Ethno-Espa: Vilma Jää, Pekko Käppi & K:H:H:L, Janne Masalin

Event Introduction

On the night of the arts, the one-man band Janne Masalin and Pekko Käppi & K:H:H:L together with Laura Moisio, Ismaila Sané and Kielo Kärkkäinen will take the Espa stage! The gigs are part of the program of the Ethno-Espa festival. The evening ends with Vilma Jää’s concert produced by Savoy theater and Espa stage.

At 5 p.m. Janne Masalin

The former soloist of Tundramatiks, a band which cooked together Slavic punk, jazz and garage rock influences, and the 13-piece marching band Bad Ass Brass Band, Janne Masalin is an urban pelimanni and hipster nomad. The pieces of his 2023 solo album Kuoseja are built on elastic beats, rocking live playing and ad-libs. His solo gig, presented at the Etno-Espa and Savoy Theatre Night of the Arts, features Masalin as a modern one-man band, commanding the stage with roaring machine sounds, techno beats and synthesisers, a Telecaster and an accordion hanging around his neck, and belting out songs! 

At 7 p.m. PEKKO KÄPPI & K:H:H:L + Laura Moisio, Ismaila Sané, Kielo Kärkkäinen

Pekko Käppi & K:H:H:L is a Tampere-based group, arguably the hottest and loudest four-piece in the Finnish folk-rock scene, whose fifth album Credo was released in 2023. Built around the well-known jouhikko artist and singer-songwriter Pekko Käppi, the ensemble plays with a breezy folk expression, an earthy blues feel and a psychedelic-influenced rock groove. The result is delightful folk music, served as a unique blend of approachable pop and folk. The group’s live performances lapse into hypnotic moods without warning, like a dog chasing its own tail against a background of fierce rock preaching. In the Night of the Arts, expect things to rev up another notch when the foursome is joined by Laura Moisio, Kielo Kärkkäinen and Ismaila Sané! 

At 9 p.m. Vilma Jää

In the closing concert of the Night of the Arts at the Espa Stage, Vilma Jää combines Finno-Ugric singing traditions with pop aesthetics, and archetypal folk music instruments with synthetically produced beats. 

Through her feminist and ideologically charged music, Jää approaches current topics from a historical standpoint, illustrating to us how frustratingly little the world has changed, particularly when it comes to many issues related to women. In addition to the artist’s folk music roots, her music reflects her long involvement with both choral and instrumental music. Enjoying a skyrocketing career, the singer’s debut album Kosto (Revenge) was released at the end of 2023 and has already nabbed a string of awards, such as the Folk Music Record of the Year and the Ethno-Emma Award, as well as a Teosto Prize nomination.

The concert is part of the Meidän Uusimaa concert series supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Uusimaa Regional Fund.

Categories

Outside, Music