Playlists

New Folk and Global Music from Finland

Words by Music Finland

Published 26.1.2022

Get to know the most exciting new folk and global music from Finland!

The Finnish music scene is more diverse than ever, with traditional music styles and instruments shaking hands with modern soundscapes and other genres. The artists featured on the playlist range from Jaakko Laitinen & Väärä Raha's balkan grooves to Joonas Widenius Trio's flamenco jazz and Maija Kauhanen's music inspired by Finnish and Karelian traditions.

This Apple Music and Spotify based playlist is updated frequently. Scroll down fro artist info!

New Folk & Global Music from Finland on Apple Music

New Folk & Global Music from Finland on Spotify

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Mikko H. Haapoja

During 2010s and early 20s, Helsinki-based media artist and music producer Mikko H. Haapoja has field-recorded soundscapes around the globe, from the Nordic and South-Peruvian nature to the several cities like Istanbul, New York, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Helsinki, Lima, Bangkok and Hongkong. By mixing multiple sonic environments together, Haapoja now creates unheard worlds for our ears. In Unheard Landscapes, Finnish traditional bowed lyres, kantele and electronic beats contact this mixture of sounds in to the living tradition of ours. Mikko H. Haapoja's solo debut album 'Unheard Landscapes' will be released in summer 2023, following a tour in Finland and abroad.

Teea Aarnio

Singer-songwriter Teea Aarnio has graduated from the Pop & Jazz Conservatory, but before becoming a musician, she worked for e.g. in theatre, dance and contemporary art. Her musicianship combines features of contemporary performance art and versatile artistry, and she is inspired by the diversity of nature and culture. Her song "Pihani", on which she worked with songwriter Timo Kiiskinen, whose track record includes for example Värttinä, is a fascinating combination of calm and soothing folk music, jazz and chanson.

Tjango!

The story of Tjango! began in 2010, when three classical music professionals started to play the swing of Django Reinhardt and the tango of Astor Piazzolla. Later on, they moved on to create their own musical style, a mixture of gypsy jazz and Latin American rhythms combined with songful folk music-like melodies. The current lineup of Tjango! consists of founding members accordionist Antti Leinonen and guitarist Otto Tolonen, together with fiddler Tero Hyväluoma and double-bassist Tarmo Anttila.

Vimma

VIMMA is a young art-pop ensemble from Helsinki combining Nordic folk with progressive rock. As a 9 piece mini-orchestra VIMMA is able to create a massive sound with specific arrangements while also leaving space for artistic interpretation and improvisation.

Kasvu

Folk quintet Kasvu (which translates to "growth") present themselves as "a love letter to biodiversity". While the band plays contemporary folk music, their lyrics draw from ancient Finnish folk poetry, as well as the contemporary poetry of Henriikka Tavi. Kasvu consists of Lotta Hagfors (vocals), Vesa Norilo (cello), Olli Kari (accordion, mandolin), Oskari Lehtonen (percussion) and Kirsi Vinkki (violin, bowed lyre).

Uni uni

Uni uni is a duo specialized in "energetic ambient and dreamy electronic pop" with archaic instruments such as the jouhikko (bowed lyre). Emerging in the Finnish folk scene in early 2023 with their debut single "Pyöriäinen", the Helsinki-based twosome consists of Ella Isotalo (violin, bowed lyre, viola, ilimba, live looping) and Mikko H. Haapoja (synths, programming, bowed lyre, vocals).

Vilma Talvitie

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.

Anna Murtola

Anna Murtola, born in 1983 in Oulu, North of Finland is the world’s northernmost flamenco singer. Considered as one of the pioneers of Finnish flamenco singing, the singer has found her own strong voice as an interpreter of this passionate Spanish tradition. She is also known as a versatile and charismatic performer who is constantly reaching out across genre and culture borders. In 2018 Murtola’s debut album "Fuego Por Dentro" was released by Alba Records as the first album by a Finnish flamenco singer. Her 2nd album "La Tierra Blanca" is released by the award-winning German record label Nordic Notes in 2023.

Ensemble Gamut!

Ensemble Gamut! is a fresh, experimental collective of early music and folk music specialists, constantly searching for new ways to perform early music. They combine historical instruments and electronics in an innovative way, and have created their own unique world of sounds using medieval and renaissance music, Finnish folk tunes, improvisation and modern soundscapes. Ensemble Gamut! has performed extensively from club gigs to museums, medieval churches and concert halls. Their debut album, UT was released in 2020.

Juha Kujanpää

Juha Kujanpää is a Finnish composer and musician who operates masterfully in the no-man’s land between folk music, jazz and rock. His most recent works include the solo albums “To Where My Wings Will Take Me” (Niin kauas kuin siivet kantaa), 2017, “Goldwing” (Kultasiipi), 2015 and Tales and Travels” (Kivenpyörittäjä), 2013. “Tales and Travels” was selected as one of the best albums of 2013 by the leading Finnish newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat. The band, Juha Kujanpää Ensemble, was also nominated as the Band of the Year of Kaustinen Folk Music Festival 2014.

PK Keränen & Leija Lautamaja

Many were surprised when 22-Pistepirkko's PK Keränen – one of Finland's most respected rock musicians – joined together with Leija Lautamaja, a Helsinki-based artist and musician specialised in Finnish and Nordic folk music. On this project Keränen's stomp blues and piano ballads meet Lautamaja's melodeon playing.

Okra Playground

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.

Pohjonen Alanko

Ismo Alanko, Kimmo Pohjonen and Tuomas Norvio have teamed up for a new project, Pohjonen Alanko. The core of their music is vocal improvisation and electronic adventures. The sounds, melodies and rhythms conceived in a free form state are developed into powerful visual imaginations and creative compositions. Various sounds emanating from the human body, hypnotic vibrations and lyrical melodies meet modern technology.

