Around forty invited guests – including journalists and photographers from the local press and a number of Irish and British Oulu residents  – turned up at Oulu City Hall at mid-day to watch the formal opening ceremony. Guests dressed smartly with one even opting for the full Scottish kilt, sporran and ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ waistcoat. The event began with Finnish musician Markus Lampela playing on the uillean pipes a tune specifically written for the occasion – the Road North.

 
Brent Cassidy, Oulu Irish Music Society Secretary, gave the first speech.  An Irish-American who has lived in Oulu for nine years, Mr. Cassidy welcomed everybody, first in Irish then in English, before telling the audience about the history of the society. It was founded in October 2005 and now organises regular Irish music sessions in Oulu and is a significant cultural presence, promoting Celtic culture in the city and throughout northern Finland. The society also promotes co-operation between Finnish and Irish students and tourism between the Oulu region and Ireland. Mr. Cassidy went through the festival’s schedule, thanked the sponsors and emphasised that the festival would be rounded off with ‘fish and chips,’ a traditional meal in both the UK and Ireland.

Oulu’s Director of Cultural Affairs, Risto Vuori, then welcomed everybody on behalf of the city council, claiming it had 25 million euros to spend on cultural projects.  It would like to use Oulu’s ‘cultural diversity’ as a significant part of the city’s bid to become ‘European City of Culture,’ its most recent bid having been unsuccessful. He praised the Oulu Irish Music Society and the festival as an important contribution both to Oulu culture and this bid, thanking Mr. Cassidy in particular for all his work.

The audience were then treated to a set by the Oulu-based  band ‘Soap Pig,’ named after a poem by contemporary Irish poet Paul Muldoon. The band included Mr. Cassidy, thumping away on the bodhran, and Oulu University’s Professor of English Literature on the fiddle. The lively performance was enjoyed by everybody, though nobody got up to dance.

After the gigs, Oliver Hussey, an Oulu resident from Galway in the west of Ireland and Chairman of the Irish Music Society, talked about the extent of Irish music in Oulu. According to Mr. Hussey, there are fifteen Irish music bands in Oulu, many of whose members have spent considerable time in Ireland, some even participating in music competitions there. They include such names as ‘Home Brew’ and ‘The Brogues’ and he pointed out that there have been Irish music bands in Oulu as far back as 1985. Mr. Hussey also put in a plug for the Irish story telling event at Oulu Library, which he would be  hosting on Saturday.

His Excellency Antoin MacUnfraidh, the Irish Ambassador to Finland, then took to the podium. He began speaking in Irish in order to emphasise that ‘Finland isn’t the only country in Europe with an impossible language!’ He made no bones about the sometimes difficult co-habitation of Ireland’s two cultures.  Focusing on music, so central to Irish culture, he explained that the harp is the symbol of Ireland and is stamped on its Euro coins. When he was young, Irish music was not an honoured tradition in Ireland and was considered ‘uncool,’ something from the countryside. This began to change in the 1950’s and 1960’s as Irish music began to become popular in the towns, as Irish bands such as The Chieftains rose to international prominence. Mentioning such famous names as Bob Geldolf, the Cranberries, and U2, he explained the cross-fertilising influence of contemporary Irish pop on the traditional Irish folk style. He also discussed the revival in Ireland of traditional ‘step’ dancing (as popularised by River Dance) and Ireland’s folk stories, many of which, he commented, were passed on orally - amongst people who could not read - and survived since the 5th and 6th centuries. Mr. MacUnfraidh praised the goals of the festival and officially declared it open.      
  
 Eddie Keenan, from the Falls Road in Belfast, then sang unaccompanied a traditional, Irish nationalist song. ‘Roisin Dubh’ - ‘The Dark Rose’ in translation and pronounced ‘rosheen doo’ - was, Mr. Keenan explained, a metaphor for Ireland dating from the time when it was ‘illegal’ for Irish song-writers to openly write patriotic songs about their nation. Mr. Keenan is a well-known folk singer, Irish-language teacher and political figure in Belfast. He was active in Republican politics (fighting for a united Ireland) from a young age and was imprisoned for five years, without trial, in 1940, when he was only nineteen. He escaped by climbing over the prison-yard wall using blankets but was recaptured a year later. He was interned again in August 1971, for nine months, and in July 1976 his daughter and son-in-law were assassinated by Loyalist (Pro-British side) paramilitaries. Mr. Keenan delivered the plaintive song with great passion and emotion and the clearly moved audience responded with lengthy applause.     
   
The crowd then mingled, enjoying the champagne, courtesy of Oulu City Council, while Oulu Irish Music Society officials and performers posed for the press.

Afterwards, the organisers and Mr. Keenan retired to one of Oulu’s Irish pubs to relax, listen to Irish music and swig a well-deserved Irish whiskey.