Unto Uuno Mononen (23 October 1930 in Muolaa – 28 June 1968 in

Somero Somero () is a town and municipality of Finland. It is part of the Southwest Finland region in the province of Western Finland, located northeast of Salo, east of Turku and northwest of Helsinki. The municipality has a population of () and cov ...

) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

songwriter and musician. He is best known for his numerous

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

compositions including the famous Finnish tango song, ''" Satumaa".'' His first name was originally Uuno.

Biography

Mononen is often said to come from

, but was actually from Muolaa and did not come to Somero until the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

was over and Muolaa was conquered by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. Mononen studied

church music Church music is Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian music The on ...

in the

University of Turku sv, Åbo universitet , latin_name = Universitas Aboensis , image_name = University of Turku.svg , motto = ''Vapaan kansan lahja vapaalle tieteelle'' , established = 1920 , type ...

. He quit these studies since he felt he did not learn anything important. As a composer he was self-taught. Mononen began his musical career by singing with local dance groups while he was under 20. After a failed operation to his

adenoids In anatomy, the adenoid, also known as the pharyngeal tonsil or nasopharyngeal tonsil, is the superior-most of the tonsils. It is a mass of lymphatic tissue located behind the nasal cavity, in the roof of the nasopharynx, where the nose blend ...

damaged his voice, Mononen started to compose. In 1950, Mononen first successfully sold his songs to a record company. The first song recorded was ''"Pieni laulu"'' ("A small song"), a

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the w ...

sung by Pentti Halme. In 1955

Henry Theel Henry Per-Erik Theel (November 14, 1917, Helsinki - December 19, 1989, Helsinki), also known by his pseudonym Heikki Hovi, was one of the most prominent Finnish singers during the 1940s and the 1950s, though he continued to perform until the late ...

recorded the famous ''"Satumaa"'' to some success, but the song's status wasn't cemented until seven years later, in 1962, when

Reijo Taipale Reijo Toivo Taipale (9 March 1940 – 26 April 2019) was a Finnish pop singer since the 1950s specializing in Schlager music and tango. Many of his albums have gone gold and platinum. Biography Taipale was born in Miehikkälä, Finland. Through ...

recorded it. Other famous tangos by Mononen include ''"Tähdet meren yllä"'' ("Stars above the Sea"), ''"Lapin Tango'''' ("The Tango of Lappland"), ''"Erottamattomat"'' ("Inseparables"), ''"Kangastus"'' ("The Mirage"), ''"Kaipuuni Tango"'' ("The Tango of my Longing"), ''"Kohtalon Tango"'' ("The Tango of Destiny") and ''"Yön Hiljaisuudessa"'' ("In the Silence of Night"). The last two of these became better known when another famous musician from Somero, singer Rauli "Badding" Somerjoki, recorded them. Singer Esko Rahkonen also worked with the composer in the 1960s. One of the most well known figures in Finnish popular culture, provocative entertainer M. A. Numminen had played drums in Mononen's band. Later Numminen asked Mononen to compose a humorous tango to his lyrics. Mononen answered that for Numminen, he would write a tango even to the words of a phone book. From this collaboration, the song ''"Naiseni kanssa eduskuntatalon puistossa"'' ("With my Woman at the Park of the Parliament House") was born. During his later years, Mononen suffered from

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

and eventually shot himself with a pistol on 28 June 1968. He was 37 years old. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mononen, Unto 1930 births 1968 suicides People from Vyborg District Finnish songwriters Finnish tango musicians Suicides by firearm in Finland