Poetry: Ilmari Lyymä, Lili Salinmäki, Ilmari Säävälä, J.K.Ihalainen & Pelkkä Poutanen

Ilmari Lyymä is a poet living and working in Tampere. Lyymä writes about his own life and the lives of others in a disgustingly realistic style – without embellishment, but always with love.

Lili Salinmäki is a graphic and spoken word artist from Tampere. The desire to write stems from an inner bad feeling and the need to put it on paper. When she starts writing, the words unexpectedly become poems. However, Salinmäki’s poems come alive only when recited aloud, only then they are completely finished.

Ilmari Säävälä recites poems from his work Kuutamoinen sydämeni lyö (“My moonshiny heart’s beating”). The work consists of individual words taken from traditional tango lyrics, which, when pressed together, pour out the essence of tango.

J.K. Ihalainen has published 35 works of poetry, most of them in Finnish. Ihalainen runs the Palladium Kirjat publishing house, which has its own water-powered printing press in Siuro, Finland. He received the Eino Leino award in 2010.

Pelkkä Poutanen is a brash and beautiful solo production based on folk music aesthetics that pushes genre boundaries. Poutanen’s performance has been described with the words earthquake, big bang, hypnotic and deep. The tools are acrobatic singing, stringed instruments and live electronics. Pelkkä Poutanen’s internationally recognized debut album Pyhä veri vuotaa was released in January 2022.

Maria Kalaniemi & Eero Grundström

Maria Kalaniemi is a talented and distinctive accordion artist, and is well known as an intuitive and sensitive composer. Eero Grundström is a talented musician, composer, and harmonica player. Grundström performs in many bands, such as the world-renowned harmonica quartet Sväng, Suistamon Sähkö and Duo Juuri & Juuri. The concert is a cocktail of Kalaniemi’s latest compositions to older tangos and waltzes. The duo has been performing together for more than ten years and their latest album Mielo (2020) received plenty of positive reviews and remained at the top of the prestigious World Music Charts Europe for several months.

Jukka Orma: Argentiinan pusta

Jukka Orma is one of the most interesting Finnish musicians. Best known as the charismatic guitarist of the band Sielun Veljet, Orma has also played in several different ensembles during his career, such as Madame George, Hassisen Kone, Remu & Hurriganes and Pedro’s Heavy Gentlemen.

Jukka Orma’s new album Argentiinan Pusta is a positive hit to the underbelly. On the album, Orma presents his own vision of Finnish tango. The rearrangements have been made with love, passion and the authority brought by a deep knowledge of Finnish music.

Jukka Orma – vocals, guitar
Eeva Koivusalo – bass
Mamba Assefa – drums
Maria Ilmoniemi – keyboard, samples