The story behind the Walk of Fame
The music scene in Tampere is exceptionally active and versatile by all measures. Every year, several dozen music festivals are held in the city, and Tampere also hosts the most live gigs in Finland relative to the number of residents. There are approximately 20 active gig venues and the same number of record labels. Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra is the northern crown jewel of classical music, and at the other end of the scale, the city's foolishly broad and high-quality underground scene produces indie gems from extreme metal to electro. Music x Media, established by Tampere music pioneers in 1989, is the most important event for music professionals in the Nordic countries.
While Helsinki is the commercial centre of the Finnish music industry, Tampere is the spiritual home and melting furnace: a place where the agrarian spirit and urban heartbeat merged into down-to-earth, unpretentious, uncompromising, and thoroughly Finnish popular music.
While rising production costs and energy crises began to erode the viability of traditional industries in the 1970s, the student movement of the 1960s, the relaxation of censorship and alcohol policy and especially the crumbling power of big music houses and the unified culture at the turn of the 1970s gave birth to the counterculture and the current popular music scene in Tampere.
The Old Student House, one of the classics of Finnish venues, opened in its current form in 1969. In 1971, Tapio Korjus established an event agency in Tampere, which later developed into Rockadillo Records. In 1972, the music magazine Musa was born, and Soundi and Pahkasika followed three years later. Epe's, opened by Epe Helenius in 1972, was the first Finnish record shop that focused on rock music, and in 1977 Helenius founded the legendary Poko Rekords. Tampere’s journey to become the star of Finnish music life had begun.
The Tulli area is perhaps the best symbol of Tampere's transformation from an industrial city to a cultural one. In 1970s, more and more buildings and city plans shifted their focus towards commercial and office uses, which was the first concrete, local manifestation of change in post-industrial times. Towards the end of the 1980s, the rate of change accelerated even further. Tampere Hall was inaugurated in 1990, and the cultural focus of the Tulli area was strengthened when Tullikamari and Pakkahuone became a cultural centre in 1988. In 1996, the old mill of Maantuote was transformed into Telakka, a cultural venue and restaurant.
(Source: Analyysiraportti: Tullin alueen yleissuunnitelma 22.2.2016)
