Gói - Pohojan Akka (Lyric Video)

Pohjan akka (also known as Louhi) - who is known as one of the leading characters of Finland’s national epic Kalevala* - was a mighty ruler of the mythical Pohjola. Strong, defiant and cruel, but also a protective mother, and a witch, who cared for her people. She could change her form, command the course of the sun, moon and weather, heal diseases and give birth to the most extraordinary creatures.
Distant and cold Pohjola is described as the source of many bad things, such as diseases and frost. Pohjola was the realm of Pohjan akka and despite its reputation, the good conditions of its inhabitants were envied. So, many tried to woo Pohjan akka's supernaturally beautiful daughters.
This mythological female leader, the Lady of Pohjola, is described in Elias Lönnrot's Kalevala as an ugly, old and nasty hag. That is how she is also depicted in several illustrations. For example, she is portrayed as an illegitimate harlot and blamed for causing diseases, ailments and problems. It could be interpreted that this was subsequently men's derogatory way of criticizing female leadership.
In this song, we strive to deconstruct the notions of bad, ugly old crone. Of course, we describe Pohjan akka as defiant and violent, but so were the male leaders of the time. Pohjan akka did what she saw was necessary back then to protect her people. A woman was not only a sensitive, gentle and loving mother or wife, but also able to be a defiant, strong and unwavering leader of her tribe, who took care of her own.
In the song we strive to express the personality of Pohjan akka with dualistic symbolism, which is for example represented in a symbol such as yin and yang. In the personality of Pohjan akka femininity and masculinity, darkness and light, cruelty and tenderness, as well as hatred and love are manifested. We also wanted to bring out this symbolism into the picture attached to this post; darkness and light meet each other in the form of female figures. The women hold Völva's staff in their hands (Völva was a female religious leader and seer).
According to some theories, Kalevala's Pohjola could have been located in Kyrönmaa, South Ostrobothnia, where we come from and where we usually focus the stories of our music. It has also been interpreted that Pohjan akka would have been a shaman.
A part of Völva's staff has been found in the Pukkila boat cremation grave located in Isokyrö, South Ostrobothnia. It is estimated that it is the grave of a female chief. This and Pohjola's possible placement in Kyrönmaa gave us the inspiration and idea for our song “Pohojan Akka.”
*Kalevala is Finland's national epic, which is based on the Finnish-Karelian folk poems collected by Elias Lönnrot since 1828. Lönnrot edited, corrected and unified their language and context, and made up some of the verses himself to form coherent plot patterns.
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Gói is a music project by Rauni Rannanjärvi, Iida Mäkelä & Samuli Ylinen from South Ostrobothnia, Finland. They create music with an ancient touch and enliven the image of Western Finnish history by telling stories and using the South Ostrobothnian dialect. This music aims to create authentic and intensive soundscapes.
► Composition & instruments: Rauni Rannanjärvi
► Vocals: Rauni Rannanjärvi & Iida Mäkelä
► Lyrics: Taina Hautamäki
► Mixing & mastering: Samuli Ylinen
► Instagram: @goibandofficial
► Facebook: / goibandofficial
► Bandcamp: gimusic3.bandcamp.com/
► Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/0whUR...
► Promo picture by Netta Vaskivuori
► Video and photo editing by Ronja Rikissa
► Logo design by Heikki Harmainen

[@FinlandAC]

arvostan että suomen historiaa otetaan esiin

[@Herknungr]

You guys deserve to be super famous like the well knowns.

[@JSTNtheWZRD]

FINNS? Hahaha

[@arghah1166]

Tää on todella vaikuttava! Vanha suomen kieli on oikeasti kaunista verrattuna nykyiseen anglismeilla ja uudissanoilla täytettyyn puuropuheeseen.

[@BorderGuardJaegerFinlandia]

In Finnish history all Finnish women have been powerful and admired just like all the men of Finland..... 🇫🇮🇫🇮🇫🇮💪🙏

[@annajay7063]

Oh hell ye, tässä on mun uusi voimalaulu.

