Veijo Baltzar

Veija "Veijo" Oskari Baltzar (born June 9, 1942) is a Romani author and visual artist from Finland.

Baltzar's artistic output comprises over 72 literary works, including novels, short stories, plays and musicals, a film, librettos and TV screenplays. Baltzar has described his childhood as extremely poor but very rich socially and spiritually.

Literary works
Baltzar's first novel Polttava tie, "The Burning Road" (1968, published in Swedish 1969 as Brännande väg) was successful and brought attention to him. It was the first Finnish book that was written about the Roma and their culture, seen through the eyes of a Roma. Verikihlat (1969), "The Engagement of Blood", is a story about love, hate and blood revenge. In Mari (1972), Baltzar discusses women and their position inside the tribe. Baltzar's 1988 mythic novel Käärmeenkäräjäkivi was a nominee for the Finlandia Prize.

Musta tango (1990), "The Black Tango", tells about Gypsies in modern Finnish society after they moved to the suburbs. Baltzar has also written a novel for children about Gypsies (Mustan Saaran kristallipallo, The Crystal Ball of Black Sarah) in 1978. Phuro, published in 2000, is an extensive epic novel about the Roma living in Central Europe, the saga of a family, which tells a tale of the community through that of the relatives. The latest novel by Veijo Baltzar, In love and war, published in 2008, tells about the tragic faith of European Roma in the middle of the Second World War.

Theatre
Veijo Baltzar has written several plays, most of them focusing on Roma, but there are also plays about myths, religion and war. He was the founder of the first and only Roma theatre in Nordic countries, Drom Theatre in 1976. At the beginning of the 1980s, Baltzar worked as a leading teacher in the Theatre Academy of Finland. Baltzar wrote and directed tens of tragedies, poetic plays and musicals to the group.

In the 1990s Baltzar continued playwriting and directing, as well as taught in municipal and state institutions. In Imatra, he wrote and directed a folk opera Orli with 200 actors 1994–1997. The premiere of so-called "second" Orli, patronaged by Finland's Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen, took place in the Finlandia concert hall in March 1997. Since 2013, Veijo Baltzar has produced theatrical and music work at the premises of Alexander theatre.

Pedagogical work
When Baltzar started managing his own theatre and teaching / directing in 1976, he created his own pedagogical method based on multicultural emotional intelligence, known as Intercultural Experiential Education. In 2012, Baltzar published a polemic work Towards Experiential Philosophy (Kokemuspohjainen filosofia in Finnish), in which he introduces his pedagogical method and its philosophical and educational background. The book was published in English in 2014.

Romani activism
In 2002, in order to strengthen the position of Romani literature world wide, Baltzar founded the International Roma Writers Association: A joint organization (IRWA) and acted as its president between 2002–2005.

Baltzar has been active in promoting Roma policies in Finland since 1965. Alongside other members of the Finnish Roma community, including artist Kiba Lumberg and singer Rainer Friman (fi), he has criticised Miranda Vuolasranta, President of the European Roma & Traveller Forum and suggested she leads conservatism in the Roma community who seek to downplay problems and exclude critical voices.

In 2014, Baltzar organized an international minister-level The Conscience of Europe conference at the Finnish Parliament. The conference critically addressed the issues of multicultural society in Europe. The conference issued a 24-item set of proposals for law initiatives for reforming European policies of multiculturalism, which were then sent to European Commission.

Visual arts
Veijo Baltzar has been engaged in the visual arts since the late 1960s. His works were presented at the exhibition for young artists in the Ateneum art museum in 1975. Since then Baltzar has had numerous exhibitions in different parts of Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic. Since the 1980s Baltzar has also done architectural design.

Criminal case
On November 21, 2019 Baltzar was detained for suspicion of human trafficking. On November 24, the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat published a multi page story about Baltzar's alleged inappropriate behaviour regarding young women, some of them underage, whom he had recruited to his theater productions. The charges were subsequently dismissed.

