Ievan polkka

"Ievan polkka" (Savo Finnish for "Ieva's Polka") is a popular Finnish song with lyrics written in the early 1930s by Eino Kettunen to a traditional Finnish polka tune. The song is sung in very heavy Eastern Savonian dialects spoken in North Karelia. It takes the point of view of a young man and Ieva/Eva/Eeva in Finnish, who sneaks away to where everyone is dancing to a polka, and dances all night.

This article is about the song. For the band, see Loituma. For the animation, see Loituma Girl.

Origin

The melody of "Ievan Polkka" is very similar to that of Savitaipaleen polkka, and in South Karelia the Ievan Polkka is also known as "Savitaipaleen polkka".

The melody can be traced back to the Viipuri Province in the 17th century when the border with the Kingdom of Sweden ran west of the province. The number of Russian soldiers stationed in the border area outnumbered the locals for many decades. At the beginning of the 19th century collectors of Finnish folk dances and folk songs all mention that the dances in the area of Luumäki-Savitaipale were Russian dances only and didn't write them down. However, the polka genre is of much later date. Polka was introduced in northern Europe during the late 19th century, which implies that the actual tune as it is known today originates from this era.[1]

Popularity

Owing to its viral exposure in popular culture, Ievan Polkka has become one of the most famous Finnish songs in the world.

Very popular after World War II, the song was almost forgotten during the late 1970s and 1980s. The song resurfaced after an a cappella performance by the Finnish quartet Loituma, which was first released on their debut album, Loituma, in 1995. The album was released in the United States as Things of Beauty in 1998.

The "Loituma Girl" Orihime Inoue twirling her leek in the Flash animation

The a cappella version of the song acquired greater international popularity as part of an Internet phenomenon in the spring of 2006 when the Loituma Girl (also known as Leekspin), a looped Flash animation of anime character Orihime Inoue from the Bleach series twirling a leek, set to a scat singing section of Ievan Polkka sung by Loituma[2] was posted in Russian LiveJournal. For the animation, only the second half of the fifth stanza (four lines) and the complete sixth stanza (eight lines) are used. It quickly became a global hit and the song soon enjoyed overwhelming popularity as a ringtone.[3] Since then the song has been circulating and known under several misspelled variations of its original name or references to the animation, including "Ievas Polkka", "Levan Polkka" and "Leekspin Song". After the animation was posted, Ievan Polkka become widely known worldwide, with a significant rise of interest and recognition demonstrated by the search terms popularity.[4]

The Finnish folk song was also given popular covers by several Japanese Vocaloid singers, such as Megurine Luka, Kagamine Rin, and Kagamine Len. The most popular Vocaloid cover belonged to that of Hatsune Miku, garnering more than 5 million views on producer Otomania's official Niconico music video as of April 2020.[5] Its popularity has lent itself to being used in the Vocaloid rhythm game series Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA, mainly as tutorial music.[6] It has also been used in a commercial promoting the LG G5 smartphone.[7]

In 2012, folk metal band Korpiklaani recorded a cover on their eighth album Manala.

Furthermore, mobile ringtones based on various mixes of "Ievan Polkka" gained a wide popularity among Russian and Commonwealth of Independent States mobile subscribers in late 2006. The tune is also the theme song to the Internet sitcom Break a Leg; it was remixed by DJ Basshunter of Sweden, DJ Sharpnel of Japan, and Beatnick of Poland; and a version of the song performed by Anne Kulonen was part of a Ready Brek television advert aired in the United Kingdom.[8] Also, some videos show the Pokemon Farfetch'd spinning a leek.[9]

In 2016, Erika Ikuta, a member of Japanese girls group, Nogizaka46, sang Ievan Polkka as a part of her private segment on a web TV Show titled Nogizaka46 Hours TV. This song then became well known among Nogizaka46's fans. She later sang it on several occasions such as "JUNK Bananaman no Bananamoon GOLD" radio show, "Nogizaka Under Construction" TV show which aired on TV Aichi & "Banana Zero Music" music program which aired on NHK.

Performers

References
  1. Red. Greger Andersson, Musik i Norden, Musikaliska akad. Stockholm 1997, article "Spelmannen och hans musik"
  2. Werman, Marco (18 August 2006). "Global Hit" (radio). The World. Public Radio International. Retrieved 18 August 2006.
  3. Russian meme and cultural phenomena wiki Lurkmore - Yak Zup Zop article
  4. "Web Search interest: Ievan Polkka, Ievan Polka, Levan Polkka, Levan Polka - Worldwide, 2004 - present". Google Trends. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  5. "VOCALOID2 初音ミクに「Ievan Polkka」を歌わせてみた". Niconico. Retrieved 2020-04-18.
  6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsqa22EAbjA
  7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS6Xz9fhDUk
  8. "Ready Brek – Ready For Anything". TV Ad Music. 2009-07-01. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
  9. "Pokemon Loituma (Ieva's Polka) Farfetch'd!!!". YouTube. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
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