Ameriikan Poijat performs in Naselle

The Minnesota based Finnish brass septet "Ameriikan Poijat" (Boys of America) celebrates its 35th anniversary and has planned to continue to observe this landmark with a concert tour to the West Coast. They have been presenting music in concerts, at ethnic festivals, in regional tours, and at music conferences, and recreating authentic social dance music, along with concert repertoire, from a bygone era. “Poijat” was formed in Northfield, Minnesota, and made its first concert tour to a FinnFest in Florida, and its first trip to Finland in 1992 for the Finnish 75th anniversary, and has returned several times, including the Finnish Centennial in 2017.

The Ameriikan Poijat’s purpose is to preserve and perform traditional Finnish brass septet music for the benefit of both Finnish American audiences, and for music lovers in general. This goal incorporates performing, doing historical research into the repertoire and performance practice, educating audiences and the performers about the unique medium, publicizing, and recording to reach a wider audience, and encouraging living composers to write or arrange new material for the ensemble. They have released six CDs, and twenty-five sheet music publications for band with an emphasis on Finnish American composers and arrangers. Paul Niemistö has recently published a book on Finnish brass bands in America, “Cornets and Pickaxes, Finnish Brass on the Iron Range”. They will grace the Naselle and local folk with a free concert on Saturday, August 3rd beginning at 4:00 p.m. at the Naselle school. You don’t want to miss this exciting performance. Please contact bibs40@hotmail.com for more information. Donations at the door accepted. For more information contact bibs40@hotmail.com or go to the FinFest website: nasellefinnfest.com.