Listen Fridays at 9:00am (replayed on Saturday also at 9am) to Paula Granquist’s “ArtZany!: Radio for the Imagination”
Paula’s Guest/Topic this week:
Paula’s guests today are Arto Järvelä of JPP Folk Fiddling Ensemble and Paul Niemisto of St. Olaf College. They will share the music of JPP Järvelän pikkupelimannit (“Little Folk Musicians of Järvelä”), a group formed in 1982 in the fiddling capital of Finland (and perhaps the world), Kaustinen. JPP will celebrate its 30th Anniversary with an American tour that includes a stop here in Northfield, Minnesota at St. Olaf College. See all the tour dates at their website: thejpp.fi
Click here to listen to the show!
JPP Finnish Folk Fiddle Ensemble
Saturday, September 15
Free workshops open to public: 10:00 AM Christiansen Hall of Music 140
(both for adults and for youth fiddlers)
St. Olaf College concert: 3:30 PM Urness Recital Hall
Arto Järvelä has become an internationally famous Finnish fiddler and composer. Because of the many groups and projects he is involved in, he has been called “the busiest man in Finnish folk music“. He is primarily a violinist, but among other instruments of his are nyckelharpa, mandolin and kantele. Arto is well known in the Northfield area folk music community, a bit of a star in fact. Our Nordic musicians have attended several of his workshops and concerts when he has been here by himself.
Paul Niemisto, Associate Professor of Music at St. Olaf, Director of the St. Olaf Norseman Band, Trombone Choir, and Tuba Euphonium Ensemble, and teacher of low brass instruments. Paul has directed the Boys of America (Ameriikan Poijat) Finnish brass band for over 20 years and the Cannon Valley Regional Orchestra for over 30 years. He has been a bass trombonist with the Rochester Orchestra and euphoniumist with the Sheldon Theatre Brass Band. He spearheaded the International Wind Music History Conference and the Vintage Band Music Festival in Northfield in summer 2006, an event happening again in August 2013.
JPP is a group of Finnish folk musicians, mainly fiddlers, hailing from the Ostrobothnian village Kaustinen. Their full name is Järvelän Pikkupelimannit, (the little fiddlers of Järvelä – JPP). The group is in the traditional Kaustinen style ensemble with fiddles, harmonium and double bass, although some of their arrangements are more harmonically advanced than of earlier generations of traditional musicians. They play traditional dance tunes as well as some newly written works in the old style dance rhythms - polskas, waltzes,schottisches etc., but also some Finnish style tangos, with some jazz and bluegrass influences. The bulk of the group’s own compositions and arrangements are made by Arto and the group’s harmonium player Timo Alakotila.
