2024 Maamies ja lohikäärme (Markus Bäckman)

Farmer Giles of Ham

Release Date: 2024.01.02
Readers: Markus Bäckman
Language: Finnish
Translator: Jaakko Kankaanpää and Panu Pekkanen
Organisation: WSOY (Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö)
ISBN: 9789510494295
Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes
Unabridged: Yes
Country: Finnish
Licenced: Yes
Formats: CD, Digital

Markus Bäckman is a well-known Finnish musician and voice artist, often recognized as the “voice of Disney” in Finland for his extensive work in dubbing. He has a deep, resonant bass-baritone voice and uses his utilizes his background in musical theater to navigate the rhythmic prose of the “Little Kingdom.”

The recording uses the modern translation by Jaakko Kankaanpää (prose) and Panu Pekkanen (verse). This translation maintains the “mock-heroic” tone of the original English. It manages to translate Tolkien’s philological jokes and Latinized names into a Finnish context that feels both ancient and humorous. Using the Kankaanpää translation ensures that the terminology aligns with the 2020 hardcover “Expanded Edition” released by WSOY.

Markus Bäckman has become a central voice for Tolkien’s non-Middle-earth stories in Finland. In addition to Maamies ja lohikäärme, he has also narrated Kirjeitä Joulupukilta (Letters from Father Christmas), Niukun lehti (Leaf by Niggle) and Roverandom.