Pohjalaisten Osakuntien Laulajat, POL, is a mixed choir that continues a long tradition of choral singing at the University of Helsinki. It first began as an all-male choir in the 1930s. The Finnish name of the choir means roughly “The choir of The Ostrobothnian Students’ Association at The University of Helsinki”. The singers are mostly students coming from western and northern provinces of Finland. Nowadays, POL has some thirty members.
POL gives concerts regularly in Helsinki and tours in Finland and abroad. Besides concerts, the choir performs at different occasions, like those arranged by student organisations. We join forces every now and then with other choirs or orchestras for larger productions.
Over the years, POL has performed a great deal of Ostrobothnian folk tunes and Finno-Ugric peoples’ music as well as other “popular” music. An important part of our repertoire are pieces by Finnish classical composers (Kuula, Sibelius, Madetoja, Rautavaara), especially those with Ostrobothnian roots. We have not, however, restricted ourselves to merely classical music and Finland. POL has made numerous excursions to e.g. popular music, film music and Spanish rhythms. The timeline of our repertoire spans all the way from the 16th century to modern days.
We practice on Monday evenings from 6 to 9 pm at Ostrobotnia (Töölönkatu 3 A (5th floor), Helsinki). For more information contact pj@pohjalaistenosakuntienlaulajat.fi.