Ievan polkka is a Finnish folk song that achieved memetic popularity on the Anglophone internet circa 2006 thanks to a clip of the version of the song by Finnish quartet Loituma synced up with a clip from hugely popular anime Bleach featuring prominent character Orihime twirling a leek — see header image, also here:
The song subsequently proved incredibly popular with the users of Japanese singing robot software Vocaloid, in particular the brand’s flagship singing robot and mascot Hatsune Miku and has proven catchy and enduring enough to pop back up as a meme in the ensuring years.
Korpiklaani is a Finnish folk metal band, who, according to the band’s own frontman, play “old people’s music with heavy metal guitars.” Unsurprisingly, a lot of their songs are based on Finnish folklore, particularly the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic.
In keeping with their stated function of playing “old people’s music with heavy metal guitars”, they’ve also done a Folk Metal version of Ievan Polkka, both in the original Finnish and an English translation on their 2012 album Manala (FYI, it’s one of several names for the Finnish underworld).
Ievan is the possessive case of the Finnish form of the name Eva, so the song is literally Eva’s Polka. And it fundamentally delivers what it promises — Eva and her boyfriend sneak out on Eva’s overbearing mother to polka dance:
No matter what her mother says
As it’s time to dance around
Ieva she wore a smile on her face
As people wished her luck for the day.
It’s basically a love song.
Also, dude threatens to beat up Eva’s mom…
It’s touching, really.
And you can listen to it here:
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