Here goes, it took me ages to translate and post this but I truly hope it was worth it :) So sorry about the mistakes in grammar and my sometimes poor English :( But I suppose you get the idea on what's being said in this interview :) Scanned and translated from Finnish to English by me from request of Tarja fan I met today :)
Tarja Turunen on Ilta-Sanomat Plus (August 20, 2011)
Tarja Turunen:
>> I got weird sexletters>>
Tarja Turunen got strange messages from a man, who she had become and obsession to. Over 500 finished letters to Turunen were found from his home. Because of some crazy fans the singer is worried about the safety of her husband.
Tarja Turunen, glowing from happiness, has a working day even though it's a very important day at the same time.
- It's our anniversary. We got married in the city hall in Helsinki at New Year's Eve but we had a summer wedding exactly nine years ago, she refers to her husband Marcelo Cabuli.
There has been a reason to celebrate also in the day before.
- Yesterday it was exactly eleven years from the day we started dating, Tarja says smiling.
She doesn't expect anything special in honour of the anniversary, even though you can't always be sure what Marcelo, who likes to surprise, comes up with.
- The best gift is that we can be together all the time. We say a lot of beautiful words in our everyday life. The best decision in my life was to get together with Marcelo. I need him every day in my life. It's wonderful to notice, that love is ever growing feeling. That it's possible to care about someone even more than in the day before.
And the best part is that the feeling is mutual.
- He knows how to say it out loud. We say "I love you" every day. And it's not just because it's a habit, we mean it every day. I know I'm very lucky.
Things are going well also at work. In Saturday Tarja will receive a golden record in Germany from her first solo album. Finnish bands have gotten many golden records from Germany but Tarja is the first solo artist to get one.
- It feels good because times have changed a lot and albums don't sell in the way they used to. That's why a golden record is a great archievement today.
From Germany Tarja will be heading to India where the cover pictures to her new album will be taken.
For the last couple of years you have said that you want a family. How close is it to happen?
- We have been planning in the way when the baby could come. Let's see, maybe it will happen. I want a child badly and I blame my two brothers for that. My big borther has two daughters and now my little brother had a daughter too. Damn, my little brother got there before I did!
Are you and your husband ready to be parents?
- For the last 11 years we have had so much fun. Life has been an adventure. It has been so amazing to be just the two of us. If a baby comes along, it might slow us down, at least in the beginning. I'd love to see Marcelo with a baby. It's safe for me to think about starting a family because I have seen how good father Marcelo is to his kids.
How are finnish people reacting to your foreign husband?
- They don't come insulting face to face, except for some people who are drunk. However in the business side it has been easy to notice that Finnish businessman just can't accept that someone who has come from a foreign country can handle things better. Attitudes and prejudices are strong. In here we don't like if someone from another culture suggest some different way to do things, even if it really would be better way to do something. The suggestions get beaten down. It happens a lot in here.
Your performance in Savonlinna last July got hars critique in Helsingin Sanomat. How do you take it?
- My point of view to the reviews is that you can learn from a costructive ciriticism and it's always a good thing. You can have opinions but in this case i'm confused. As an artist I know when the audience isn't liking the performance. In Savonlinna people stood up and shouted hurray. I know our performance with José Cura was very different from what is used to be heard in Savonlinna. Maybe it was too much for the critic.
If, in your own eyes, a concert is a succes, how bad it feels when it gets crushed in the reviews?
- It's everyday life for an artist. Of course it always hurts when you have done your best. I don't do anything carelesly. My first reaction to this review was that no matter what I do, it will never be enough. I had to get above this view and remember that you can and you need to have opinions. I just have to stay strong with all the different views people have.
You have given up your home in Finland. How big thing it was to you?
- My work takes me around the world and many people think it's the best thing in life. But it isn't. The best thing is home and that I can spend time there in peace. It's therapy for me to do tings at home. I want everything to be perfect in there. My home is now in Buenos Aires. It has been stressful to have another home in Finland. There has been a lot to take care of and it started to seem impossible because of the long distance.
How stresfull is it that you haven't been able to sell your former home in Kuusankoski?
- We have known all along that it's going to be hard to sell because it has two liveable detached houses in the same yard. The other one has been used as studio. It's clear that selling it can take a long time. We don't let it bother us.
How has you connection to Finland changed?
- It has changed because I have been here only for short visits for many years. I have been here mainly because of work. Nowadays I notice many beautiful things I haven't paid attention to before. Now I have learned to value small things I took for granted earlier. In Argentina there is always excitement in life. Something unexcpected you haven't been prepared to happens all the time. It has made me grow out of being a Finn and that you can plan a schedual for the day and then things will happen that way. In Argentina things are changing all the time. You have to know how to deal with the daily changes when you live in a place that has five million people living in the heart of it and 15 million people in the whole area.
