In the spring bloom of mid-May, a decentralised festival takes place in the clubs, art venues, and churches of Helsinki. Helsinki Music Week is running its second edition from May 13th–17th and works as a small but intriguing counterpoint to the decades-old multidisciplinary Helsinki Festival in the late summer.

”We had the idea somewhere around 2023 or 2024 for a series of connected concerts, clubs, and events,” recollects Dante Correa, co-founder of Helsinki Music Week. He has been running the record label BELOW0 with Pau Kraus, Matti Mustonen, and Rasmus Purola, as well as managing club nights in Helsinki, Prague, and Berlin under the title Club Zero. Both focus on alternative electronic dance music, often with strong rap connections and undertones.

”We were eager to organise an event in Dance House Helsinki, as it is a new and unique location with little connection to our scene so far. While thinking about how to draw attention to such an event, our Head of PR, Martta Louekari, asked whether this could be the Helsinki Music Week we had been fantasising about. With only six months to go and no sponsors, we hesitated at first, but then went into overdrive to create a festival.”

Doing it for the people

Despite the name evoking many similarly titled conferences and showcase festivals aimed at music professionals, such as Tallinn Music Week, Correa and his friends wanted to create a festival first and foremost for the general public, inspired by festivals such as Club To Club in Turin, Italy.

”We do have some elements similar to industry events, though, such as hosting talks, inviting international press coverage, and programming good, showcase-like slots next to international stars for up-and-coming Finnish artists. This facilitates both networking and international recognition”, Correa explains.

Our club night audiences are open for new experiences, and some may also attend simply because they find our concepts and curating interesting – Dante Correa

For example, he tells how Aino Morko, better known in Finland as Pehmoaino, performed in HMW 2025 with her more experimental alias Hän (pictured in the main image above), and was subsequently included in the Dazed100 end-of-the-year list.

Many of the events in Helsinki Music Week’s first edition were sold out, and included internationally acclaimed artists such as Erika de Casier, Sega Bodega, and EsDeeKid. Correa and his team have noticed during their years in event management that there is indeed a demand for alternative and experimental rap, indie, and electronic music.

”We have done our research on how popular, well-known, and listened-to these artists are in Finland and elsewhere. Many of Helsinki Music Week’s artists are hot stuff, for example, in the Baltics and Central Europe. Our club night audiences are open for new experiences, and some may also attend simply because they find our concepts and curating interesting,” Correa points out.

Springtime in Helsinki

The festival is collaborating with Helsinki Partners to enhance the city’s international attractiveness and wants to book even more international performers to make the festival truly cosmopolitan. One of the key factors is timing: Correa points out that the festival season usually runs from late June till September, but the city has already woken up from its winter slumber.

”Helsinki is so beautiful in May, when the leaves have turned green, the sun sets late, and people start to spend more time outside.”

The coolest part is when people start curiously exploring music from the margins they haven’t heard before – Dante Correa

Helsinki Music Week’s plans include expanding its events not only to the core districts of the city, but also to the suburbs and their communities.

”There’s a potential to become not only a series of concerts, but a week to hang out with friends, eat well, and create vibrant city life. The coolest part is, in my opinion, when people start curiously exploring music from the margins they haven’t heard before, and we’re the ones making it happen.”

Helsinki Music Week takes place in Helsinki between May 13 and 17. Tickets and info at helsinkimusicweek.com.

You can find video recordings of the HMW Talks 2025 programme on the festival's YouTube channel.