The Kalevala: rooted deep in the Suomi culture, everyone in the country knows the stories, the characters, the poetry…

But translated to English, it’s just not very good. English – particularly Australian English — can’t handle the poetics of the language, and lacks the nuances to properly adapt the 8-syllable structure of the Kalevala runes.

“Adapting the Kalevala to English didn’t appeal to me – what appealed to me is the fact that it belongs in the Finnish language. My performance was focussed on showing the problems with Kalevala translations; a direct translation really doesn’t do the work any justice. It’s just too epic. It’s too unique. It’s too strange.”

Scott Sandwich (aka Tom Hogan) is an Australia performance poet who performs rants, readings and awkward hip hop, telling stories about dates, death and the apocalypse. The Kalevala (According To Scott Sandwich) was created in January 2012, during his residency at Arteles in Finland.