View Post

Songs without a filter

– Allt finns här (All is here) A collaboration across country borders where two very different cultures and persons meet and find something they share that becomes new music. A wonderful meeting and a unique album. Singer-songwriter Désirée Saarela’s eighth album Allt finns här (All is here) is a collaboration with the versatile musician and bass clarinettist Luca Bordonaro from Sicily. The album …

View Post

Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvola: The Smoky Smirr o Rain

Traditional and contemporary sounds rub shoulders on the third album from this renowned Scottish/Finnish duo based in Norway. They display a mature sound honed by 10 years of active touring, and cover a wide range of styles. The album opens with the ancient ballad Dàn Fhraoich accompanied by spacious chords inspired by 1960s modal-jazz and Ethiopian music. It is also Juhani’s debut …

View Post

Nominate the Ethnogala winner

It is time to nominate the Ethnogala winners again! Anyone can make their suggetions before 15th of August via www.etnogaala.fi. Although the number of nominations does not affect the eventual selection of winners, good reasons may play a significant role and provide important information in close decisions.   Juries will make the final selection in the end of the summer. …

View Post

OVER 100 RECORDINGS BEFORE GOING SOLO

Acclaimed Finnish accordionist Matti Kallio releases his first solo album, following a two-decade long career as a successful performer, producer and composer. The Iceland-based Finnish multi-instrumentalist Matti Kallio is a prominent multi-talent within the music scene. He has contributed to over a hundred records, collaborated with artists such as Värttinä, Björk and Hector, and won awards for his work with …

View Post

Oulu goes green in honor of St.Patrick’s Day

Oulu, the Irish Culture Mecca of Finland, joins the Global Greening campaign with The Ice Rink and the Oulu Theatre in the city’s historic harbour area. On March 17th, the world goes green to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with iconic buildings and sites across the globe taking part in Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening Initiative. Further afield, iconic sites that have …

View Post

Riitta Huttunen, WOMEX samurai

A small group of esteemed members of the global music community, come together to put the WOMEX programme together. Five Jury members focus on selecting the Showcase artists (Showcase Samurai), while the other two members collaborate on the Conference Sessions (Conference Samurai). Riitta Huttunen from Maetka has been chosen to be one of the Conference Samurais together with Sonya Mazumdar (India).    …

View Post

Joanna Slowinska / Archipelago_2 comes to Finland

Joanna Slowinska’s album archipelago contains modern composition as well Polish traditional themes, the clash of Joanna’s primary vocal energy with an electronics and accoustic sounds, contemporary texts as well Polish and Slavonic ritual folk incantations.  “(…) fascinating journey through the varied musical world Słowińska. journey which from the first to the last moments keeps the listener in suspense. The more, …