About Timo

Solo cds on iTunes

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 12:51:06 +0200

Musiikkia, Matka - Voyage and Viileri are now available on iTunes.

Go to iTunes Store:

Faces Book has been released

Tue, 4 Mar 2008 10:26:14 +0200

”Can rock music be played on the kantele?” The question does not necessarily propose a need for a fusion music, ‘kantelerock’, but by asking it we may test the limits of our image of the instrument, narrow and fixed as it may be. If I note down a few adjectives often associated with rock music I arrive at a list that may not be true in every case but nevertheless serves to outline the general impression conveyed by the genre.
-powerful, loud, fierce
-masculine, sexy
-colourful, wild, fashionable
-new, modern, for the youth
-international

When I invert the list to reveal its opposites, we approach associations more common to the kantele, though again they may not tell the full story.
-quiet, powerless, weak
-feminine, virtuous
-colourless, phlegmatic, unfashionable
-old, old-fashioned, for the aged
-national, Finnish

The power of mental images is so strong. I want to deal with these images in my work: Empower them with some substance and breathe life into them. The book, concerts and exhibition all stem from this aim.

Timo Väänänen (b. 1970) is the hero of these pictorial adventures; a brave yet playful kantele player. He takes on all the central roles without hesitation. He gets his astonishing transformation skills from the look-alike masks prepared by the make-up wizard Kaisu Kurki.

Ilari Ikävalko (b. 1970) is Timo's inseparable friend, architect and photographer, whose passion is devouring books. Ilari is always ready to go without a night's sleep to join Timo in new artistic adventures, as long as they present challenging photographic tasks and some delicious food.

Päivi Järvinen (b. 1962) is the tutor of the team, a flexible and skilled dancer-choreographer, respected by her workmates and loved by her friends. She herself loves many things, one of which is running the Pitsku Cultural Church. As she herself puts it: "Every day is a new adventure, and the sky won't fall on you!".

Kaisu Kurki (b. 1968), the clever-fingered make-up artist of this book, carries with her a stockpile of make-up and uses it to create magical characters. Her greatest achievement yet is a child born a couple of weeks after the last photo shoot, but Kaisu has other recipes in her back pocket too, which this all-singing, all-dancing actress and druid applies according to the situation.

ISBN 978-952-5652-35-2
http://www.maahenki.fi/kauppa.php
Publication date: 27.02.2008
Layout: Ilari Ikävalko
Number of pages: 96
Size: 219 x 255 mm
Languages:
Finnish: ISBN 978-952-5652-35-2
English: ISBN 978-952-5652-37-6

Timo Väänänen - kantele player

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 12:31:51 +0200

Mr. Timo Väänänen plays various types of kantele, the Finnish national instrument. He plays both traditional and new music with his instruments. In recent years he has been making new music with the uniquely modern electric kantele which has a solid wooden body instead of a sound box. It incorporates a built-in microphone and is played on a matchingly futuristic table. His third solo CD 'Musiikkia' has been released in the end of 2005. Like the previous one, 'Matka - Voyage' from 2001, it is played with the electric kantele.
Among his many distinctions, Timo Väänänen was awarded first prize in the Finnish Kantele Society's national competition for kantele duos in 1993. In 1995 he won first prize in the same competition for soloists and in 1997 he was chosen the Young Artist of the Year by the Finland Festivals organisation. In addition to concerts in Finland he has performed abroad at least in Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, South Korea, Sweden, USA and Wales. In 2005, he played as a featured musician in the Disney film 'The tales of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.'
Väänänen is a member of Loituma, Matara, A' tre and Taith ensembles and a part time teacher at the Sibelius Academy Folk Music Department in Helsinki, where he is also studying for his artistic doctoral degree. In addition to other musicians, Timo often works with director and dancer Päivi Järvinen.

Loituma - Ieva’s Polka Fenomenon

Tue, 3 Jan 2006 21:43:17 +0200

Loituma, a band Timo is a member of, released their first CD in 1995. Now, eleven years later, the most popular track of the CD, an acappella song called Ieva's Polka, has become a spontaneous internet hit in Russia. The popularity started from a flash animation someone put on the internet with a piece of the song as a soundtrack. People became fascinated by the music and within a week two thousand people has visited this site looking for more information. TVfolk.net, a Swedish site hosting a video of Loituma performing Ieva's Polka, drew way over 10 000 people in a couple of days. There is also a cool remix out there on the wild, wild web, hosted on the site of Emplosia, a Russian electro-synth band. There are plenty of videos about Loituma in the YouTube.
Both american releases of Loituma CD:s 1 and 2 can be found from Amazon and from the site of the publisher in the USA, North Side.

Loituma is also in the iTunes in the USA.