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Värttinä
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“An unbeatable ‘world-beat' combination: traditional music, given a contemporary twist and a post-modern point of view.” Rolling Stone
Värttinä is Finland's most successful contemporary folk music group, now celebrating their 23rd year and the release of their 11th album, Miero. Värttinä's roots are in the Karelia region of Finland, specifically women's vocal traditions and ancient poems known as runos. Fronted by three female singers and supported by six acoustic musicians,Värttinä composes most of their music and lyrics based on traditional Karelian and other Finno-Ugric styles but with modern and thoroughly distinctive and original arrangements.
Since 1990,Värttinä (visit www.varttina.com) has toured internationally and built a solid reputation as one the most inventive and uncompromising ensembles in the contemporary world music arena.
Fiona Talkington, of BBC Radio 3's Late Junction, said of the group: “Värttinä has seemingly unstoppable creative energy. They thrill, surprise and amaze audiences all over the world.”
New York's Newsday described their music as “A gale-force musical attack... beautifully poignant tunes... exotic but accessible, complex but exciting” and from Billboard magazine: “Exquisite beauty... groundbreaking yet steeped in tradition, definitely Finnish, yet worldly.”
Songlines Magazine (UK) voted their 10th album, iki, one of the “Top 50 World Music Albums You Should Own” and Utne magazine (USA) voted Värttinä one of the “World's Most Soulful and Exciting Artists of 2003.”
The new album Miero is the first of a two-album deal with Peter Gabriel's Real World Records and was a “Top of the World” pick by Songlines magazine as well as entering the World Music Charts Europe Top 10.
Värttinä is: Susan Aho - vocals; Mari Kaasinen - vocals; Johanna Virtanen - vocals; Janne Lappalainen - bouzouki, soprano saxophone; Markku Lepistö - accordions; Lassi Logrén - fiddle, jouhikko; Jaakko Lukkarinen - drums, percussion; Hannu Rantanen - double bass; Antto Varilo - guitars, stringed instruments.