Kirsi Storckovius - free time diseuse

Kirsi recitate Finnish poems to audience

Has got Finland strong literature culture?
Yes we have. For example Kalevala...Also Tolkien was fascinated by it. But Finnish as a language is quite young.As a Finn, I should yes, we have strong literature culture :-).

How is literature life in Turku?
In 70ties here was poetry underground. Today the poetry is very strong again and I have been happy to meet young authors.  Recitation has been strong also - as a performance and also as readings from books.


When did you start to recitate?
All of us did recitate at school. I always liked it. But I was very busy in other things. I started 7 years ago again, it started to be popular nowadays. I did it also because of my work, I am doing marketing. And verbal skills are very important in this field.Today texts of poems are sometimes very hard to perform. It has started to be popular also perform in dialects. I am always pleased, when I see a lot of people in audience. It is interesting to work with poetry and give to it a different atmosphere. In our recitation club, there are 70 members, we meet and practice. Some authors don´t like recitation as they think it is "old fashioned", but it depends how you do it. 


From where Finnish literature comes from? 
I think mostly from daily life, life in general. Nothing specific...


What do you like to recitate the most?
Eino Leino - his language is beautiful. He was master of words. Sometimes it is hard not to sing it. I also like beautiful songs, because life can be sometimes very hard. 
 


Which skills should have a good recitator?
Good voice, for sure. You must know how to handle your body and voice and also how to use your emotion capacity. The hardest is to be present indeed and to react on audience...


Who was the most difficult author you have recitate? 
Lauri Viita, it was hard to learn the text by heart. It always helps me to know background of writer, so I can better understand what and why he writes in a particular way. Viita was schizophrenic and sometimes his text seem to be real nonsense - in a very bright and clever way.