Interview with Tuomas Holopainen`s mother. (with english and russian transltions) |
Nightwish -osuus Tuomaksen äidin haastattelusta.
Interview with Tuomas Holopainen`s mother.
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Kitee is in North Karelia and its population is 9,500. It’s the 106th biggest municipality in Finland. It was founded already in 1600s, but it was classified as a town only 17 years ago. Finland’s first steamship Ilmarinen was built in Puhos, Kitee. The Finns have traditionally associated Kitee to pesäpallo (Finnish baseball) and moonshine (illicitly-distilled corn whiskey). In the world, people associate Kitee to Nightwish. The band’s original vocalist Tarja Turunen and the leader Tuomas Holopainen are born in Kitee, just like Holopainen’s mother Kirsti Nortia-Holopainen.
- Here are some of Tuomas’s gold and platinum albums, the ones he hasn’t wanted to hang on the walls of his own house. He wanted to leave them here, to his first home. His old room is here upstairs and the rewards will be here until he decides to take them to his own house.
Kirsti Nortia-Holopainen, you are called the Nightwish-Mama.
- Sometimes I feel that it’s a bit weird title, but it’s true that I’m often called the Nightwish-Mama or Nightwish-äiti (in Finnish).
Which one of these gold and platinum albums is the most important to you?
- I’m not sure about the albums, but I have a favourite song.
OK. What’s your favourite song then?
- It’s Meadows of Heaven from their latest album Dark Passion Play. I also like Swanheart, Angels Fall First and many others. But I can’t choose between these gold and platinum albums. One of them is even quad platinum.
What makes Meadows of Heaven the most important song to you?
- Its message, lyrics and composition. When I heard it for the first time, I thought “Oh, dear”. I dare to say that I’m proud of our son.
When did you realize that Tuomas is musically talented?
- There is no exact moment, but very early. I used to sing lullabies to him and he listened to them carefully. At first he started humming and later sang along. We had a piano, and Tuomas started to thrum it as soon as he was tall enough to reach the keys. And a bit later he learned to play the songs we had sung together. He kept picking the tune until he played it correctly.
You’ve had a lot of artistically or musically talented people in the family, both from the Siirala and Nortia families.
- Yes. It’s very fortunate, that there are talented people both in his mother’s and father’s families. My father was a good painter and there are musically talented people in both families. And it’s culminated in Tuomas.
And it makes you happy.
- Yes, it makes me very happy. My son can do what he wants to do and is good at it.
The albums are on the walls here upstairs. Here’s also Tuomas’s old room, but Tuomas didn’t move very far away.
- I’m glad that he didn’t. We all still live in Kitee. Kitee means a lot to us and Tuomas has finally got his own house. This room used to be his Disney room, but he moved the stuff to his own house.
Tuomas Holopainen is known to be a big Disney fan.
- That’s 100 percent true. He started to like Donald Duck when he was less than two years old. Nowadays he has got a huge amount of Disney products. This old room has become almost like a museum. There are a lot of stuffed toys and other gifts from fans on the bed. Tuomas respects these gifts so much that we don't dare to move them even if we have night guests, so the guests have to sleep on the floor.
Your boy is quite pedant.
- Yes he is, and I’m happy about it. It’s always nice to visit his house. He likes to keep his stuff in order and enjoys living in his shack, as he calls it.
Kirsti Nortia-Holopainen, as a teacher you've been in contact with young people, so you must have got used to being the Nightwish-Mama. What kind of experiences do you have as the “mother of Nightwish”?
- I’ve seen the world. We don’t tour with the band, but I’ve seen many concerts. Especially the concerts outside Finland have had a very nice feeling. It’s hard to describe, because the audience is so good in Finland too, but somehow it has been unique to see their concerts outside Finland.
How does it feel, for example, in the United States to see Nightwish coming to stage and people applauding? How do you as the mother and Pena as the father feel it?
- I’m a very emotional person, so I start to cry when the music starts and the band arrives on stage. My voice almost starts to shake when I talk about it. The audience’s reaction makes this rural mother very confused. It feels strange that our yokel boy from Kitee has become so famous.
But Nightwish fans also recognize you, Tuomas’s parents.
- It has been really confusing. We’ve experienced it many times that when we are going to a concert, for example, walking through a park and there is a hundreds of meters long queue and someone in the queue recognizes us as Tuomas’s parents, leaves the queue and comes to ask an autograph or wants to take a picture with us. It feels quite extraordinary.
Tuomas writes on his website that his idols are his mother and father.
- That’s one of the biggest compliments I’ve ever received.
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