Tarja Turunen - Life of Heavy Metal Angel

Don´t let the looks bluff: Metal-Madonna Tarja Turunen could dye her hair blond. And say goodbye to opera metal.

 It´s snowing in Helsinki at Women´s day. Heavy metal angel Tarja Turunen is wearing black clothes with turquoise pashima, the exact same color as her eyeshadow. Ristorante Gastone is offering it´s best, turkey in lemon dressing.

How do you like it?
"Mmm...perfect."

Who is the idol of heavy metal angel?
"My own mum. Sensitive, strong and a good mother. She is easy going but my Japanese singning teacher Mitsuko Shirai who lives in Germany is absoloute authority. My third idol is my good friend Marianne Pellinen. We got to know each other in Sibelius Academy when I was studying church music and Marianne was studying to become a cantor. We have gone through all kinds of things and our friendship hasn't ended despite the cold e-mail communication. It was Marianne who made me return to Kuusankoski from Germany."

You cam back five years ago. Where did you live in Germany?
"In Karlsruhe, 120 km south from Frankfurt, almost at the border of France. I studied singing in Karlsruhe´s music university. Because my development as a singer I had to leave and find a good singing teacher. I grew up and it was also good to be seperated from the guys for a while."

Here we still think that Germany is rednecks, Natzies in their leatherpants and bratwurst.
"Germany is much more than sausage and potato salad. For example wealth, freedom of choise and greenery."

Finnish heavy metal still goes for local people like alcohol to party animals?
 "Yes!"

 Your face gives figure to Nightwish. Will you rock the rest of your life?
 "I have given my face, voice and person to the band and definately it´s a huge part of my life but I don´t think so.  Don´t think so! I wasn´t born as the singer of Nightwish but a singer Tarja Turunen. I have my clear plans about what I want to do as Tarja. Someday I will do that." 

To hold on to your own thing is very important to woman. Being a martyr isn´t cool.
 "I would be exhausted if I wouldn´t keep my own thing alive! Others´ opinions help to build your own point of view but in the end it´s you who decide and respond if you are happy with your life or not."

It´s damn great that you have guts to say that you are only a guest musician in Nightwish. It seems that you are serious with lead-singing? 
"Yes. I sing rock but I´m still aware of my classical core. The classical Tarja of Nightwish have rocked but we´ll have a break in April - May. I´m a machine that needs some upkeeping now and then because I use classical techinuque also in rock concerts. First I´ll rest few days at home and then I´ll start to sing little by little. When I get into full speed I sing many hours in day, and when we fly to other home Buenos Aires, also there maestro waits for me." 

Buenos Aires is a big part of your life. Is there a little latin girl in you?
 "Yes there is! I already danced when I was a kid and during Sibelius Achademy I liked to dance to those rythms. The hobby ended because my knees broke but luckily I fond love. Marcelo have opened me up. My daring to solve things quickly comes from Argentine husband. He makes things topical right when it´s need to do so! I have been surprised about what kind of views I say nowdays." 

Latin-Tarja has some self-respect? 
"Little by little, but in other hand I love to be finnish. I even love moping. Have have area to mope. We have lived and we live here all alone." 

Here we just can´t help frowning in pressure of head wind? 
"Yes, yes! I really bite my teeth together in winter and swear when I´m freezing ´till bones and soul. Marcelo is different. The colder the weather is, the better he gets on well outside! I wonder if he´s totally sane?" 

You have said that you´re a crazy karelian girl from Kitee. Crazy karelian girl is getting on well in Buenos Aires. Tell me about your city? 
"You can see my Buenos Aires when I get to taxi after three hours airport check. Buenos Aires is round shaped and our home is in the center of the round. We don´t live in the city center, downtown is more in the side, we live by the river. It´s 50 kilometers wide and you could call it sea. My Buenos Aires is a vivd city of millions of people, and you can see poverty and fortune in it´s streets." 

The economy of Argentina is on flimsy ground? 
"Yes, it´s very sad. I have seen and I have heard about too many miserable fates. The city is still beautiful, the architecture lives and in the streets that are crowded of with Carlos Gardell and Piazzolla cafes people dance and sing tango. You can hear it while you walk, it´s in the blood of Argentine people. The splendour of colors of Buenos Aires is amazing, there are red, violet, blue and yellow houses next to each other." 

The Paris of South-America? 
"Yes. Buenos Aires isn´t extremely clean city but it´s full of life. My normal day in Buenos Aires? I wake up, wash my eyes, make some coffee and step to the balcony.  The criminality of Argentina is world´s top and if a travelling couple like us would live in single house, it should be somewhere where guard visits it every fifteen minutes. Of course there are areas like that but they are far away from the center. Our friends live in area that is surrounded by electric fence and there are bars in windows and everywhere. And still they all have been robbed! In this situation where we visit home three times a year there is no chance that we would have a house that would get robbed all the time. There wouldn´t be anything left!  We live in fourteenth floor and the view from our balcony is great. I enjoy to watch how the city wakes up and to listen to the music that is coming from every corner. I wake up slowly, go to gym or to swim. All the services are near and all the salesmen are familiar. The latin mood is relaxed but the people work hard. No siesta there!" 

Have you learned tango? 
"On dear, Marcelo can´t bend to tango and I can´t do that either with Argentine version." 

Marcelo proposed to you in Norma-opera in Buenos Aires. Have somebody ever asked you to sing in local opera? 
"Not yet, and I guess that they never will. Though I have had classical concerts in Buenos Aires. I love opera but I´m more a lead-singer." 

You have studied church music and chamber music. A woman as a heavy metal queen is a new career chance for opera and chamber music students? 
"Of course. Guess how many singer students I have met and how many demos and letters I receive from post? Many. It´s sincerely great to be an idol. Classical singing is such an adventure of body and mind, so if some girl is having the gift of singing, why woulnd´t she try!" 

How is your world of worths? 
"It crashed down when I married an Argentine man... Nowdays I´m quite open-minded and I accept different thing quite well.  In Finland everything is fine, it´s harder in other countries. Terrible things happen, still people are positive and find things that they can be happy. I have learned that way of thinking. No matter how bad stress you would have, you must stop to enjoy about some fading small matter."

Once you were sitting in airport with a drummer, covering your eyes with your hands, crying and sleeping. Where do you find energy in situation like that?
 "From sun for example! It´s important. When I lived in Germany it rained two months. Then I was sad, depressed. Back then smile helped. Homesickness is bothering me always as hard, it already starts when I´m leaving." 
 
 How big is the tour this year?