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FMQ Playlist: Global music in Finland

by Anna Dantchev

Interaction with a remote, northern and structurally strong music culture gives a distinctive tone to the diverse music that musicians from around the world create in Finland. That is why world music born in Finland stands out.

This Global music playlist is compiledy by  Finnish-Bulgarian singer-songwriter Anna Dantchev.


Freilach mit Kneidlach: Dzhankoye (Gefilte Fidl)

This band keeps up the European klezmer tradition in Finland. The heart of the band and the big-hearted ‘mama’ of klezmer culture, Eva Jacob, has been doing grassroots work for decades, highlighting the Jewish musical tradition in Finland.

DANTCHEV:DOMAIN: Oh Male (Say it)

The first album ever composed and published by a Finnish-Bulgarian artist, bringing the identities of two cultures into rhythmic music that breaks down borders. Say It was voted the Folk Music Record of the Year in 2020. Music from one of Finland’s younger minorities.

MA Rouf: Blues for Soran (The People)

Marouf Majid’s language is inspiring. The People is full of stories – music that isn’t just limited to a box defined by others. The roots of Finnish music can also be beyond its geographical boundaries. Music lives; it creeps, whispers, hammers, sometimes also cries.

Cuejero: El zángano (Inmerso)

Javier Sanchez Perez, a Spanish bassist who has settled in Finland, combines his own flamenco tradition with a new original compositional language in a fascinating manner.

Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble: Djigbo (Fire, Sweat & Pastis)

Well, they’re just so good! I chose one of their older releases. This record was the first winner of the Folk Music Album of the Year award that drew on both African traditional music and funk.

The whole playlist:

Translation: Wif Stenger