Hannu dyykkasi jostakin mainion suomennettujen gospelien kokoelman. Teoksen toimittaja Martti Hela kuvasi musiikin hengen näin vuonna 1957 esipuheessan: "Spiritualien ... rytmi on rikas ja vaihteleva. Tonaliteetti on parhaastaan pentatoninen, 5-sävelinen. Sanojen ja sävelaiheiden toistoa ja kertosäettä käytetään runsaasti. Monet laulut lienevät syntyneen yksityisen laulajan --- aloittaessa sen, ja muu kokoontunut väki on sitten luovalla tavalla yhtynyt häneen." Totesimme, että tätähän Vakka-Suomen Rytmikuninkaat ovat tehneet alusta asti.
Tehtiin näistä ensin omilla sovituksilla levyllinen biisejä, mutta kun kukaan ei innostunut julkaisemaan sitä, niin menimme Folklandiaan vuonna 2015 keikalle triolla; ja yleisöhän ymmärsi heti, mistä siinä on kysymys. Tässä malliksi Swing low tuolta keikalta.
Minua jäivät nuo biisit kaivelemaan ja ehdotin Hannulle viime talvella, että tehtäisiinkö videoversiot ja Hannuhan innostui. Setti tuli mitä mainioin ja sisältää sekä originaalimurteellisia että suomalaisia versioita.
Ensimmäisenä meidän mielilaulumme, jossa kehotetaan liittymään taivaalliseen bändiin.
Seuraavaksi Hannu vetää mainion Nousee vavisten vainaat suomennoksen.
Tässä laulussa kehotetaan hiipimään pois, luokse Herran.
Tämä on yksi minun suosikkejani, jossa neitsyt Maria kutsuu lastaan.
Tässä versiossa joku koputtaa oveen ja tunnelma on mukavan etelävaltiolaissuomainen, joten hikinen iltäpäivä on tiedossa oven avaajalle.
Sitten päästään asiaan, Jordan virta vie kohti taivaan iloja murtuneet soittajat.
Lopuksi, aiheeseen sopivasti, Hannu vetäisee sadonkorjuuaiheisen gospelin.
Pidettiin Mikan luona marraskuussa 2022 sessiot hänen studiossaan. Mikan mukana soittajina olivat allekirjoittaneen lisäksi Niemisen Rauno ja Elon Mikko. Suomalaisiin perinnesoittimiin erikoistuneen Raunon kanssa oli näitä soittotuokioita tehty jo aiemminkin, levyn biiseillä Rauno soittelee itse tekemiään pynkyriä ja jouhikkoa.
Mikko paljastui porilaisen musiikkiin heittäytymisen perinteen taidon taitajaksi. Kuusumun Profeetassa ja Mama Longhornissa bassotelleen Mikan kanssa oli mukavaa vääntää aitoa rytmimusiikkia solisteille pohjaksi. Mika soitteli syntikoita, Rhodesia ja torvia ja minä rumpuja ja Raunon tekemään noitarumpua.
Mika teki äänitykset itse tekemillään Verde putkimikrofoneilla ja putkietuasteilla, joiden erottelukyky on uskomaton. Loppumiksaus ja masterointi on tehty mahdollisimman puhtaasti, joten tilassa soittamisen stereokuva on laaja ja syvä. CD:llä voi testailla vaikka omia äänentoistolaitteitaan.
Biisit ovat mukava sekoitus Mikan analogista syntikkamaailmaa, Raunon suomalaiseen perinteeseen pohjaavaa etnoa, Mikon afro/funk-perusteista bassottelua ja minun rytmiikkaa, jossa free ja beat sekoittuvat sulavasti toisiinsa.
Biisi ja soittajatiedot
Levyn kannet kuvasi ja taittoi Mika. Ne kuvaavat hyvin levyn mystisen levollista tunnelmaa ja äänimaailman avaruutta.
Mika teki samojen sessioiden biisistä Mitataanko yliastuttu digiloikka mainion tarinallisen videon, jolta voi kuunnella maistiaisia sessioista.
The independent Finnish artist Keijo Aatos Virtanen - better known just as
Keijo - died in Jyväskylä, Finland on July 14, 2022. He was born on June 9,
1951. The years of his youth left a strong mark on the boy from a poor farm.
The relationship with nature, forests, motorcycles and music making accompanied
him throughout his life. Virtanen studied and worked at the University of
Jyväskylä, majoring in literature. He studied also philosophy and ethnography. After
his graduation, he moved to work at the Department of Literature. His teaching
work was particularly ground-breaking in creative writing, which he pioneered
in Finland. Alongside his working career, Virtanen developed his career as a
writer. Virtanen has published travel books, experimental poetry and prose. In
all, he published about twenty books.
His interest in Eastern art and philosophy led him to research Indian aesthetics.
