Ilkka Heinonen 🎵 Eva Väljaots 🎵 A.M.Poogen

A.M.jubilee presents: a concert evening with three different and original solo artists who are united by their love for hiiu kannels aka talharpas and tripping on undiscovered soundscapes.

• Ilkka Heinonen takes the listener on a journey through time with the virtuoso playing of the hiiu kannel and its cousin jouhikko from Karelia and some electronics.
• Eva Väljaots paints incredibly rich and airy acoustic soundscapes by improvising on various small kannels and hiiu kannel.
• A.M. Poogen builds massive folktronic sound walls with the help of several different acoustic or electric and sometimes weird instruments and a looper.
• After the concert there will be a jam and dancing by hiiu kannels.

Ilkka Heinonen

The ancient sound of Jouhikko meets the music of Renaissance Palaces. Ilkka Heinonen is filtering the music of old jouhikko masters from Karelia through medieval chants, Russian old believers’ songs, and European secular dances of Renaissance – presenting an unprecedented sound spectrum of the jouhikko.
ILKKA HEINONEN is a Helsinki-based musician and composer specialising in folk and world music, playing the jouhikko, double bass, violone and viola da gamba - with a passion for early music. As one of the pioneers of jouhikko playing, Heinonen has sought to expand the possibilities of the instrument. In his solo programmes, Heinonen explores the boundaries between the sacred and the secular through the performance practices of Karelian jouhikko music and early music, as on his solo instrumental album Käki (2023), which explores the sound of the instrument in depth. The Ilkka Heinonen Trio, which has released two critically acclaimed albums (Savu (2015) and Lohtu (2021)), draws its experimental sound from European jazz and Renaissance music alike. Heinonen has also premiered all the concertos composed for the jouhikko so far (comp. Timothy Page (2013), Krishna Nagaraja (2017)).
Heinonen plays the jouhikko in Ensemble Gamut!, which combines elements of medieval music, Finnish folk songs, improvisation and electronic soundscapes. The ensemble's unique sound can be heard in concerts and on the albums UT (2020) and RE (2022).
Sámi singer Ánnámáret's band has taken Heinonen deep into the world of ancient luohtis, contemporary music and electronically manipulated jouhikko sounds, as in the albums Nieguid Duovdagat (2021) and Bálvvosbáiki (2024). Heinonen has also performed with jouhikko quartet Jouhiorkesteri in numerous countries from Europe to Asia.
Ilkka Heinonen is active as a double bassist and G-violone player in baroque ensembles and performs especially in Nordic and Eastern European folk music ensembles. Heinonen also works regularly with contemporary dance and music theatre.
Heinonen is currently completing her artistic doctorate on the expressive possibilities of the jouhikko at the Sibelius Academy's MuTri doctoral programme

https://www.ilkkaheinonenmusic.com

Eva Väljaots

Eva Väljaots is an Estonian folk musician, who plays various types of traditional kannel – an ancient string instrument widespread in Finno-Ugric cultures. Modern meets archaic in her music of a distinctive style rich with improvisation. It is inspired by the present moment as well as her own heritage, age-old tales, and Finno-Ugric musical tradition. She performs her self-penned music, widening the playing techniques and bringing out the variegated timbre of these instruments. Each kannel opens up an unique world in her picturesque soundscapes.
In 2022 Eva Väljaots released her debut album Hundinuiaõis * Bulrush Bloom and same year she was nominated for the best solo artist at the Estonian folk music awards Etnokulp. In addition, she plays in several bands, among others the duo Eva Väljaots & Robbie Sherratt, with whom she released the debut album Skylark (2023).

https://evavaljaots.com

A.M.Poogen

Today's jubilee Aldo Mett performs his experimental-instrumental solo project A.M.Poogen which has just turned 5 years old and continues its journey of searching for new paths in folktronic soundscapes by weaving patterns found or inspired by Estonian, Scandinavian and Finno-Ugric folk music on self-made traditional (hiiu kannel, small kannel) or unusual (bass scythe, electric ski, two-man saw, etc.) instruments.
These unique sound trips have been heard at small festivals of various genres (Darkland Fire, Sünk, Kukemuru Ambient, Kõu, Elektrikirik, etc.) and repeatedly on the green stage of Viljandi Folk. In 2021, the jury of Mooste Elohelü recognized A.M. Poogen with the award "Inventive thought" as an artist who "carried traditional music forward with both substantive and technically inventive means".

https://www.facebook.com/a.m.poogen
https://youtube.com/@AMPoogen