtiön toimintaan.

Historiamme

Kesällä 2008 ilmestyi Lauri Toiviasen kirja Vapaan Sanan vaiheista. Tämän linkin takana voitte lukea myös VS:n 75-vuotisjuhlanumeron reportaaseja ja haastatteluja.

Concert review - by Tonu Naulapää

Giving boundless voice

As part of the Soundstreams Northern Voices Choral Festival, the twin Finn bill concert on June 7th at the Metropolitan United Church, featuring the mieskuoro Huutajat and Rajaton was an earopening experience, demonstrating the extreme possibilities and ranges of that unique instrument, the human voice.
The men’s shouting chorus Huutajat was formed in Oulu in 1987 by a group of young men “with clearly nothing better to do”. They are impossible to categorize. Trained to shout, rather than sing as a choir, Huutajat have developed a cult following. And are building on it, in Canada - as proven by surprise/slash/shock performances around town during the festival, and a feature aired recently on CBC television.
Soundstreams Canada’s artistic director Lawrence Cherney opened the evening’s performance noting that Huutajat represent a new genre in vocal expression. Indeed, these shouting men, driven by the primitive forces of primal screaming can make a case for being founders of an art form in their own right.
Huutajat are incredibly disciplined - much more than your average chorus, these men need to keep an eagle eye on their conductor, who unfortunately was not identified by name on the program. It was the conductor who also explained to the audience what had been shouted. The intensity of the chorus is woven around patriotic songs and national anthems. Without that identification, it would have been difficult to know what exactly was being howled. The complex rhythms shouted repetitive syllables of the text singled out, while at first intriguing soon became noise. Granted, well-thought out noise, but din nevertheless.
Patriotic songs, most certainly anthems are not to be trifled with. While some efforts by Huutajat were to be commended for their experimental shock value and humour, and others showed Finno-Ugric folk songs in an interesting light, yelling national anthems struck this listener as akin to sacrilege. We don’t burn flags or trample national symbols; why should we accept an anthem being performed with little respect for the emotion and love that the tunes and words contain? Huutajat concluded their “performance” with ‘O Canada”, and it was gratifying to see an elderly gentleman stand, followed by the rest of the audience - not out of respect for the chorus, but out of respect for the national anthem.
While Huutajat were the heavily hyped choir, Rajaton, who enthralled the audience in the second half of the concert were the true singers - an ensemble who gave a dazzling performance showing the boundless capacities of the human voice.
The a cappela sextet, whose name means boundless, is as difficult to categorize as their shouting countrymen.
Rajaton was founded in 1997 by bass Jussi Chydenius. The three men and three women of Rajaton have vastly different musical backgrounds, ranging from classical to folk, pop and rock. These backgrounds are put to fine use in interpreting evergreens - from spiritual standards to traditional tunes, from pop to original compositions.
The ensemble has captured an ethereal dreamy perfection that is difficult to put into mere words. Their balance is exquisite, best proven by an almost surreal ability to sing piano pianissimo. In contrast to Huutajat, one could almost hear a pin drop during some of Rajaton’s more sensitive selections.
The mood was set with the opening number, the Irish traditional, “Dobbin¹s flowery vale: a gentle lilting melody. Many more such extraordinary arrangements followed. Rajaton performed a number of originals by the young contemporary Finnish composer Mia Makaroff that emphasized harmony and a pure passion for music.
And it was not only Rajaton’s technical excellence and artistic depth that amazed and enthralled the audience. The singers added artistic depth to their performance with smooth, well-designed movements on stage. For example the placement of alto beside baritone in one song, then between the tenor and bass in another added the fine nuances to performance that are the benchmark of top a cappela performers. Seamless and fluid, mellifluous yet never lulling to sleep, sensitive in both piano and forte, Rajaton restored
the energy to the audience that had perhaps been sapped by the frenetic screamscape that had preceeded them on stage.
Unlike Huutajat, Rajaton know that there has to be substance to entertainment. Rajaton puts music first, and more than salvaged an evening dedicated to the human voice. All the sound and fury around Huutajat could not make up for their one dimensional shock value. Rajaton’s highly innovative performance and exquisite selection of programme material made the second half of an evening of new Finnish music a concert to remember.

The Huutajat (Screaming Men) in concert at the Metropolitan Church on June 7th. Below: Rajaton (Without Borders) mesmerizes a packed house. Photo: Minna Harmaala