He was interested in Indian music from the 1960’s through Ravi Shankar. In
Indian music he heard similarities to blues music, because in both the strings were
bended to reach the desired pitches. Together with his friend Maitreya a.k.a. Pekka
Acu Airaksinen, Keijo brought Buddhism and Eastern aesthetics to the Finnish underground
music.
His academic career was cut short by a tragic car accident in early 1999.
The accident resulted in serious and very painful injuries, with which Virtanen
fought tenaciously until his death. As a result of this tragic accident,
Keijo's inner musical space, which had accompanied him since he was a child,
had the opportunity to be transformed into a unique sound world in numerous
solo recordings and recording sessions with various ensembles. Keijo tried to reach
and relay in his own music something of this otherworldly music he had heard in
his mind since childhood. In Keijo's own words, the accidents and misfortunes did
not go only on the negative side. Although of course he did not wish
misfortunes on himself or anyone else, he felt that through these experiences
he received a message that confirmed the reality of the existence of other
kinds of sounds, which cannot be described or explained through the Western
ways.
After hearing Muddy Waters as a child, Keijo felt that his gruff voice
and guitar strumming fit well in the remote rural environment in which he
lived, surrounded by nature and making a living from manual farming labor. Keijo’s
musical foundation was a mixture of his extensive knowledge of American blues
and traditional American work songs, especially Keijo liked to sing Woody Guthrie
and as well as Bob Dylan. The folkloristic type of music had a profound effect on
how Keijo did see a song: it was meant to be repeated in different versions which
all were as valuable. Gigging and roaming around was an important part of this
evolution. Keijo liked the boogie type of jamming that could last literally hours
during the sessions. There was a lot of John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters type
of attitude in Keijo’s boogie. He also liked Buddy Guy and Howlin’ Wolf. The blues
hobby of his youth started to expand into a more experimental music and Keijo started
to grow into being an international legend with his own genre.
In the early 80s Keijo started doing various sound and musical experiments
with his fellow student Jarmo Saarti. They used various rattles and self-made
instruments to make music. Later he became interested in Tuvan throat singing
and studied it. In 90’s this enthusiasm gave rise to the "experimental throat
singing band” called Khem, which means stream in Tuvan language. Khem was
joined occasionally with the members of the Hota band, and the Kheta Hotem band
began in 1999. In the late 90s, Keijo got to know younger students of literature
and philosophy in Jyväskylä, who played experimental and electronic music. He
also ended up playing with these people, whose role models are e.g., John Cage
and Sun Ra. Keijo felt like he had come home.
Keijo was also a significant link between the older and the younger
generation of Finnish underground musicians. When one prominent Finnish young musician heard
Keijo's playing live for the first time, he thought it was unique and Keijo’s earthy
riffs opened the roof! In addition to the Keijo’s guitar playing he felt that Keijo had a strange charisma and magnetism around him. When playing
with Keijo, it seemed important to just play on and let go. Musical ability in
the traditional sense was not important - all kinds of approaches and ways of
musical expression were possible and encouraged.
In the 21st century Keijo was one of the most central artists in Finnish
underground or the "new weird Finland" music. His, his groups (Keijo
& The Free Players, Rambling Boys, Black Trumpets) and other musical collaborations
have been released globally by several record companies. Keijo has appeared on
more than seventy recordings. The most important record labels that published
his music have been e.g., PseudoArcana, Digitalis Recordings (and its sub-labels)
and Ikuisuus.
Keijo started making home recordings with a c-cassette recorder sometime
in the 70s. He apparently did not acquire recording equipment very purposefully,
but he always used the recording technology that was available during the time
period.Later he started using minidisc
recorders and other digital recorders. All in all, Keijo's way of recording and
mixing recordings was its own kind of creative process. Although he followed and
collected information about various recording devices and software, studied post-processing
of recordings and was aware of conventional ways of working in the studio, he used
the information he had studied in his own way, which is also heard in several recordings
as an inimitable and unique sound. There definitely was likeness to creating a
painting in Keijo’s approach to make a sound recording. In addition to the
released recordings, Keijo left behind a huge archive of unreleased recordings
and lyrics. These recordings are a vast heritage to go through, listen to and
wonder about for a long time to come.
Keijo was active in other forms of art. Literature and especially poetry
– including song lyrics - were very important to him. He specialized in forests
and pines in precise pencil drawings and poems that related to Virtanen's philosophy
of life, which respected nature and all people.
Hannu oli joskus hankkinut minulle rummunnahkoja ja vakaasti olin päättänyt tehdä niistä vielä kerran noitarummun itselleni. Joskus nuorempana olin jo yhden rummun tehnyt ja ihastunut sen ääneen. No vuosia kului ja kun vihdoin oli aikaa, niin otin itseäni niskasta kiinni ja kävelin verstaalle. Kirjastolla löysin kirjan rumpujen tekemisestä, jossa oli ohjeet kahdeksankulmaiselle rummulle. Päätin aloittaa sellaisella.
