Anni Murtosaari is one of the driving forces behind the Gothic-Hippie-Industrial-Psytrance scene in Finnland.
How many parties do you do per year, how do you call them, and in which locations do you do them?
Uffff, Last year I calculated 30 gigs because i do many genres. The basic setup each year is to produce: Kosmos Festival preparty tour during spring, 5 different cities, Underground Keskimaa Gathering near Jyväskylä, Anime convention afterparty in Kuopio, Kosmos Festival in Ristiina, Underground Bermuda Gathering in eastern finland, Psyyskuu clubnight/ug in Kuopio, Club Infektio gothic events (4 times per year)
Las year we also made Assembly Rave during the biggest computer festival.
Who are the crew members of the parties you organize in Finnland, what are their names, and why do you like to work with them together, what are their (good) qualities?
Oh I work as a part of almost all organizations in Finlnad. We have many crews in many cities. But if we organize our own parties, we like to include good workers with us. I normally invite people from my ex hometown, Suvi making food and playing as a DJ, Kim serving chai, Pyry working as stage manager, Niki working with lasers, visuals & lights (we have a combined studio here and we do gigs together).
And of my boyfriend Jukka helps me with all kinds of things. And for deco stuff I have different people in many cities to offer a helping hand. But as choosing whom to work with, those all know their place talent and are motivated to do stuff. And the main goal is to produce quality parties. We have had people who say “let me help” and the helping ends up as drinking beer/smoking joints when others are working. Thanks for the help m8.
When we do gigs in different cities, the top notch organizer in my opinion here is Miika Löytynoja. He can handle all situations with good humor and keep things together. He is also a team member of Kosmos Festival, the biggest psy festival in Finland. We have done many deco gigs together and his deco group is called Taiga Art.
Good point. Do you emphasis a certain diet?
Freegan I try to choose vegetarian options when possible, but also if someone offers food i dont refuse to eat meat. Or if the food is ment to be thrown away, everything goes. And the main goal is to change peoples opinions that vegetarian food can’t be good & tasty.
Btw during that event the band members said that they only eat meat. Well we had this dinner gathering all artists together and most of us were vegans. I made mushroom/soy bolognese and the “meat eaters” picked up third round of the food. Lifegoals.
Same thing when we made a party at Gran Canary, we prepared one huge kettle full of food and served it from my fiends’ car to the crew members. It’s been one of the biggest goals during the few years to keep healthy boogie. One friend from the DJ collective of our ex hometown has profession as a chef, and she organizes parties here. Dinner and breakfast are included in the party ticket. So you don’t have to choose to spend your money to drugs or food, or you won’t be destroyed if you forgot to shop snacks.
Here the forest parties are like 50km away, in the middle of the woods. No shops, nothing.
The video shown is from a party in a gothic Club in Finland. Please tell me more about it!
Club Infektio is originally a gothic club! But making Noizus anniversary we decided to bring his soundscapes into it, he combines psy, hardcore & industria. But for example in Tenerife he played only psytrance. It depends what kind of audience. But that kind of hybrid concept was noticed internationally after the event. People from bigger acts like Juno reactor commented that this is needed.
We haven’t seen this kind of party here in Finland before. Normally those two groups party separate, hippies and goths. But we had people from many different scenes, hippies, goths, fetish ppl, otakus, hardstyle ravers. And all were enjoying in good atmosphere. If the party is made with love and effort, it really reflects to the audience. Also if it’s made with stress and the purpose to make loads of money, it reflects. Or as a good excuse to take drugs. Of course you have to include all these things somehow. U have to make some money to cover all fees, tolerate that partygoers will take drugs, stress out a bit to make the best result.
But our main goal is to keep ppl happy and well. Thats why food and hot drinks were served during the party at the side of basic alcohol sales Keep sugar levels up and ppl happy.
What are your plans for the future? Do you have any new formats in mind? new concepts?
lanning to focus more on interactive stuff, combining visuals and decos. Focusing more on decorating. And helping others to organize parties by giving good advice. Because all my time now is dedicated for art. The Infektio party was organized by my bf Jukka and it was his first production. I was his left hand telling what to do because i had organized parties a lot before.
Thank You Anni for your time and I hope there will be more Psytrance Parties in Finnland.
Jukka’s page, he plays music as NoiZu: https://www.mixcloud.com/NoiZu/
