New champion players Anneli Aho (left), Pentti Ojajärvi and Leenamaija Raukola at the opening ceremony of the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival on Monday. (Photo: Kimmo Känsälä)
At the opening ceremony of the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival, four new champion players have been announced: Anneli Aho, Kuortane (violin), Pentti Ojajärvi, Kesälahti (mandolin, guitar), Leenamaija Raukola, Kangasala (violin) and Hannu Seppänen, Helsinki (two-string accordion).
New champion players appear in VirtualCaustic Masters' play-concerts, which will be broadcast live from Pelimannitalo in Kaustinen from Tuesday at 15:00.
The titles of the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival are Master Playboy and Master Folk Dancer. They can be awarded to persons who, through their traditional skills, rich repertoire or other outstanding achievements, have promoted folk music or folk dancing and its practice.
- The idea is to bring the repertoire and playing styles of masters from previous years and decades to the public's attention and to the present day. I think it is very important that the playing and ideas of the more experienced players are highlighted, learned from and modelled on," says the director of the Folk Music Institute. Matti Hakamäki says.
Master titles are of great value in the field of folk music and folk dance. A total of 148 champions have been elected, the first in 1970. This year, the festival programme will see the return of the traditional large ensemble, which will begin performing the masters' pieces from the very beginning, one vintage after the other.
The first time, in 1970, four violinists were appointed: Konsta Jylhä From Kaustis, Kustaa Järvinen From Eura, Otto Hotakainen From Halsua and Tuure Niskanen From Pielavee. Their songs will be played in VirtuaaliKaustinen's big concert next Saturday at 14:00.
Anneli Aho - Kuortane, violin
Anneli Aho got her first taste of music at the age of three, and by the age of seven she was already playing the violin at the Jämsäsä Workers' School. Later, at the age of ten, she played the two-stringed accordion alongside the violin.
Anneli Aho moved to Kuortanee in 1999 after meeting her future husband, a champion gambler. Teijo Ahon, at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival 1998. Anneli has accompanied tanhus and played in several different ensembles, including a long time together with the now deceased master player Aukusti Viitaniemen kanssa.
Today she performs in the ensembles NokiSet and FolkKanat, as an accompanist for the Vinteliska folk dance group and with her husband. Teijo Ahon kanssa.
Anneli highlights the following in particular as preferable programmes Otto Hotakaisen and Konsta Jylhän songs, but any folk music will do - especially anything that just ”gets your feet wet”.
Pentti Ojajärvi – Kesälahti, mandolin & guitar
Like many master players, Pentti Ojajärvi's first memories of making music are of playing in secret and without permission. The guitar was his first instrument, in Alajärvi in southern Ostrobothnia. The mandolin came into the picture in the early 1970s.
Pelimann music was inspired by the community's own pelimann, Antti Luoma-Aho - Police Antti. From his later years, Pentti cites Heikki Lahti, whose student and playing friend he was for a long time, as a particular role model.
Pentti Ojajärvi moved to Kitee in the early 1990s and has been a summer resident ever since. Ojajärvi has worked mainly on the payroll of the University of Applied Sciences and nowadays he works as a cultural expert at the North Karelia Regional Council.
Pentti Ojajärvi has also become known as an accomplished songwriter and guardian of the bubble tradition, especially with his duo Pessi and Juntti.
Music runs strong in Ojajärvi's own family; he and his wife go around performing and their strong musical relationship has also been passed on to their five children.
Leenamaija Raukola – Kangasala, violin
Kangasala-based Leenamaija Raukola's hobby of playing manikin music began behind the harmonium in the early 1970s as a family musical arrangement with her father and older sister. Leenamaija has been playing in the prestigious Kangasalan Balladipelimannie since the group was founded in 1972. Today she is the leader of the group.
In the late 1970s, Leenamaija's instrument was changed to violin and especially the accompaniment of different folk dance groups has been an important part of her playing career. The Kangasalan Pikkupelimannit, founded in 1979, has been led by Leenamaija for over forty years and 40-60 children have played in different groups every year. Leenamaija has been particularly successful in passing on the folk music tradition to new generations.
In her pedagogical work, she has always emphasised the importance of collecting and keeping alive the traditions of her community.
Hannu Seppänen – Helsinki, two-row accordion
Born in Myllykoski, Kymenlaakso, Hannu Seppänen, a pioneer of two-line music, became interested in folk music in the late 1960s through Anglo-Celtic folk rock.
In 1973, Hannu co-founded the Äimä band with three musicians from Cymenlaakso, and in the same year the band also performed at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival. Hannu was a lyricist and composer, singer, mandolin and banjo player. Visits to the Kaustinen festival continued regularly, and there Hannu became interested in playing the two-stringed accordion, especially the Kyläpelimannie and Tauno Krossin inspired by.
The two-string became Hannu's main solo instrument. He is known both as a prolific composer and songwriter. Hannu's distinctive playing style and popular compositions have strongly shaped, renewed and enriched the folk music and two-string scene. Hannu Seppänen currently lives in Helsinki.