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.