[@jaanakuusela]

Tämä on uskomattoman upea biisi! Niin voimallinen!😍💥💥💥

[@end0skeleton404]

Ilmiömäistä työtä

[@WolfenSköllMountains]

I heard this music and also Vainolaanen on the Herknungr radio channel, I found it extremely fascinating, what beautiful music you girls make!!!! beautiful letter! it up uploading more videos and more music, from now on you have a new follower!!!!⚔🔥🐺😍

[@end0skeleton404]

Christians will love this, I'm the 666th subscriber! Great stuff, I'll definitely be in full attire during Halloween playing this while walking the streets. Thank you! I have a big family tree from Finland and have always loved the Nordic cultures in general.

[@NoiR1111111]

Ai meiltä löytyy Suomesta tällainen? Ai hyvän tähe sentää! 😍 Aivan mahtava kotimainen löytö tämä. Mahtava biisi, tranasinomainen poljento ja äänimaailma, vahva naisellinen energia. Lyriikat ihan spot on. Kiitos tästä! Lähempä tutustumaan paremmin tuotantoonne...

Kiitos, mahtava kuulla! ❤️😌

[@Cynicka1588]

I am learning more about my Finnish ancestry - I am absolutely in love with your music!!! Please keep creating - extraordinary talent!!!

[@sakukoo]

Hienoa tunnelmaa biisissä, oikein mainio! Väkevää voimaa. Täytyykin tutustua muuhunkin tuotantoonne.

[@syrway6561]

You get better and better with every new song! Te fact that there is a group that performs Finnish pagan for is a real treasure.

[@Pamelonskii]

Omg I love this song 😆😝❣️ Greetings from españa🤗

[@annqml]

Siis se on aivan uskomatonta ❤️❤️❤️Just amazing. I can't believe I've never heard this one before. And I really love this proper explanation in the description. Greetings from Poland.

[@AzaleaIsCool]

I am learning about Finnish Paganism atm and wow this completely changed what i thought Pojohan Akka, Thank you for this song

[@donsaivan3225]

This is absolutely perfect! Thank you very much for this experience 🙏 Greetings

[@Herknungr]

Wow very powerful sounding!

[@Comin201]

This is what I play on repeat in my cyberpunk truck bumper Padalecki with a 15 & 2 10s in the trunk it's amazing cuz i got tinted windows so ya cant see in 😂🎉 great stuff when stopping at a red light in the brookside hotel district NYC

[@Comin201]

🇫🇮

[@The_OEK]

This is amazing. I was lucky to have had this song on my "Release radar" on Spotify.

[@knarp7063]

Same, and fittingly it started playing while I was hunting animals in Far Cry Primal.

[@AppalachianCycle]

You are truly a great group, even on par with hielung. No joke, this is top notch.

[@RonjaRikissa]

Makes me shiver every single time. This is more than music.

[@S7yx0]

Intense and insanely good !

[@TheDingelidong]

Mahtavaa, hypnoottista 👍

[@rjtheoret]

This is amazing. I can feel this song in my soul.

[@lukaskubinec9608]

I was hoping so much you would release new music, dreams finally be coming true 😌😌Now I am hoping for full album.

[@aaronmykemusic]

Love this song! Can’t wait to hear more music from you!

[@krispociask1588]

More, please!

[@end0skeleton404]

I second this!

[@ulf369]

Kiitos❤

[@kar0l96]

Tää on kova. Upee veto.

[@DioLuki]

thank you so much for the info in the description, the song is also amazig

[@basierteralamanne5373]

I have been listening to your music for over a year, not knowing if you were still active. And today you gave me the answer… and what an answer this is! I usually don't write comments, but I just had to, because I want to help you gain more listeners, since that is how the algorithm works… more comments etc. I‘m really looking forward to further sounds and thank you for the great and truly natural music! Greetings from the Alps to the high north of Scandinavia! Beste Grüsse!

A warm thank you🖤

[@SOULTOSKIN]

Second this!!! would love to see them live one day

[@gabrielgabriel5177]

Southern ostrobotnian dialect form western finland - most traditional area in whole finland 🇫🇮

[@saerdnawest9712]

Great Sound 😍

[@TheChap1970]

hope you will do more song soon , love what you do

[@theseerofthe9realms]

Favorite song excellent music

[@earthwanderer4756]

Love your sounds! It was nice to meet you all at the Midgardsblot fest :)

[@Kelly_Cook]

aw man. I wish I knew they were there. I would have loved to meet them. Maybe next year.

