Finland - The East

 

Picture credit: By Lobke Thijssen - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=849212

Finally finishing off our tour of Scandinavia, we are heading for the east of Finland and the region of North Karelia.  The historical region of Karelia also spreads partially into Russia, has its own culture and is seen by some as 'purer' Finnish.

We begin with prog-folk band Auri, whose connection to the region is keyboard player and backing singer Tuomas Holopainen, who was born in Kitee, North Karelia.  We have already met the band of course in Johanna Kurkela's (lead singer and wife to Tuomas) home region of Ostrobothnia.  This is a song from their 2021 album Auri II - Those We Don't Speak of called Pearl Diving:

Next we are heading to the municipality of Rääkkylä in North Karelia, which despite its small population has produced a lot of good music, including Finland's most internationally renowned folk band Värttinä.  They started off in 1983 by sisters Sari & Mari Kaasinen and nowadays consist of 3 female vocalists, supported by 3 instrumentalists.  They are heavily influenced by Karelian folk traditions and sing in the local dialect, but incorporate many more contemporary sounds.  Here is a single they released in 2013 called Lasetus:

Sari Kaasininen went on to teach children music in her home village and one of her prodigies was kantele player Marjo Smolander (born 1986 in Rääkkylä).  She has developed a unique way of playing Finland's national instrument.  After travelling extensively in West Africa, Senegal and Mali in particular, she has developed techniques similar to the kora players of the region, but still grounded on her own Finno-Ugric traditions.  For her 2021 album Cosmology she has collaborated with various African musicians to produce a beautiful mélange.  Here is song from the album with Gambian kora player Dawda Jobarteh called Kukkani (My Flowers):

Marjo Smolander is alsp part of the duo Zäpämmät, together with percussionist Pauliina Kauppila.  They delve deep into Finnish folk with hints of West African and Cuban influences.  Here is a track from their 2020 EP Zäpämmät for Peace called Miljoonia (Millions):

Next we're heading a bit north to the city of Joensuu, still in North Karelia.  This is where folk duo Hurja Halla are based. Theirs is an unusual instrument combination of cello (Liisa Haapanen) and jaw harp, overtone flute and harmonica (Janne Ojajärvi), with which they produce a surprisingly contemporary sound, yet rooted in Nordic folk.  Here's the dramatic title track of their 2022 album Riitti set in the beautiful wild landscape of eastern Finland.

And finally we are heading further north again to the town of Kajaani, capital of the Kainuu region, which is where saxophonist Sakari Kukko was born in 1953.  In 1974 he founded the jazz fusion band Piirpauke and today is the only original member still involved.  In their long illustrious career they released 20 studio albums, plus numerous live albums and compilations.  Their list their world music influences is too long to list here.  Their most famous tune was Konevsky Kirkonkellot, which reappeared on a compilation called Jazz-Liisa 15 in 2017.  Here's a beautifully dated 1975 version of it:

That's it from Finland and Scandinavia, next we are heading into Russia, although I'll be on some real travels around Iberia and France for the next 3 weeks or so, so there'll be a break again in posts.  In the meantime you can follow my virtual travels on my Tripline map.

Finland - Helsinki Part III & The Rest of Uusimaa

 As we carry on our exploration of the music of Helsinki we first encounter percussionist Minna Koskenlahti.  Her music is difficult to categorise.  She has a back ground in folk music and plays in various bands, but as a soloist she explores the limits and limitlessness of percussion, giving her instruments a melodic approach creating a minimalistic, intensive and hypnotic sound.  Here is the first half of her 2021 album Toinen/Other:

DANTCHEV:DOMAIN is a Helsinki based Finnish/American/Bulgarian outfit, led by Finnish/Bulgarian singer Anna Dantchev.  They dabble in Bulgarian folk combined with Nordic Jazz and cinematic storytelling with splashes of contemporary pop and rock.  Dantchev sings in English and she is supported by a nice brass section as well as a twinkling vibraphone, distorted guitar and punchy bass.  This is the title track of their 2022 album The Lions We Are:

Early music trio Ensemble Gamut! are a collective of early music and folk specialists looking for new ways to perform medieval and renaissance music by combining traditional instruments and electronics in innovative ways to create their own soundscape.  Their name derives from a medieval music theory by Guido of Arrezzo, but also means colour reproduction, whilst the Finnish word kamut means friends and Kamu is shorthand for Finnish folk music.  Here is a track from their 2022 album Ra called Lapsed caick laolacatt:

In 1998 the contemporary dance theatre group Tsuumi was founded, complete with their own in-house band the Tsuumi Sound System, who have since recorded several albums and toured extensively separate from the dance troupe.  Their music is described as world music, but sounds more like Finnish folk rock.  It's definitely rooted in Nordic folk with fiddle and accordion upfront backed by a strong rhythm section and saxophone.  They really seem to rock the place during live performances.  Here is a 10 minute extract from a concert at the Montelago Celtic Festival in 2017.  Some of those tunes can be heard on their 2013 album Floating Letters:

Saxophonist and reed player JoneTakamäki was born in Helsinki in 1955 and has been prominent Finnish avant garde and improvised music scene since the late 1970's.  For his latest collaboration he has teamed up with 2 Turkish musicians, multi-instrumentalist Umut Çağlar (of Konstrukt and Karkhana) and drummer Fahrettin Aykut (of BABA ZULA) to record a live session as Myth of the Drum (2022).  It blends free jazz with East Asian Zen sounds.  Here is an extract from the album:

Finally leaving Helsinki, although we could easily spend more time here, we are staying in the Uusimaa region as we are heading for the town of Kerava, just northeast of Helsinki.  This is where musician and composer Milla Viljamaa was born in 1980.  Her main instruments are piano and harmonium and she dabbles in various genres from folk to chamber music, opera to film music.  One of her most enduring love affairs is the tango though.  She has collaborated a lot with accordionist Johana Juhola, but this tune is from her 2011 solo album Minne and is called Neiti Marplen Tango (Miss Marple's Tango):

Next we are heading east for the town of Loviisa in the region of Uusimaa, where part of the world folk band BergåFolk Project comes from, the other half hailing from Helsinki.  They arrange folk songs from all over the world and give them their own interpretations, singing them in their original languages.  They are quite new on the scene, but are already making waves for their energetic live performances.  Here is an Italian song from their 2022 self-titled debut album called La Donna Ideale (The ideal woman):

That's it from Uusimaa for today, next we are heading to the east of Finland for our last leg of Scandinavia.  In the meantime you can follow my virtual tour on my Tripline map.