FMQ - Folk music Articles

Krishna Nagaraja: Finding a home amid polskas, baroque and metal rhythms

An Indian-Italian composer studying Norwegian fiddling in Helsinki? It all comes naturally for Krishna Nagaraja, who traces parallels between far-flung genres, from Ars Subtilior and South Indian Konnakol to Irish folk and progressive metal.

Wif Stenger

September 20, 2024

Features

Shades of the In-Between: Exploring Musical Boundaries with Aino Peltomaa and Ilkka Heinonen

Aino Peltomaa and Ilkka Heinonen are musicians who excel in the no-man’s-land between genres, organically shaping their music into something that defies labels. With backgrounds in both early and folk music, they challenge rigid expectations and the usual tendency to categorise. In this interview, they explore the power of collective creativity and embracing the unknown.

Auli Särkiö-Pitkänen

September 13, 2024

Reviews

Timeless pelimanni music with fire and dedication

"It’s tantalising to try to hear how the sounds are formed – is that a plucking sound from the kantele, pizzicato from the viola or the popping of accordion buttons? Listening to this album, you really feel close to each musician and her instrument," writes Amanda Kauranne.

Amanda Kauranne

May 25, 2023

Reviews

The raw power of folk tradition and fantasy

"Each track makes the listener marvel at the many facets of the stories and of the music. The wild and wonderful tales of folk tradition have here found a worthy interpreter."

Amanda Kauranne

August 19, 2021

Features

Pauanne: archive recordings meet the 21st century

Pauanne is both the name of an innovative Finnish folk trio and the old Finnish thunder god. And like a blast of thunder their music is shaking up the way we look and hear the past, present and future.

Simon Broughton

October 16, 2020

Reviews

Fast moving, varied and brave: WOMEX 2019 opening concert

“The music of Arctic Fire concert at the WOMEX 2019 was brave and contemporary, yet all of them drew in some way on archaic traditions in Finnish music.”

Simon Broughton

October 31, 2019

Features

Contemporary folk song is a mix of traditional and original

Several eras and genres are represented in the domain of Finnish traditional folk singing: ancient runo singing, roundelays or Reigenlied, and medieval ballads. Inspiration from and combinations of multiple styles have resulted in a wealth of new repertoire that reflects and comments on our own times.

Tove Djupsjöbacka

September 30, 2019

Features

Tracking thousands of tangos

When Alfonso Padilla arrived in Finland from Chile in 1975, the brand of tango found in his new homeland was for him mainly a source of bemusement. Now, more than 40 years later, he is completing an extensive research project on the Finnish tango.

Riikka Hiltunen

September 30, 2019

Features

Go your own way! Artistic freedom is at the heart of vibrant contemporary Finnish folk music

A small country must learn how to adapt, cooperate and innovate. Agility is key. Finland has a high degree of social equality, and in music this means that basically anyone can do anything. Creativity and curiosity are the wellspring of the vitality of contemporary Finnish folk music.

Mika Kauhanen

September 30, 2019

Columns

Folklandia – a music festival on sea

Once a year the Folklandia cruise gathers Finnish folk music and dance lovers together for a 24-hour journey on the Baltic Sea. In January 2019 Simon Broughton got on the board.

Simon Broughton

September 30, 2019

Features

Pluck those strings, play that bow - kantele and jouhikko

The kantele is seen as Finland’s national instrument and its mythological history is often reinforced: how Väinämöinen, a hero and the central character in our national epic, the Kalevala, builds the first kantele. The jouhikko is another instrument with a long history, known previously by the name jouhikantele (bowed kantele). Its living playing tradition gradually died down but was actively revived during the 20th century.

Tove Djupsjöbacka

September 30, 2019

Features

Pelimanni spirit is alive!

When violins first reached the shores of Finland via Sweden sometime during the 17th and 18th centuries, it seems that they jumped straight into the Perho River and swam upstream to the Central Ostrobothnian village of Kaustinen. The local playing tradition has remained unbroken ever since, with each village boasting its own unique playing style. Now the Kaustinen fiddle tradition has been nominated for inclusion in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Amanda Kauranne

September 30, 2019

Reviews

A nice and intimate surprise

"Listening to Teija Niku's solo album one almost feels like sneaking into her studio, and in this solo context I actually appreciate Niku’s composition skills more than ever."