[@petemander1777]

Found via a post on a Heilung facebook fan page,, So glad I clicked this link.. Absolutely incredible track! new sub here. and love the description , thank you

[@miaow8670]

I'm completely new to your production, and I can say with honesty that I'm absolutely impressed. I've seen people in the comments bring up a comparison with Heilung (of which I'm a big fan), which kind of suggests itself because the style of the music, the intense trance-like atmosphere it creates, the instruments and mixing style, and the vocal and rhythmic techniques used are indeed very much alike (on the whole); but at the same time, this song is still perfectly unique and original on its own, it has its own identity - not only for the different cultural and mythological backgrounds and a different choice of certain musical instruments, but also for the language, since Finnish (and especially the South Ostrobothnian dialect) simply hits differently than, say, German, Old English, or Old Norse; it has its own distinctive vibe, mysterious, elegant, fierce, and extremely powerful at the same time. (And by the way, I'm actually learning Finnish and this song gave my motivation such a rocket boost! It's going right now to my learning resources and I won't sleep at peace until I've fully memorised the lyrics and am able to sing along during listening. 😌) I wholeheartedly agree with others that this song's quality is fully comparable to that of Heilung's music, and it is just as addictive and magically captivating - it's one of the tunes I'm going to replay over and over and be entranced by it still the same (I've already listened to it like 6 times and am going to continue replaying). In my opinion, you have definitely succeeded in rendering the dualistic symbolism, because the song feels bone-chilling as well as fiery, disturbing and frightening as well as healing and reassuring, fierce as well as peaceful, tearing apart as well as unifying, sunken in darkness as well as rising to light, conveying visceral hatred as well as caring love, exactly as you say. I'm going to discover more of your production now, and thank you so much for this wonderful piece! 👍👍👍

Your words mean a lot to us, thank you🖤 This is exactly what we aim to do with our music and it warms our heart to know it creates such thoughts and feelings to its listeners, and that the hard work we've done is considered as good quality. Also happy to hear we gave you motivation to learn more Finnish! 😌

[@zoolkhan]

backstage its a big family, but heilung is on the germanic side. try to not confuse.

[@kalnieminen65]

Suomen sielu voimillaan

[@lukaskubinec9608]

Merch when? 🤨🤨 I would try to get my hands on it instantly should you decide to create some. Also thank you very much for the explanation under the video....It is actually nice seeing that you tried to portray one of the maybe most shamed characters in Finnish mythology as not completely evil since everything in our world is not only black and white - so thank you for that. I think some other artists might have chosen Väinämöinen as a character for their song, that is why I appreciate other point of view.

Warm thank you🖤 Also nice to know you would be interested in buying our merch! That will be taken into consideration. Perhaps we'll create some by the time of our next release.

[@JCD0611]

5:00 so good!!!

[@skogarbui9524]

id love to throat sing to this track!

[@paulbadger]

This is really good!

[@mirna7608]

This is amazing!

[@mickgartondriver]

Excellent!

[@viruniagot1972]

Hello from Ukraine 🇺🇦 Your song is wonderful!

[@heidihynynen765]

Me and my sister ❤

[@heidihynynen765]

We look and sound like them. Our fights, our childhood and love. I'm the right one my lovely sis is dark hair. Height difference is also perfect. The song is perfect.

[@SinanAltun]

Extremely good!

[@marianne2401]

upea 😍

[@TheBroccoliFox]

[@zoolkhan]

minä peloittelen nyt vähän :)

[@maxlegermainalaman3883]

Wow i love that ! My cultur is germanic but i love slavic cultur too !

Thank you! 🖤 However, we would like to point out that the culture we are presenting is Western Finnish, and especially South Ostrobothnian, and it really has nothing to do with Slavic culture. Finland in general is not a slavic country. Finland belongs to the Nordic countries, and the Finnish language is Finno-Ugric. The cultural influences of western Finland are western, when the eastern Finland has more eastern influences. Actually, the cultural differences between eastern and western Finland are significant within the country. All in all, Finnish culture is very distinctive.