RIP Vesa-Matti Loiri

 

Vesa-Matti Loiri has died

 

Sweden Posts English

August 10, 2022

 

The actor, the singer and the entertainer Vesa-Matti Loiri has passed away on Wednesday, August 10, Helsingin Sanomat reports. He lived to be 77 years old.

Loiri’s longtime friend and manager Pete Eklund confirms the death to the newspaper.

Loiri is one of Finland’s best-known and popular entertainers of all time. He was active both as an actor in films and on stage, and also recorded 34 music albums.

Best known to a wide audience, however, he was in the role of the humor character Uuno Turhapuro, making 19 films as the popular character. Also other comic figures such as Nasse-setä and Jean-Pierre Kusela (known for the sketch “Naurava kulkuri” with its iconic cascade of laughter) have etched themselves into the consciousness of the Finnish people.

President Sauli Niinistö commented on the death notice on Twitter on Wednesday, writing that it is a great sadness that Loiri is gone. “You touched us Finns deeply in the soul. Have a nice trip to the unknown cabin, dear friend,” wrote Niinistö.

Loiri and Niinistö appeared on television together in 2015 when Niinistö participated in the discussion program Loirinuotiolla. That he was personally important to the President of the Republic and his wife Jenni Haukio could be guessed at the independence concert in Tampere in 2013, when Loiri had a big role in the program.

As an actor, he was awarded three Jussi statuettes during his career, for his debut as a 17-year-old in the film Pojat (1962), as well Shaved ramp (1976) and Pedon merkii (1982).

As a musician, Loiri played the flute and not infrequently jazz. He is pictured performing in the All Stars band at the Pori Jazz Festival which he performed at repeatedly.Lehtikuva

Crazy humor and depth

As a musician, the flute was his original instrument, which was also reflected in his singing Huilumie’s which was Finland’s Eurovision entry in 1980. It landed in last place in the competition.

Later, illness led to him being forced to put the flute on the shelf. As a singer, he went straight to the text and, like a trained actor, interpreted every word with fervor. As an interpreter, he had an incredible breadth: both the depth, for example, in the interpretations of Eino Leinos poems, and the crazy humor.

Lapland had a special place in his heart, he had a cabin at Enare träsk for several decades and several of his records were connected to Lapland. He collaborated with a wide range of important composers and songwriters, among them Henrik Otto Donner.

In 1972, Loiri participated in Alexis Kivis Seven brothers which was staged as a play at the newly renovated Turku City Theatre, directed by Kalle Holmberg. On the occasion was the recently deceased Finnish-Swedish theater director Ralf Långbacka theater director at the theatre.

Loiri studied at the Theater Academy between 1963 and 1966. He was born on January 4, 1945 in Helsinki.

LOIRI, Vesa-Matti

Born: 1/4/1945, Helsinki, Finland

Died: 8/10/2022, Helsinki, Finland

 

Vesa-Matti Lori’s westerns – director, actor, singer:

Speedy Gonzales – 1970 [writer]

The Unhanged – 1971 (Lone Ranger) [director, singer]