“Muistojen Bulevardi” (The Boulevard of Memories) is a French style musette waltz composed by the Finnish composer Börje Sundgren. The singer, Laila Kinnunen, sings this beautiful song brilliantly accompanied by the great orchestra.

”Muistojen Bulevardi” on Börje Sundgrenin säveltämä ranskalaistyyppinen musettevalssi, johon Sundgren kirjoitti sanat yhdessä Sauvo ”Saukki” Puhtilan kanssa. Laila Kinnunen levytti laulun vuonna 1966, ja se jäi hänen viimeiseksi levytyksekseen Scandia-yhtiössä.

Photo / kuva: Nils Wasastjerna, Helsingin kaupunginmuseo (Helsinki City Museum).

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Muistojen Bulevardi (The Boulevard of Memories)
Sung by Laila Kinnunen
Music by Börje Sundgren
Lyrics by Börje Sundgren and Solja Tuuli (pseudonym of Sauvo Puhtila)
Arranged by Esko Linnavalli
Accompanied by the Esko Linnavalli Orchestra
Recorded in 1966, Scandia Label, Helsinki, Finland


FRIENDS TALK ABOUT LAILA

“She achieved the same effect with her singing as a musician does with their instrument. She listened to music with every part of her being and was also a skilled improviser who threw herself into the music. It was very characteristic of Laila to throw herself into it. She concentrated completely on her work, devoted herself to it.” – Jaakko Salo, arranger, conductor, composer and producer

“Laila was one of us musicians, really. Above all, she was a top professional with an excellent work ethic, and when you combine that with her attractiveness, the result was something quite unique. [...] She had no difficulty learning, for example, intervals which are the distance between any two notes. If I had to describe Laila with one word, it might be ‘band’. ‘Band’ contains it all.” – Esa Pethman, Finnish jazz musician and composer

“I started by testing her abilities with hits and then moved on to more and more jazzy songs. This [16-year-old] girl was able to keep up with astonishing skill. Then I told her, ‘let’s try All of Me’. I thought, this one she won’t be able to sing for sure. I was even more surprised. Laila sang it like a seasoned professional. [...] I noticed her pure timbre, excellent sense of rhythm and musician-like touch.” – Lasse Pihlajamaa, accordionist and music director

“You could often see Laila Kinnunen having dinner there [the Adriano Bar in Lappeenranta] – the most famous, most talented and best female singer in Finland at the time. She radiated a unique energy and above all she was a natural performer. She spoke Italian fluently, although she couldn’t always find the words. If she couldn’t think of a word immediately, she’d gesticulate wildly just like we do in my home country. [...] Of course, Laila’s Italian-born boyfriend was there too. We had fun, we enjoyed good food and each other’s company.” – Adriano Vinciguerra, the Italian musician and restaurateur who started the first pizza restaurant in Finland

“Her musicality was truly amazing. She was a phenomenon! I often thought to myself, what a magnificent singer with international-level skills that girl is. She could have conquered the world! The masterly singing, the looks, the charisma, the incredible language skills. I often asked her what was she doing here, why didn’t she go abroad. ‘Go to Paris, I’m sure you’d soon be singing at Salle Pleyel like Edith Piaf in her time, or go to Rome...’ Laila just laughed. She thought it was funny, an impossible idea. It wasn’t. It was true.” [See the comment below.] – Italian musician and music director Victor Esposito, who worked in Finland in the 1960s

“Laila was a brilliant singer who impressed me deeply with her spontaneity and talent. A short while ago, I watched one of her performances on the Internet to see how she interpreted Guaglione [...]. That performance and interpretation says a lot about her – Laila was not just a singer, but an artist and actress. She also sang perfectly in Italian.” – Italian singer Umberto Marcato, who worked in Finland in the 1960s

“I thought, here’s a woman who’s a performer to her core, singing is not just singing to her but much more. [...] She practised the songs so well that when it was time to record, Laila just walked through the door and sang everything onto the tape on the first go. Sometimes the orchestra played something wrong, and some bits had to be revised many times. But the recording never had to be interrupted because of Laila.” – Rauno Lehtinen, conductor, arranger, musician and composer

The quotations about Laila Kinnunen are from the book Lailan laulu (2002) by Tuija Wuori-Tabermann and Tommy Tabermann. – Engl. transl. by Taina Pemberton

Comment: Kinnunen didn’t want to leave Finland. Long engagements in foreign countries were an abomination to her. She felt homesick whenever she toured across Europe. Rauno Lehtinen has said: “Many times Laila told me happily, ‘Ah, it’s so wonderful to go performing on a decent international stage again.’ But she added in the same breath, ‘Except that I get homesick already at the airport.’”

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