Ikaalinen is an old tourist attraction in Finland. Its spa tradition dates back to the last century and folk music, especially accordion music is one of its traditions. Its beautiful landscape has always fascinated visitors. During the last decades Ikaalinen developed into a versatile service centre with good business, educational and recreational facilities. Today about 55% of the population earns its living from the service sector and 15% from agriculture, which has always provided an important source of income. The biggest industrial plants are Finlayson, Upofloor, Georgia Pacific Paper, Amerplast, Honkarakenne, Keskus-Sähkö, H&H Siporex and Katsa.
E-mail: juhlat@satahamesoi.fi |
The Accordion in Ikaalinen |
A large part of the accordion life in Finland is centered in Ikaalinen and is formed into three groups, the Sata-Häme Soi Accordion Festival, the Finnish Accordion Association and the Finnish Accordion Institute. |
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The 32nd Annual International Sata-Häme Soi - Accordion Festival is being held from June 28 - July 3, 2005 amidst the beautiful parks and wooden houses of Ikaalinen, Finland which is nestled on the banks of Lake Kyrösjärvi, the 49th largest lake in Finland covering 96.2 square km. 'Sata-Häme' is the region of Finland in which Ikaalinen is found and is home to the largest Spa and Indoor Swimming and Water complex in Scandinavia.
During the Sata-Häme Soi Accordion Festival a highly diverse program has been arranged around the accordion and its related instruments with the diverse variety of events guranteeing something for everyone.
The recently renovated "Oma Tupa" Hall (left) will host a variety of music including Folk Music and Dancing, Swing, Jazz and more. The White Rose and televised Golden Accordion Competition will be held in the Ikaalinen Hall, and others such as that by Pavel Fenjuk from Ukraine for the first time in Finland will be held at the Ikaalinen Church which is pictured left. In addition, concerts will be held at the Spa Open Air Theater, Festival Park, the Yellow School, the Red School (right), the Accordion Pub and other venues all located within short walking distances from each other. The outdoor venues of Festival Park and the Accordion Pub will ensure that music is heard in every corner of Ikaalinen!
The Church of Ikaalinen (left) was designed by Thure G. Wennberg and was completed in 1801. It is a wooden cruci-form church with a seating capacity of 1,100. 
Festival Office
The Sata-Häme Soi Ikaalinen Accordion Festival offers performances and concerts covering a broad range of styles as you can see from these pages which review the 2004 Festival. The Sata-Häme Soi also has an annual winter accordion cruise which attracts thousands from all over Finland.
The Finnish Accordion Institute caters to academic accordion activities with the archives of accordion activities, publishing new and past accordion works, CD's and other important accordion projects, including a museum and offering support for the summer festival and cruise. 
(It should also be mentioned that in addition to these three groups promoting the accordion, many conservatories also accept the accordion for studies, the most famous being the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki which has both Classical and Folk departments.)
1. Juhlatoimisto