Maria Kalaniemi, a master of free-bass button accordion, is also a doctor of music and a long term instrument pedagogue, who has performed with numerous bands, released nearly twenty records and played on many more. Kalaniemi has also collaborated with the best folk musicians in the North.

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South-Karelian-Helsinki music collective Dänkki Briha – self proclaimed "synergistic connection of nostalgic longing and modern expression" – is inspired by Finnish-Ingerian-Karelian folklore, myths and cityscapes. Passionate about art and folk poetry. The "anti-folk" band fuses together theatrical expression, Baltic Finnish cultural heritage and an ultra-modern soundscape. The end result of Juho Liira's vocals, Matias Kontula's electric violin and Manu Penttilä's production is a "unique ethno-futuristic banger machine" that works on stage as it does on record. Their music is sung in Finnish, Karelian and Inger, with some original lyrics and some directly from folk poetry archives.

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The singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Vilma Jää mixes hundreds of years old stories with today’s electronic music. She combines the ancient instruments such as kantele and harmonium with synthetic beats. She is also known from her breakthrough role in Innocence, an international success opera by Kaija Saariaho.

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Gulf Stream Riders is a folk/country rock duo with one foot in New York and the other in Turku. The band is an American-Finnish-Swedish collaboration that, in addition to Ahlstedt, consists of the American singer Chris Anderson. Anderson and Ahlstedt have played together since the early 90s, when they had a band called Wighthouse Wanderland. Still these days, the band's multi-instrumentalist and producer Nalle Ahlstedt can be associated with many different music projects.

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Accordion experimentalist Antti Paalanen has created his own sound with his diatonic instrument, which he uses to weave hypnotic and minimalistic tunes that tell stories about the world of today. On his songs Paalanen screams at his accordion, kicks the floor and hits the bellows. Alongside his solo career, Antti Paalanen is a member of several folk music line-ups such as Hehkumo, Hyperborea, Laitakaupungin- orkesteri, Kiharakolmio, Trepaanit and Turkka ja Paalanen.

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Viivi Maria Saarenkylä is an award-winning Finnish accordion artist. The luminous musician and music creative has toured and collaborated extensively around the world in solo as well as with her signature groups Northflip and VILDÁ.

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Helsinki based electro-folk band Okra Playground was formed in 2010. On this musical playground the kantele and bowed lyre, both ancient folk instruments, coexist in a new, exciting symbiosis with modern instruments and soundscapes. In 2016 the group played the official showcase of WOMEX and released their debut album "Turmio", which received a five-star review from Songlines Magazine. Okra Playground's sophomore album "Ääneni yli vesien" (My Voice Over the Water) was released in 2018 and their 3rd, one "Itku", saw the light of day in 2022.

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Finnish singer-songwriter Silja Palomäki makes her solo debut with an album that brings together contemporary folk, rock, elements of symphonic progressive music, and poetic storytelling. The album's songs explore enduring themes of love, death, and the fragility of human life through a collection of dark narratives. The album features contributions from several Finnish musicians, including folk artist Pekko Käppi on vocals and jouhikko, guitarist and producer Tapio Ylinen (Mortality, 5th Season), bassist Jukka Haavisto, and drummer Jaakko Pöyhönen, known from the band Tinyhawk & Bizzarro.

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Pekko Käppi is a visionary Finnish folk music composer, ethnomusicologist, runo-song researcher, member of e.g. the groundbreaking revivalists Jouhiorkesteri, his own blues-rocking combo K:H:H:L, and folk quartet Ne Lintuizet, and album-award-winning solo artist. His oeuvre revolutionized the standards of playing the ancient Finnish instrument jouhikko, a bowed lyre, by plugging it into an amplifier.

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Loimolan Voima writes contemporary Karelian folk music with roots embedded deep in the soil of the Border Karelian region. The two man band is composed of brothers Mika ”Miša” Saatsi and Niko ”Miikkula” Saatsi. Miša is the bands’ composer and Miikkula writes their lyrics in Karelian. The Saatsi brothers descend from the Karelian commune of Suistamo and are on a mission to sing the endangered Karelian language into public notice. Loimolan Voima released their award-winning debut album "Ruttomuzikan kyynäl" in 2020.

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Blues singer, guitarist, harmonica player, and author Jantso Jokelin's music combines acoustic blues with contemporary folk songwriting. His songs draw on atmospheric storytelling, blending traditional blues themes with literary influences, personal experiences, and fictional narratives. Alongside his solo work, Jokelin has performed with a range of bands and ensembles, exploring musical traditions including Middle Eastern music, klezmer, jazz, and beatboxing. He has received several international and national recognitions, including third prize at the World Harmonica Contest in Germany and a special prize for his solo performance at the 2025 European Blues Challenge in Split, Croatia. Jokelin has also written several books, including the first comprehensive harmonica guide published in Finnish.

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Suistamon Sähkö performs new Karelian dance music with electronics, Russian toy accordion, power of song, rap and manic moves. Crazy music scientists Anne-Mari Kivimäki and Eero Grundström create new Suistamo dance music with a Notka accordion and electronics. Add two dancing vocalists Reetta-Kaisa Iles and Tuomas Juntunen and this visual folktronica act will make you dance yourself into a trance.

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Fiddler and composer Veera Kuisma describes her music as "rhythmic Nordic folk music and hypnotic soundscapes". Her debut album "Rautavuo" was released in 2026.