How safe do you feel in the bustle of a big city?
- Something always happens and it's a part of living in a city that big. There is disorder, traffic jams and accidents. You have to be careful when walking in the streets. Every day someone dies at town. Argetina has been spared from the worst organized criminality that's for instance in Brazil. I feel safe and I can move around there alone. I have always been sensitive but I have become stronger while living in Argentina.
How much people pay attention to you?
- You don't have to be blonde to get male attention in Argentina. Sometimes the amount of attention gets confusing when men yell and whistle after me. The service in shops is good, women get praises about eyes and smile. Men in Argentina show their admiration with respect, it doesn't feel degrading towards women at all. Of course I'm being recognized often because I have big tours in Southern America and I'm on the covers of magazines.
Do you have so intense fans that it starts to be harrasing?
- Yes. Sometimes it get's up to the level of sick devotion. And it doesn't have any realism in it anymore. To some men meeting me has been too much. Some men, and women, travel around Europe to see every one of my concerts. I get messages where the writer announces to marry me. It doesn't matter that I'm married already. I have to be constantly aware at the concert places. I don't want Marcelo to leave me alone because I know these few guys are following me all the time on my tours. I am worried about Marcelo's safety. Some people might have an idea to get him out of the way. Marcelo isn't nervous himself. He enjoys when people admire me. He's not jealous about me at all.
- For couple of years I got weird letters filled with sex from a Finnish man. There were over 500 finished letters adressed to me found from his home. Sending those messages was eventually stopped but after a short break the same person started calling on Marcelo's phone. Now that has been stopped too.
How often do you still get asked about Nightwish?
- It's understandable that I'm being remembered also as a Nightwish vocalist so I suppose it will always come up, but it's not being asked very often anymore. It's clearly been asked about less than it was before. It feels great that people are interested in me because of what i do now.
How hard are on yourself nowadays?
- I love good food and redwine. I balance that with going to gym and swimming. I keep myself in order so I won't let my bum grow.
- I have always been thought as a beauty queen in the international rock scene so it creates some pressure. Especially when I'm getting aged. I have a bit more mercy on myself in some things than before, but of course I have to take care of my appearance because I'm in public. People around the world discuss in web forums about how I look. I never read those conversations because I would get crazy. But I know I have to take care of myself. Things don't come for free as they used to do when I was younger.
What do you spend money in?
- Clothes, shoes, bags and cosmetic. There is quite big pile of care products and other jars travelling with me. All of them are also a part of my work so I don't think of it as wasting. I also don't count as wasting that we travel a lot in our free time. We both like to dive so we often make diving trips.
You are going to release the first classical album of your career. What's going to be in it?
- The album is going to be filled with Ave Marias. I have never heard about an album that has nothing but different Ave Maria songs in it. There will also be Ave Maria that I wrote myself. That kind of album fits to this mental well being I'm feeling at the moment. It's going to be recorded in November with organ player Kalevi Kiviniemi, who also came up with the idea of this album.
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Boxes and text in the pictures
Boxes
Sohvalla (= On the couch)
Who?
Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen Cabuli
Borned: August 17, 1977 in Kitee Finland
Lives: In Buenos Aires Argentina
Family: Husband Marcelo Cabuli
Profession: Singer-songwriter
Career: Vocalist of Nightwish 1996-2005. Solo albums: Henkäys Ikuisuudesta (2006), My Winter Storm (2007), What Lies Beneath (2010).
Mikä pysäytti sinut? (=What stopped you?)
Mother's death.
- After mom passed away in the year 2003 it hit me really hard. The bad feeling I had in my mind came up with physical symptoms. My days started with vomiting. The hardest time of my life culminated in the late 2005 when my career in the band ended. I was broken and tired but my husband never broke. He had the strength to carry me through all the toubles. We have cried together many times but that has made us even closer.
Viiden vuoden päästä (=In five years)
Maybe a family
- I have developed a very different way of working if and when I have a family. Otherwise life hopefully goes on in the same way. We live happily in Buenos Aires.
Texts in pictures.
Tärkeä valokuvani (=My important photo)
- Obelisk in the center of Buenos Aires is the symbol of Argentina's independency. It's a very important memorial to locals. The picture means a lot to me because it was taken soon after we decided to give up the house in Finland. Now I only have a home in Argentina.
- I don't ever want Marcelo to leave me alone because I know few men are following me around all the time on my tours. I'm worried about Marcelo's safety. Someone might have an idea to get him out of the way.
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