Tove Djupsjöbacka

September 6, 2019

Reviews

Finnish fire and fiddling fun

"A finely crafted exploration of each other’s music and style bringing out the richness, the elegance and the wit of their playing and writing."

Fiona Talkington

September 6, 2019

Columns

Avanto adventures with Kimmo Pohjonen

"When accordionist Kimmo Pohjonen invited me to join him at his sauna society in January I couldn’t resist. But I was afraid. I’ve been courageous enough to attend many Kimmo shows and survived. But here was a challenge."

Simon Broughton

February 21, 2019

Features

Näppärit: Social music-making

What if the aim of music education was not to focus on producing masters, but to create a lifelong, enthusiastic connection with music, where an essential part is making music together? This is exactly what the Kaustinen-based Näppäri method strives for.

Amanda Kauranne

September 6, 2018

Reviews

Okra Playground - Live at De Ploter, Ternat

"Each of the three female voices is strong in her own right, but blended together there seems no end to the variation in mood and colour they can create," describes Ton Maas in his review of the group's gig in Belgium.

Ton Maas

March 16, 2018

Reviews

Crazy brilliance lives on!

"In some ways Frost on Fiddles is a test of Frigg’s musical strength and spirit and it questions whether a band can survive changes in personnel and the pressures of the brilliant up-and-coming younger generation of Finnish musicians."

Fiona Talkington

January 25, 2018

Features

Pelimanni meets pixels

Folk music and video game music are poles apart – or are they? Composer and sound designer Anni Tolvanen and Jimmy Träskelin, creator of the Pelimanni 8bit game, talk about the encounters between pelimanni players and the world of pixels.

Amanda Kauranne

November 7, 2017

Reviews

Better than vitamin D

Having travelled all around the world, the Majidi brothers have distilled their experiences and musical influences into a titillating album that will knock your socks off!

Amanda Kauranne

September 21, 2017

Reviews

Hymn of praise to midsummer and music

Both Karen Tweed and Timo Alakotila are supreme lyrical performers who have a true gift for uncovering the spirit and text of the tunes they play.

Fiona Talkington

September 21, 2017

Features

The kantele - outside the box

Today, the kantele inspires composers and performers across genre boundaries. Musician Maija Kauhanen and composer Adina Dumitrescu discuss the instrument from their respective perspectives.

Tove Djupsjöbacka

June 16, 2017

Features

The kantele – not exclusively Finnish

Finns never fail to point out that the kantele is Finland’s national instrument. In our national epic, the Kalevala, Väinämöinen the wizard builds the first kantele from the jaw bone of a pike and charms all the people and the animals of the forest. But there are kantele-like instruments elsewhere too, and it is only recently that they have begun to be studied more thoroughly.

Tove Djupsjöbacka

May 29, 2017

Reviews

Jaakko Laitinen & Väärä Raha

When Jaakko Laitinen & Väärä Raha came on stage in the Horta Hall of Bozar in Brussels, as part of the 11th edition of Balkan Trafik!, they must have realised it was not going to be an easy victory. The folding chairs for the audience had been placed at the far end of a huge empty dance floor, some thirty metres from the stage. To compensate for this they moved into gear right from the very start, and delivered what could be expected from them: energetic and exciting Balkan music with a subtle twist.

Ton Maas

May 11, 2017

Reviews

Frigg - Live at De Doelen, Rotterdam

According to the festival programme, Frigg, a band from Finland that made their first Dutch appearance at the Celtic & Balfolk Night in Rotterdam on 18 February, “sometimes sound like a polka band, sometimes like a Riverdance troupe and sometimes even like a rock band”. And they did, even though they didn’t show their rough and edgy side right from the start.

Ton Maas

March 7, 2017

Features

Collective resonance

“If you look far enough back in any culture, music is born out of many different aspects and influences, including the physical environment that you live in. This is the key for me, finding your own points of connection with your culture, whatever that might be,” says widely travelled multi-instrumentalist Nathan Riki Thomson.

