Until 1917 Finland was a Grand Duchy, part of the Russian Empire. And there it may have remained but for the extraordinary genius of its poets, musicians, painters and architects who, in the decades prior to independence, created a powerful sense of Finnish identity by championing the ancient nation’s language and folklore.
This sense of identity was spearheaded by Finland’s greatest poet, Elias Lonnröt (1802–84), in his epic poem, Kalevala. Weaving together elements of Finnish folk legends and stories that he gathered during his travels in rural Finland, Lonnröt gave the Finns a voice. Kalevala was published in 1849. Hugely popular, it established Finnish as a literary language and gave the nation a national mythology, potentially granting the Finns the self-belief and confidence to overthrow the Russian yoke and become a free nation.
Much credit is also due to one of Finland’s (and Europe’s) greatest composers, Jan Sibelius, who in 1982 set part of the Kalevala epic into a powerful symphonic work entitled Kullervo. Crucially, this Kullervo also uses Finnish and Karelian folk tunes. Though Sibelius went on to compose some of the greatest symphonies of the 20th century, his best-known work is his tone-poem Finlandia, which became a symbol of his nation’s struggle for freedom against colonial oppressors. Premiered in 1900, it was soon banned by the Russians, but it was frequently sneaked into concert programmes under a different title, with huge audience participation whenever it was played. It soon became Finland’s unofficial national anthem.
From Finnish nationhood to Yorkshire’s regional identity
Modern Finland is now one of the most prosperous and contented nations in Europe. On the other hand, Yorkshire, an English province with an almost identical population size of 5.4 million, suffers one of the lowest GDPs in Western Europe, at 27% lower than the UK average. So, what went wrong?
If the fortunes of a people can be transformed by the creation of a strong sense of identity and self-confidence, could this happen even in post-industrial, asset-stripped urban and rural Yorkshire, following decades of economic decline?
Yorkshire’s decline has occurred at a time when many other parts of England, especially London and the Home Counties, have flourished with the help of massive private and state infrastructure investment, denied to the North. However, Yorkshire, unlike other many areas of England has a powerful sense of its own distinct regional identity.
Take what happened in Bradford on Yorkshire Day just a few weeks ago. Branded as the first-ever ‘Yorkshire Prom’, an evening of popular classical music was sponsored by Bradford Council and the Delius Society, with the support of the Yorkshire Society. The concert was given by the wonderful Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra, under its conductor and director Ben Crick, with the Bradford Festival Choir and the remarkable Bantams of the Opera Choir.
Yorkshire expressed through music
The first part of the programme was, appropriately enough, devoted to music by fine but relatively neglected Yorkshire composers, including the little-known Ernest Farrer (1985–1918), who grew up in Harrogate and died tragically in the first world war. This was followed by the work of another Harrogate composer, Gerald Finzi (1901–56), and a piece by Yorkshire’s best internationally known composer, Fredrick Delius (1862–1934). The latter was a superb performance of Delius’s rarely played North Country Sketches of 1913-14, inspired by his Bradfordboyhood memories of the moors and fells of the Yorkshire Dales. And the evening opened with the brilliant Bradford Overture, by gifted young Brighouse-born composer Jarrod Royle-Atkins, best known for his acclaimed international film scores.
Whilst this part of the evening established that there are Yorkshire composers of past and present of real significance and importance, the second half was much more traditional entertainment, in the vein of Last Night of the Proms. This included choral favourites from Hallelujah Chorus and Zadok the Priest and a wonderful rendering of the famous Habanera from Bizet’s Carmen by mezzo-soprano Annabel Joseph and the Bantams Choir, as well as Elgar’s popular Pomp and Circumstance march.
But the climax of the evening was surely Ben Crick’s own new work, an orchestral fantasy titled Yorkshire Garland and based on traditional Yorkshire folk songs gathered from across the region. This ended with the audience clapping to the Jack-the-Lad hornpipe, before the choir rose to its feet for a triumphal rendering of Ilkla Mooar Baht ‘At, Yorkshire’s own unofficial national anthem, with the audience joining in and waving White Rose of Yorkshire flags.
A cultural revival beyond the concert hall
There were tears of joy and pride in the audience. Not quite Finlandia perhaps, but something moving in that direction, as the sublime power of music conveyed by a great symphony orchestra communicated its message on countless levels.
One concert attended by a few hundred people in Bradford could not turn the tide, of course, but it is a move in the right direction. More significantly, it reflects a real revival of interest occurring throughout the region in what can best be described as our native culture – the Yorkshire dialect and our history, legends, music, and folklore. We could well be at the beginning of powerful revival of Yorkshire’s sense of identity and distinctive culture – a pre-requisite if we are to achieve any meaningful level of political devolution.
Should Yorkshire’s proud history – including our unique Anglo–Viking heritage and events such as the assassination of Eric Bloodaxe, the last King of Jorvik – be included in the curriculum children are taught in Yorkshire schools, instead of Tudors, Hitler, and the sometimes sanitised stories of the British Empire? Certainly, the huge contributions made by the people of Yorkshire to Britain’s industrial revolution and to science, engineering, and technology – as well as literature, the visual arts, and music – should be included.
There can be little doubt that the Yorkshire Day Prom engendered a surge of pride in and passion for our Yorkshire identity and rich cultural heritage. And it is no coincidence that contemporary Yorkshire is producing a new generation of musicians in all genres, as well poets, film makers, and storytellers. There is also a huge rise in interest in Yorkshire dialect, with young people often leading the way, passionate about the language of their forefathers. There is even ‘ThriddingsFest’, an embryonic version of the hugely influential annual Eisteddfods that transformed Welsh language, culture, and identity. ThriddingsFest was a week-long series of community-led events focused on Yorkshire identity, and the 2026 event saw twice the number of participants who attended the pilot event in 2025.
Reclaiming Yorkshire’s culture – and its power
All this reflects the significant latent creative energy that exists within the region and which could, within a generation, as happened in Finland just over a century ago, spell the end of the over-centralised rule of Westminster and Whitehall bureaucrats, securing the kind of real regional devolution enjoyed by other democratic European nations. Restoring power to the people of Yorkshire may seem like a dream, but as Finland proves: poets, musicians, and storytellers can not only create dreams but also provide the energy and vision to turn those dreams into reality.
More from Colin Speakman
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