The Hoito Project – 2005

The Hoito Project is a combination DVD/CD that was recorded in Thunder Bay in July 2006. It features Finnish guitar legend Jukka Tolonen and his band, Cool Train, (Joonas Haavisto, Teemu Keranen, and Tuomas Timonen). They perform with local Northwestern musicians, Rodney Brown, Ari Lahdekorpi, Kim Erickson, Danny Johnson, Della Maki Bitove, Clay Breiland, and Esteban Figueroa. The DVD also contains recordings of Rauno Nieminen, Pekka Kappi, Marianne Maans, and Lauri Antila. The CD, mixed and mastered at Danalog Studios, contains additional music by artists such as Ken Hamm, Arto Jarvela, Pekka, Ryhanen. The project was a fundraising initiative to help restore the Finnish Labour Temple in Thunder Bay. The Labour Temple was built in 1910 and has hosted Finnish community events for the past century. In the first half of the twentieth century it was home to socialist organizations and served as a meeting place for political activists.