Merja Hottinen

October 7, 2016

Features

Conquering the tradition

In the heart of folk music is an idea of equality: professionals and amateurs playing the same repertoire, each at their own skill level, as valued members of the community. There is a natural curiosity about different cultures and any form of exclusion is discouraged. However, gender equality is an issue that still seems to need some fine tuning. What is the status of female folk musicians in the Finland of 2016?

Amanda Kauranne

July 10, 2016

Columns

FMQ Autumn 2016 Notes & Letters: From second class citizenship to the conductor’s podium

Baroque violinist and conductor Kreeta-Maria Kentala writes about how attitudes towards baroque music and female conductors have changed during her career.

Kreeta-Maria Kentala

July 10, 2016

Reviews

Vocal folk hop it is

Tuuletar is a quite recent addition to the high life of Finnish a cappella groups that has already been successful in international vocal group competitions. The genre headline they use is “vocal folk hop”, which is actually quite suitable for their music.

Tove Djupsjöbacka

June 10, 2016

Reviews

Poignant, witty, thoughtful

Poignant, witty, agile, mischievous, thoughtful, beautiful: this is Timo Alakotila and his piano, alone at last.

Fiona Talkington

June 10, 2016

Reviews

Folk music concertante

The second album of Karuna, a trio of accordion, piano and nyckelharpa, is even more stylish and secure than their debut. The musicians are all superb: Teija Niku (acc), Juha Kujanpää (pf) and Esko Järvelä (nyckelharpa).

Tove Djupsjöbacka

June 10, 2016

Reviews

A true sound garden

Sometimes a record gives you the impression of sneaking into a secret place, in this case maybe a small house in the forest with a light scent of smoke in the walls.

Tove Djupsjöbacka

June 10, 2016

Reviews

A Finnish wedding night

A delightfully fresh debut disc of originals in the spirit of trad plus new takes on folk music, both instrumental and with vocal seasoning.

Amanda Kauranne

June 10, 2016

Reviews

Pillar of the Finnish folk music community

Tallari succeeds in transforming into whatever it wishes, something always remains – the fundamental lilt and the soulful playing.

Amanda Kauranne

June 10, 2016

Reviews

Sound blessing

"The sound they achieve together on their third album is quite a blessing, and Timonen offers both jazzy atmosphere as well as some traditional playing."

Tove Djupsjöbacka

June 4, 2016

Reviews

Feel the folk song

"What’s a folk song? Freija’s answer is broad enough to include both songs in Kalevala metre and evergreens, and both fit the band very well."

Tove Djupsjöbacka

June 4, 2016

Features

Shared roots

The nature of folk music has always included the shameless borrowing of refreshing material from elsewhere – right now Baltic Finnish influences are rising to the top in Finland.

Amanda Kauranne

June 4, 2016

Reviews

A beguiling and compulsive musical journey

"It’s enough to say 'this is Sanna' because that means, as ever, a beguiling and compulsive musical journey."

Fiona Talkington

June 4, 2016

Reviews

Ethno-disco on bagpipes

"This is a disc of delightfully pompous acoustic stadium folk that without any doubt will have people dancing. Described as all-natural ethno-disco, the repertoire consists of repetitive kantele and jouhikko tunes and fiddle melodies from both Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking regions of Finland."

Amanda Kauranne

May 4, 2016

Reviews

Bach gets air under his wings

Baroque violinist Kreeta-Maria Kentala combines on her recording her two strong areas of expertise, baroque and folk music, in a most innovative and fruitful way.

Anna Pulkkis

March 10, 2016

Features

Fiddler on a bike tour

In summer 2015 fiddler Emilia Lajunen will undertook a concert tour of Finland by bicycle. Two months, more than 20 concerts at music festivals, over 2000 kilometres. The idea of the tour was to return to the roots of the Finnish tradition of vagabond fiddlers. On the other hand, the idea was to save the world by showing that a CO2-free tour is possible even today.

FMQ

August 6, 2015

Features

The accordion in Finland – an instrument of contradictions

Edited by Vesa Kurkela and Marko Tikka and released in late 2014, a new book about the Finnish accordion covers, among other things, the early stages of the instrument and the most significant players, as well as going through the Finnish accordion repertoire. In the following article, based on the book’s introduction, the two editors contemplate the status of the accordion in Finnish music.

