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Iiro Rantala led Finland’s most popular jazz combo for almost two decades. Trio Töykeät is history, but the pianist’s solo album Lost Heroes gave his career a new boost.

Artists choosing an art form outside the mainstream will find themselves frequently answering the question: Why? Kaari and Roni Martin have created many notable works of contemporary art using the language of flamenco.

Musician and composer Maria Kalaniemi has been overturning popular conceptions about the accordion and music played on it for almost three decades now. Active in many areas, she is also engaged in research, teaching and festival planning.

"Satellite Stories have already gained notable international attention for some years. Their merits include sold-out clubs in London, tracks with millions of listens on Spotify, and their third album, Vagabonds, produced by internationally renowned producer Barny Barnicott, who has collaborated with Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian, among others."

"In 2015, JPP is still alive and kicking, and playing with as high quality as ever. They don’t play too often, but when they do there is a nice relaxed touch, and they don’t take it all too seriously. "

Even though a tunnel passing underneath the Gulf of Finland is but a distant dream, there already exists a strong spiritual link between the countries of Finland and Estonia. A bridge built on music started forming right after Estonia became an independent state.

"The microphones are going to take some time to catch up with the astonishing flood of Finnish instrumental concertos since the turn of the 21st century, so it’s good to be able to welcome the first recording of Jouni Kaipainen’s Trumpet Concerto, written in 2003 to a commission from the soloist here, Pasi Pirinen, to whom it is also dedicated."

"Whether this is an opera, a form of music theatre, a happening or an extravaganza does not matter."

Jimi Tenor has never been an easy subject for anyone trying to label his work. Seemingly free of genre boundaries, the musical vocabulary in Tenor-land has just expanded further with his new project, Itetune. This time the artist has even created his own instruments.