Works
''Novels by Veijo Baltzar (Tammi publishers):
 * In Love and War (Sodassa ja rakkaudessa) (2008)
 * Phuro (2000)
 * The Black Tango (Musta tango) (1990)
 * The Snake Trial Stone (Käärmeenkäräjäkivi) (1988)
 * The Chrystall Ball of the Black Sara (Mustan Saaran kristallipallo) (1978)
 * Mari (Mari) (1972)
 * The Engagement of Blood (Verikihlat) (1969)
 * The Burning Road (Polttava tie) (1968)

Plays by Veijo Baltzar (written and directed)

 Whole night plays

'2016          Sin. A musical play. Premiere at the Alexander Theatre, Helsinki
 * 1981          The Black Scourge (Musta ruoska). Roma theatre Drom.
 * 1982          The Hungry Cranes (Nälkäkurjet). Drom Theatre.
 * 1980          The Crystal Ball of Black Sarah. A play for children. Performed in theatre Green Apple in Helsinki.
 * 1983          I’ll Forge Stone to Be a Horse (Taon kivestä hevosen). Drom Theatre. Performed at the International Theatre Festival 22.–26.11.1985, Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg.
 * 1984          Iron Nights (Rautayöt). Drom Theatre.
 * 1986          Iron Horses (Rautaratsut). Drom Theatre.
 * 1991          The God Is Great (Jumala on suuri). Passion play. 1993
 * 1992          The Paradise of Gods (Jumalten Paratiisi). Kuopio Student Theatre.
 * 1993          Backyard Carmen (Takapihan Carmen) 1993. Kuopio Student Theatre.
 * 1993          The Gang (Jengi)
 * 1993          The Dance (Tanssi)
 * 1993          I Will Not Leave My Friend (Kaveria ei jätetä).
 * 1996          The Forest of Women (Naisten metsä).
 * 1997          Love and Mary (Rakkauteni Maria) Oratory.
 * 1994-1997          ORLI, Folk opera. Premiere at the Imatra Cultural Center 1995. The second version premiered in March 1997 at Finlandia Hall, Helsinki.
 * 2004          The Paradise of Gods (Jumalten Paratiisi).
 * 2009          BOTOX.
 * 2011          The God is Great (Jumala on Suuri).
 * 2014          With the Seven-String Guitar. Gipsy cabaret. Premiere at the Alexander Theatre, Helsinki

Poetic plays


 * 1979          Muistan eläneeni (Remembrance of my life). Theatre Baltzar
 * 1982          Tie (The Road). Drom.
 * 1983          Yön kulkijat (Wanderers of the night), Theatre Drom
 * 1983          Punainen hevonen (The Red Horse). Drom.
 * 1985          Mustat kiharat (Black Curls). Drom.
 * 2005          Mustalaisrunoteatteri (Gipsy Poetry Theatre).

Others

2012          “Sny” (Dreams). Prague's National Theatre, Nova Scena

Prizes and awards
1980          1st prize in the Golden Harp – competition, Dublin for the manuscript of short movie Punainen puutarha (the Red Garden)

1981          The theatre action of the year. Awarded by Finnish Theatre Center

1992          The Art award of the Province of Kuopio

1991          The Culture award of Rautalampi

1999          The 3rd prize in the international “Amico Rom” - competition. Italy

2000          The 2nd prize in the international “Amico Rom” - competition. Italy

2002          Arvo Turtiainen literature prize

2008          Mikael Agricola medal celebrating 40-year literary career. Helsinki, Tammi publishers

2011          An honorary title of Cultural Counsellor, kulttuurineuvos, granted by the President of Finland Tarja Halonen

2016          Finalist and honorable mention (international recognition for 50-year activity for the benefit of European Roma), European Roma Spirit Award (ERSA). Bratislava, Slovakia

2017          Artist pension, granted by Arts Promotion Centre Finland as recognition for meritious artistic activity