Vesa Kurkela

February 7, 2015

Features

“Utterly Finnish, peculiarly original”

The concept of a national musical language made its way to Finland in the 1800s. One of the culminations of this new wave was the premiere performance of Sibelius’s Kullervo. The birth of this epic music historical tale was influenced by a number of endeavours, ideas and occurrences.

Olli Heikkinen

January 4, 2015

Features

A visit from Mr Composer

What happened when Jean Sibelius and Larin Paraske met? This is one way to imagine the scene, from the runo singer’s point of view.

Ilona Korhonen

January 4, 2015

Reviews

On a clear pathway

"Combining influences like Finnish tango, Balkan music and Finnish pelimanni music isn’t easy, but they get it all to sound like just Sväng music. On their fourth studio record, I feel more pelimanni music presence than in a long time."

Tove Djupsjöbacka

November 6, 2014

Features

The national character of Soviet Karelian music

There has been little research in Finland into Karelian culture on the Russian side of the border during the Soviet era. From the 1920s to the 1950s we get a fragmented picture on the whole of cultural policy in the Soviet Union. Ever the victim of ideological change, Karelian culture was sometimes something that enriched a multicultural state, sometimes something to be denounced as unorthodox.

Pekka Suutari

June 4, 2005

Features

New directions with a firm basis in tradition

The world music market has seen a boom in Celtic, African and Latin American music. Many people believe that it is the turn of the Nordic countries next.

Mika Kauhanen

January 12, 2005

Features

Finno-Ugrian tradition; Those Women!

A protégée of the Sibelius Academy Folk Music Department, the vocal ensemble 'MeNaiset' has delved deep into the music not only of the Finno-Ugrian peoples but of other nearby races as well. The important thing about this band of young women is not, however, their academic background but the joy they find in singing together.

Riitta Pietilä

January 6, 1997

Reviews

An institution alive and kicking

"In 2015, JPP is still alive and kicking, and playing with as high quality as ever. They don’t play too often, but when they do there is a nice relaxed touch, and they don’t take it all too seriously. "

January 8, 1985

Features

Bigger, better, folkier

What happens if you put forty folk musicians and their instruments in one room once a month for a couple of years? The Sibelius Academy Folk Big Band is leading the way for Finnish folk instrument orchestras.

Amanda Kauranne

January 8, 1985

Features

Rune-singing, the musical vernacular

Runes were sung by people of all ages: children and adults, old and young, men and women. They were sung on all sorts of occasions: on working days and holidays, at play and at work, as young people got together and at dances. There were also many different ways of singing them: solo, with two people or groups alternating, together in small or large groups.

Heikki Laitinen

January 8, 1985

Reviews

Beautiful archaic boogie

"He’s more pop than ever, bringing to mind especially Finnish singer-songwriters from past decades. But he has not forgotten who he is: a modern runo singer, a storyteller knowing well the musical tradition of his country and playing his bowed lyre, jouhikko, brilliantly."

Riikka Hiltunen

January 8, 1985

Reviews

Golden oldies with a twist

"The golden oldies of Finnish tradition have become adequately unruly as they’ve flown overseas, and found new aspects both in the song material and the soundscapes."

January 8, 1985

Features

From symbiosis to encounter

Dancing and music used to be joined at the hip. In folk music, this symbiotic relationship was preserved for a long time due to the fact that the bulk of traditional music is actually dance music. Today the connections between these two art forms are being examined at the Sibelius Academy Folk Music Department and through the many and varied projects of the Tsuumi Dance Theatre.

Amanda Kauranne

January 8, 1985

Features

Spells, blood and bliss

Singing with the voice of old men and playing the jouhikko, an ancient bowed lyre, Pekko Käppi is hot stuff in Finland and abroad with his band. The archaic boogie performed by K:H:H:L seems to resonate with an incredible variety of audiences. Käppi is on the front line in the resurrection of one of Finland’s oldest instruments.

Riikka Hiltunen

January 8, 1985

Features

”Do not dance to the screeching insidious accordions, burn them”

”The accordion is the arch enemy of folk music. It kills any musical tendencies the nation may have, ravages the ear and drags down musical taste. Do not dance to the screeching, insidious accordions. Burn them.” In such colourful terms was one of Finland's most popular instruments once described.

Ilkka Kolehmainen

January 8, 1985