The themes of the stage work Häpeän miehet (i.e. “Men of Shame”), written and directed by Anne-Maria Haapala, are men’s loneliness, speechlessness, guilt and shame at both the individual and community level. The play consisted of the stories of seven men who were speaking in their own funerals, as if in remembrance. The work was performed in 2016 in the churches of Hailuoto and Oulujoki.

One of the songs, Markojuhani Rautavaara’s Synkkä metsä (i.e. Dark Forest) was arranged for strings by me, performed by Oulunsalo Ensemble.