Mokoma

Mokoma is a Finnish thrash metal band formed in Lappeenranta in 1996. Their music also has grindcore and death metal influences with traditional Finnish melancholy.

Mokoma started out as a creation of Marko Annala, who is the band's lead singer, and has been the band's only original bandmember. The name comes from Annala's former girlfriends' Karelian grandmother, who said "Voi siuta mokomaa". That means "Oh gosh, you and your tricks", basically in simple words when put into English. Through the years several members have come and gone, but only Marko has remained constant.

The band started out as a more traditional rock band with their first two albums "Valu" and "Mokoman 120 päivää". However, both albums sold badly and they were eventually dropped when they suggested to their record company (EMI), that they wanted to play something more closer to their hearts, thrash metal. The group moved on and created their own record company, called Sakara Records, and released their third album "Kurimus", which is sometimes regarded as the first thrash metal album sung in Finnish. That was the first release of the members' independent record company Sakara Records. Since then they have released seven more albums and an EP called "Viides vuodenaika", which reached position one in the Finnish albums chart. Their latest album release is "Elävien kirjoihin".

Valac

In demonology, Valac is the mighty Great President of Hell, having thirty (thirty-eight to other authors) legions of demons under his command. Valac is said to give true answers about hidden treasures; he reveals where serpents can be seen, and delivers them harmless to the magician. He is said to appear as a small poor boy with angel wings riding on a two-headed dragon.

Other spellings: Ualac, Valak, Valax, Valu, Valic, Volac.

See also

Sources

Valu (film)

Valu is a 2008 comedy Marathi film directed by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni. The film featured in various international film festivals as The Wild Bull. It also became the first Marathi film to be selected in Rotterdam International Film Festival 2008, the Netherlands.

Plot

In the small village of Kusavde, there is a lonely misunderstood wild bull. The bull, "Valu", is actually a holy, consecrated bull which is the responsibility of the village. It is allowed to roam free and is the responsibility of the entire village. But lately, Valu becomes very aggressive and is blamed for every single act of chaos and destruction that happens in and around the village. Now catching the bull becomes equivalent to establishing power in the village for the leaders and for those who are interested in the fringe benefits.

The film intertwines various stories of the war between the two leaders; love stories that bloom in the midst of the adventure; an amateur filmmaker who struggles to shoot a documentary; the forest officer who leads this chaos like a sacred mission along with the religious priest; the tricksters and an insane woman who seems to understand the mind of Valu.