Sarah Palu and the inner self reflected in music
Finnish-French composer-musician Sarah Palu touches a deep chord in the soul with her début album Ikivirta [Everflow]. It is a journey through soundscapes featuring a multitude of musical influences, but always connected by a scarlet thread. Palu plays the kantele and the harp, and what she finds fascinating in music are the connection to her inner self on the one hand and connections between people on the other.
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Antti Lötjönen steps out of the shadows
Free bass
Bassist Antti Lötjönen is one of the busiest Finnish jazz players, having played on well over 100 records, and in dozens of groups. His solo debut was released in April, just a day before Lötjönen turned 40. This summer, touring will have to wait, but Lötjönen doesn’t mind the breather. In Wif Stenger’s interview, the bassist talks about his music and team playing.
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Aspects of shared visions in music:
Joining voices
Shared authorship, dialogue, positive questioning and new kinds of cooperation. Our Special Feature 1/2020 addresses manifestations of collective creativity and authorship in music at a time when humanity perhaps more than ever needs to be able to work together and to adapt to new and unknown.
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Music emerging from the coronavirus crisis
"Structures in the music sector are struggling, and the very ways in which we make, perform and experience music are shifting. But what have music professionals learned from the crisis so far? What are the things to which we should be paying attention? And what should we do next?"
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Partones develops alternative instrument materials
Based in northern Finland, Partones is engaged in processing natural fibres to develop alternative materials for instrument builders. The underlying idea is that we do not need to lose the tradition of the craft nor compromise on the quality of materials even if at some point we are no longer able to use the original, now endangered materials.
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Finnish music institutes take a flying digital leap
When the Government shut down contact teaching in Finland because of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March, music institutes also suspended their operations on site and went virtual. From the outside, it seemed that music institute teaching went online with amazing speed and ease. Yet this ease could not have been achieved without a huge amount of sweat and toil behind the scenes.
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On my music and beyond:
Over, past, thence and yonder
“A certain material, tone combination or chord is nothing on its own, but in the context of a work, it and its significance reaches beyond itself. And similarly, a musical entity can – when all pieces click together – reach over and beyond music as a phenomenon, to interpret humanity. To be available to others, to be recognised: as evidence of what it means to exist,” writes composer Lotta Wennäkoski.
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From the Archives (1985–2005)
FMQ began life as a printed magazine – the Finnish Music Quarterly – in 1985. Until 2005, its articles were only available in hard copy.
Selected articles from our back catalogue have been posted online, and the selection is continuously being added to.
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