Viola Irene Syrjala

https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_Turpeinen

https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000010368835.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mm0Di3QcFo

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/151492415/viola-irene-syralia

Viola Irene Turpeinen, born November 15, 1909 in Champion, died December 26, 1958 in Lake Worth, Florida, was an American-Finnish accordion player, which gained great popularity in America in the 1920s and 1930s. She is still regarded as one of the most prominent accordions of her time and one of the most remembered American-Finnish artists ever. Turpeinen was the cousin of musician Jingo Viitala.
Turpeinen was the daughter of miner Albert Turinen and Signe Viitala. The father was born in Kivijärvi Finland. When Turpeinen was little, her family moved to the Iron River and at the age of fourteen she began playing accordion at the Italian meeting place Bruno Hall. In 1926 she became a student of musician John Rosendahl, who together with Turpeinen and accordionist Sylvia Polso formed a touring trio. It was also during their stay in Cape Ann that singer Antti Syrjäniemi heard Turpeinen play and portrayed her talent in the Viola Turpeinen dome seat Kiipillä.

In 1928, the trio began making recordings in New York, and they made recordings on both occasions for both Columbia and Victor. In 1932 Rosendahl died, after which Turpeinen joined Antti Kosola's and William Syrjälä's orchestra on Fifth Avenue. Turpeinen married William Syrjälä on June 9, 1933 and they both made recordings in the 1940s and 1950s, though the US-Finnish record market almost stopped completely after the mid-1930s. Turpeinen made his last recordings in 1952 and had done a total of eighty-four recordings. The spouses moved to Lake Worth in 1952, where Turpeinen died of cancer in 1958.
Source: Wikipedia
Contributed by: Staffan E

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/151492415/viola-irene-syralia/p...

Kansan kuvalehti, 21.08.1931, nro 34, s. 25
https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/aikakausi/binding/871171?page=25
Kansalliskirjaston digitaaliset aineistot