Tästä se alkaa
Teko alkoi puun pätkimisellä sopiviksi kappaleiksi - ne kannattaa tietysti suhteuttaa käytettävässä olevan nahkan kokoon. Valmiita kokoja näytti löytyvän aina pienestä, noin 30 senttisestä jopa 70 senttisiin. Laudankappaleet tuli sitten sahata oikeaan kulmaan kiinnittämistä varten.
Liimaa kehiin
Seuraavaksi kehikko liimattiin kasaan. Kiristimenä käytin neliöpuristinta, jonka hieman virittelemällä ja sisätuilla sain toimimaan yllättävän hyvin.
Nahka palaa
Minun nahkassani oli vielä karva kiinni. Ajoin sen parin millin
sängeksi, että saisin sametinpehmeän värin rummun pintaan. Sitten leikkasin nahkan oikeaan kokoon, rei'itin siihen kiinnitysaukot ja reunat silppusin pitkäksi nauhaksi, jolla rummun nahka sidottaisiin kiinni.
Luuta ristiin
Tein kädenpitimen ja nahkanauhan kiinnittimen hirven sääriluusta.
Nahka likoon
Lopuksi laitoin nahkat likoon reiluksi tunniksi ja sitten sidoin sen rumpuun kiinni. Pientä säätöä kiristämisessä oli, mutta onnistui se ajan ja kirosanojen kera...
Rumpu päältä
Rumpu alta
Kyllä siitä soitin tuli ja vielä kauniskin. Saundia voi kuunnella tästä videosta.
We had been
experimenting with free musical improvisations for years with my friend Heikki.
At the late 1990’s Arja said that she wanted to join us and do some vocal stuff.
We went to our band rehearsal room. I had bought cheap horror background music
for home video makers and put it to the PA and magic started to happen.
We recorded
the set and as I listened to it, I noticed that we had made a Passion. Since we
had been working with foxglove’s Brad with some Keijo stuff I did send the
recording to him and he published it.
The CD became a minor cult classic and was noticed all around the world in experiential
music circles.
Brad described it as:
“foxglove120:
akisa "passover" cd-r
this is one
of the most bizarre things i've heard in a while, so it's fitting that it hails
from finland. akisa is a trio featuring jarmo saarti (a long-time collaborator
of jyväskylä king, keijo) and friends. this is free-jazz skronk of the lord.
with a biblical theme present throughout (tracks like "jesus in the midst
of the wolves" and "resurrection"), "passover"
obliterates any notion you may have about music and christianity hand-in-hand.
is this a christian record? fuck if i know, but if this is the way they preach
in finland, count me in. wailing saxophones duel it out with ramshackle
percussion and acid-laced bass chops. it's like rauhan orkesteri spiked with
the jesus juice, and it's oh so fucking delicious.”
“Actually,
the dichotomy of lo-fi jazz and crazed noise is so sharp it gives Passover
a weirdly schizophrenic quality. I've listened to this maybe 10-15 times, and
sometimes I remember it as an above average free-jazz rec in a low-rent ESP mode (even hear a few Marzette Watts-like
moments here and there), other times all that sticks are the 5-to-10 abandoning
moments in which choking sax, sandpapery electronics (I think), and the
distorted screams of a what sounds like a half-human/half-seal create an
explosion of distressed speaker-destruction. I think "Jesus in the midst
of wolves" (linked below) is the best example of this oddly beguiling
yin/yang, starting as an echoey piece of minimal improv, adding a few saws and
creaks, and eventually building to a ear-killing din that sounds like some kind
of being not having the greatest of days.
This isn't
to say that the more, uh, conventional jazz passages here aren't worthy of time
too - subtract the little peaks of freak-out and Passover would still be
an excellent chunk of basement-locked skronk - but Passover's insane
bumps jut Akisa into its own strange, toxic realm...”
Due to the
very limited edition, I decided that it is only fitting to make a YouTube version
of it for this Eastern. This is music to be listened to in the darkness, via
high end speakers or earphones. The evil is lurking around – it is a passion play,
so enjoy.
It starts with the In the beginning (I play saxophone, Heikki bass and Arja does the vocal bit):
Next comes Jesus in the midsts of the wolves (I play electric violin, Heikki bass and Arja does the vocal bit):
Third one is the Written in the stone (I play saxophone, Heikki bass and Arja electric violin):
Then Mary wept (I play electric violin, Heikki bass and Arja drums):
Fifth one isDark night (I play bass, Heikki drums and Arja saxophone - if I remember right):
Next one is Empty tomb (I play saxophon, Heikki electric violin and Arja vocals):
And it all ends to eternal Resurrection (I play drums, Heikki electric violin and Arja vocals):
