Huutajat: The Shout is Out!

The Museum of Modern Art plays host to a group of shouting Finns this Sunday and Monday, when Huutajat (Screaming Men) performs at P.S.1 and MOMA's Manhattan digs, respectively. I think they'll also be in DC (which still has no voting representation in Congress) on Wednesday. Tipping me off to these events is a group member I know through our mutual interest in a certain publicity-shy writer from Long Island.

From the website of P.S.1, where the group is to perform on Sunday, September 14, from 2:00-3:00pm:

HUUTAJAT (Screaming Men) is a men's choir, that doesn't sing a note. 20-40 decently dressed men enter the venue with a paramilitary manner and scream, bellow or shout excerpts of national anthems, children's ditties or international treaties. The result can be a true life picture or a mean caricature about Western discipline or gentlemen's clubs, about forced sociability or revealed private emotions.

The choir has unintentionally become one of the most popular ambassadors of new Finnish art scene. Their performances have been seen at highly appreciated music festivals as well as in museums of contemporary art.

Petri Sirviö is the founder, composer and conductor of the group. Sometimes, when the choir is out of reach or resting, he also sets up installations with videos, transcriptions and audio devices.

The documentary Screaming Men is now on view at P.S.1’s exhibition Arctic Hysteria: New Art from Finland through September 15.

I'm told that the group will also perform at 4:00 pm at the midtown MOMA.

Here's a trailer for the movie...


Source (1:06)


...and here's some old footage of the group, for all you nostalgia freaks out there.



Source (1:47)