Jussi Reijonen

It is said that music does not lie in the notes themselves but between them, and it is exactly in that space where fretless/fretted guitarist and oudist Jussi Reijonen‘s music thrives and blossoms. Along his path, Jussi has worked as bandleader, sideman, composer or arranger with a diverse array of world-renowned artists. He has also performed extensively at prestigious festivals and venues throughout the United States like Lincoln Center and the Library of Congress, as well as in various other countries.

Désirée Saarela

Désirée Saarela is a singer-songwriter and folk singer whose vocal expression is strongly rooted in the folk tradition. Lyrics, stories and moods are at the core of her music.

Maajo

Maajo is a sextet that brings a rare tropical breeze from the cold north. Their music carries various influences from different continents. The Berlin/London based label Queen Nanny released Maajo’s first full-length Tropic of Tulli in early 2016. 2017 saw the release of a Maajo Remixes EP with track reworks by Luke Vibert and Call Super. The band has also composed, arranged and performed a live soundtrack for the 1925 classic silent stop motion dinosaur movie “The Lost World”.

Enkel

ENKEL are a traditional music girl band from Finland made up of two melodeons, kantele, viola and four voices; four personable, unique and folky ladies with their instruments, sharing a great passion for traditional music, social folk dancing and telling stories through instrumental arrangements.

Pekko Käppi

Pekko Käppi is a visionary Finnish folk music composer, ethnomusicologist, runo-song researcher, member of the groundbreaking revivalists Jouhiorkesteri 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.

Slack Bird

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).

Solju

Solju is formed by Ulla Pirttijärvi and her daughter Hildá Länsman, who combine their heritage of northern Sámi language and traditional chant, known as yoik, with a desire for new and innovative music. Their debut album Ođđa Áigodat was released in spring 2018, and the duo is joined live by Teho Majamäki and Janne Puurtinen (HIM).

Kardemimmit

Kardemimmit are four young women playing the ancient Finnish national instrument, kantele. Their long mutual history can be heard in their unique sound: The silvery tones of kantele flow together with mesmerising vocal harmonies. In 2004 Kardemimmit was nominated the Band of the Year by Kantele Association in 2004 and in 2005 they won the International kantele competition. Kardemimmit has been touring extensively in Europe, US and Japan. They released their fifth album "Kesäyön valo: Midnight Sun" in 2018.

Tuomari Nurmio & Knucklebone Oscar

Finnish rock legend Tuomari Nurmio (alias Judge Bone) joined forces with garage/blues-rocker Knucklebone Oscar for an album's worth of gospel influenced tunes. Recorded with vintage gear only, their debut album "Believe It or Not" (2022) drew inspiration from artists like Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Son House, Mavis Staples and the Staples Singers.

Päivi Hirvonen

Päivi Hirvonen is a Helsinki based musician and composer – violin, voice and bowed lyre as her instruments. During her career as professional musician she has played music from folk and popular to classical and performed both solo and with different ensembles and bands touring in Finland and abroad. Päivi’s debut solo album “Alku – The Beginning” was released on January 2018 by the German record label Nordic Notes.

Vilma Jää

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.

J-P Piirainen

Hailing from Karelian forests in the eastern part of Finland, J-P Piirainen twines together Finnish tradition and his unique voice as a composer. J-P has travelled a unique path to discover music no one has heard before by inventing a one of a kind instrument – the guitele – where acoustic guitar and the iconic traditional Finnish instrument, the kantele, are combined into one body. His skills as a fingerstyle guitarist merge with the distinctive sound of the kantele, creating an undiscovered world of music.

Gói

Gói is a music project by Rauni Rannanjärvi, Iida Mäkelä & Samuli Ylinen from Southern Ostrobothnia, Finland. Gói creates modern folk music with an ancient touch and enlivens the images of Western Finnish history by telling stories using the South Ostrobothnian dialect.

Kusinerna Riippa

The cousins Niko and Jessica Riippa, whose Swedish band name naturally translates to "the Riippa cousins", form the Finnish-swedish duo with roots in the village of Nedervetil on the west coast of Finland. Jessica has a degree in both music and drama and Niko is the founder and guitarist of Wentus Blues Band. The duo's debut album made new arrangements to old Swedish folksongs but also made new compositions to texts by the poet Alexander Slotte. Jessica and Niko have taken these poems and made new modern folksongs, on which their fondness to their hometown can be heard.

Dantchev:Domain

DANTCHEV:DOMAIN portrays cinematic melodies and Bulgarian rhythms. The band, helmed by Finnish-Bulgarian singer-songwriter Anna Dantchev, journeys musically between the aesthetics of traditional Bulgarian music and jazz & blues, all provided by Dantchev’s compositions. Their debut album was awarded as folk music album of the year in 2020. The second album "The Lions We Are" is the first Finnish full-length album released in Dolby Atmos format.

Bergå Folk Project

Bergå Folk Project is the new group formed by professional folk musicians Aili Järvelä, Iida Savolainen, Esko Grundström and Topi Korhonen. They perform the folk song arrangements by the one Luciano Berio well known in the field of classical music. The group seeks out to bring the folk songs that inspired Berio back to their roots with new, innovative arrangements. The group’s international repertoire sung in 8 languages and played with 12 different instruments presents a variety of world and folk music styles. Bergå Folk Project released their debut album in 2022, which was awarded with "Etno-Emma" – the award for the year's best Finnish world/folk music album in 2023.

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