Sisu

'Sisu' is a finnish word which can not be directly translated to English. 'Sisu' means such quality in a person which drives him/her to do whatever is needed and neccessary, and to the end, without quitting and without loosing spirit. It actually governs all you do, and is a general description of stamina, willpower and determination. 'Sisu' is why so many Finnish sport stars, musicians, movie directors, businessmen are on the world news almost every day. After all, we have a population of only 5 million. Franco Petracchi, a famous italian double bass master, once told me on his master class at the Sibelius Academy: "it's incredible how you have here dozens of very good bass players. I live in Milan which has more people than whole of Finland, and we have only a few". The text here is from a side of an icebreaker ship, which are anchored in Helsinki harbour during summer.