KARELIAN FOLK MUSIC ENSEMBLE with PEKKA & PERTTU June 25, 2010

The Karelian Folk Music Ensemble is a lively and expressive duo coming from the Russian Republic of Karelia. Karelia, land of forests and lakes, is on both sides of the Russian/Finnish border and is the birthplace of the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. The Karelians’ program is varied and includes instrumental and vocal music from the three main cultures of their home – Russian, Finnish & Karelian. Instruments include kanteles (zither), jouhikko, accordions, birchbark flutes, shepherd’s horn, mandolin and goat horn.
They were last in Portland as featured performers for the Christmas Revels “Northlands” show in December 2008. “Utterly captivating, a breath of amazingly fresh air (no matter how old the tradition is) into the World Music market.” Big Earl Sellar, www.greenmanreview.com
March 2001

Pekka Pentikäinen, accordionist, composer, and accordion teacher, has a master’s degree in music from The Sibelius Music Academy. He recently finished a European Union sponsored project called The Village Musician. He performs with various music groups representing the diverse styles of music in Finland, Europe, The USA, Canada and Australia. In 2005 the Finnish Folk Music Association awarded Pekka a silver medal for his exceptional contributions to Finnish folk music.
Perttu Paappanen has been working as a theater musician in different kinds of productions, as a solo artist, and as a folk teacher in workshops, which have been scattered widely in
Finland and in other countries. He has been playing in several bands which perform in many countries. One band, Koinurit, won the first prize in a competition for folk music bands in Finland in 1990 and 1991. Besides playing fiddle and accordion, he works in his
own company, Trad & Tune, which imports, repairs, and tunes accordions.