KAIHO SHOP

Antti Paalanen

Antti Paalanen is one of the leading musicians of modern Finnish folk music. Paalanen graduated as Master of Music from the Department of Folk Music of the Sibelius Academy in the spring 2006. He has worked as a musician in many musical, dance and theatre productions, as well as played in concerts abroad with different groups, in Mexico, Belgium, Holland, France, Switzerland, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Estonia and Denmark.

Paalanen plays the accordion in many famous folk music groups like Hehkumo, Hyperborea, Kiharakolmio, Trepaanit and the duo Turkka ja Paalanen. The first album of the duo, Halituli Seita Music won the Etno Emma -price in 2006. Hyperborea and Kiharakolmio have both been named groups of the year at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival. The archaic music and instruments of the group Trepaanit are for their part a unique phenomenon in the field of modern folk music in Finland. Hehkumo, lead by Pauli Hanhiniemi, incontestably belongs to the elite of Finnish rock and folk music.

Antti Paalanen’s first solo album ÄÄRELÄ (released 24.7.2007 by Seita Music) is a nostalgic journey to the innermost feelings of this traditional musician. Paalanen treats his instrument with a colorful and unprejudiced touch, conjuring a touching sound landscape. Each song is full of meanings, telling a picturesque little story.

The music has been recorded at the Äärelä –concert and its general rehearsal given in the church of Alavus in September 2006. The text on the cover consists of music composed by Paalanen combined with Jani Nieminen’s poems, through which the listener gets to discover the essence of Ostrobothnians. Together with the photographs by Eero Grundström the album is a strongly appealing symbiosis of music, words and images, suggesting a pleasurable listening experience.