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Ánnámáret is Anna Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman, Sámi musician who lives and whose work is based in Nuorgam, northernmost Finland. Her music is inspired by the life and the nature in Sápmi. Ánnámáret’s strength as an artist springs from having grown up between two cultures and, thus, in understanding these cultures and their collisions and similarities. Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman's new band Ánnámáret Luohteilbmi performs traditional Northern Sámi joiks or luohts with fresh global electro arrangements.

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Surento is a vocal ensemble consisting of three singers and practitioners of the Karelian lament tradition: Liisa Matveinen, Emmi Kuittinen, and Emilia Kallonen. Specializing in Karelian and Ingrian folk music, the trio performs both traditional lament songs and newly composed works inspired by the tradition, alongside runo singing and vocal improvisation. Their performances feature vocal harmonies accompanied by kantele and ukulele.

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Slack Bird is a punk folk band as well as the solo vehicle for singer-songwriter Dave Klas. During their existence, Slack Bird has toured abroad with various lineups, the most active of which has been the duo version with accordionist Susanna Leppänen and Klas. Thus far, Slack Bird has released three albums: "Let's Start Wearing Capes" (2016), "Aleta Au" (2018) and "Hämärään" (2021).

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Ida Elina has demonstrated the versatility of the Finnish national instrument, the kantele, in the 2010s. She is a skilled singer and pop kantele performer, gaining attention on YouTube with her covers of popular songs by artists like Michael Jackson, Adele, and Toto, which have accumulated hundreds of thousands of views. In addition to her cover songs, she has developed her own style as a songwriter, incorporating gospel influences alongside pop elements. Trained in classical music, Ida Elina developed her distinctive playing technique after observing slap guitar players on YouTube.

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Vilma Talvitie is a singer, composer-lyricist and multi-instrumentalist who creates bridges between pop, global and folk music. In her music, Finnish folk aesthetics and acoustic instruments (piano, accordion, strings) exist in harmony with electronic beats and catchy pop melodies. Having lived in several different countries and continents – Europe, South America and Asia – the nomadic lifestyle has left a distinctive mark on Talvitie's music.

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HUIPPU is a new six-piece band that composes and performs contemporary folk music. Influenced by Nordic and Irish folk traditions, the band creates a sound that combines melody and rhythm in a modern approach.

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Artist info coming soon!

Matias and the Canyons is better known as the solo project from Herman, the banjo guy of Steve 'n' Seagulls.

Finnish singer-songwriter Aaron Barone writes and performs contemporary country music with influences from traditional country and rock. Raised in the small town of Hollola, he developed an early interest in the genre through artists such as Toby Keith, Eric Church, and Chris Stapleton, which led him to begin writing songs on acoustic guitar. His first four singles were written solely by him and produced by Finnish country artist and producer Jyrki "Jykä" Sirainen. His debut full-length album is scheduled for release in summer 2026.

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Timo Alakotila is one of Finland’s busiest, most versatile and most in-demand musicians, as composer, arranger, pianist and harmonium player in folk, classical, jazz and pop fields. His career began as harmonium player and founder member of the fiddle group JPP, who quickly established themselves as the best and most innovative fiddle music group in Finland. On his first solo album Alakotila's sole instrument is piano.

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The solo project of composer and musician Petra Poutanen plays folk music with a modern twist using techniques of Scandinavian and Finno-Ugrian folk singing as well as throat singing. Her solo debut “Pyhä Veri Vuotaa” released in 2022 takes influence from around the world and has been described as a layered entity with acrobatic vocals and a rich sounds world.

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There's no one quite like Johanna Juhola; nimble-fingered accordion virtuoso and multi-faceted composer, she blazes her own colorful trail, breezing blithely across style borders and genre barriers with a captivating mix of musical excellence and engaging charm. Her compositions blend the parallel worlds of Argentinian and Finnish tango, following the latter's path into the melancholic soul of Finnish folk, emerging into the sunlight with uplifting flirtations with pop music and innovative excursions into electronica.

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Consisting of Iida Savolainen (viola, vocals, stomp box) and Meriheini Luoto (nyckelharpa, vocals), Akkajee calls themselves "a band of two 'akkas' (which translates to "a head strong woman with a decisive attitude and a sharp tongue") creating string noise on the rotten roots of Finnish folk tradition". Their layered aesthetics invite you to the world of frozen lakes, haunting nightmares and the ancient mystery of giving birth. The vocal and instrumental storytelling varies from intimate to fierce seasoned with pulsating beats and floating soundscapes.

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Nope is a Finnish folk music band formed in Oulu in 2015. The group performs original compositions alongside new arrangements of traditional Finnish folk music, combining traditional influences with a contemporary approach. Nope consists of Virve Yli-Savola (accordion, lead vocals), Erja Pätsi (fiddle, vocals), Mikko Alanne (double bass, vocals), and Olli Seikkula (guitar, vocals).

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Oulu All Star Big Band, with trumpeter Jukka Eskola as soloist, collaborates with Finnish Sámi joiker, singer, and actor Ingá-Máret Gaup-Juuso on the album Davvi Oktavuohta – Pohjoinen Yhteys, released on 6 February 2026, Sámi National Day. The recording brings together musical traditions and eras, combining Indigenous northern music with big band expression. The arrangements are by drummer-composer Mikko Hassinen, known as one of Finland’s leading big band arrangers.

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Tuuletar is a vocal performance group, consisting of four diverse women from Finland. The quartet takes influences from all around the world, inspired by sounds from American hip hop to South Asian folk, all while keeping their feet strongly rooted in Finnish language and musical heritage. Following the release of their debut "Tules Maas Vedes Taivaal" the group toured across the world. Tuuletar's 2nd album "Rajatila/Borderline" was released in May 2019.

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