In to the spot light

THE POWER OF JOHANNA JUHOLA'S MUSIC

The list of recordings of the accordionist Johanna Juhola is already considerable in spite of her youthful age. The popular musician has been involved in a number of projects and at the same time her own musical ideas have become refined and taken on new influences. Shortly, her important solo album “Miette” (Texicalli Records), which was released in 2006, will also be heard in Japan, when she undertakes a short concert tour with the Johanna Juhola Trio, which features the guitarist Roope Aarnio and voice engineer Hannu Oskala.

The musical talents of the violinist Pekka Kuusisto can also be heard on the Miette album, although the duo recently put out their first joint album entitled Kraft: “Max höjd” (Texicalli Records). For Juhola, playing as a duo is her favourite way of working, and she also works as a duo with the pianist Timo Alakotila and with the pianist Milla Viljamaa. Juhola is currently touring in Germany with the Unto Tango Orchestra, and her tour will continue in the form of concerts with the Timo Alakotila & Johanna Juhola Duo, who will also be performing in Stockholm in May at the folk and world music venue Stallet. In addition, Alakotila and Juhola will be meeting up in July during the City of London Festival with Unto.

Audiences in London will also be able to hear the innovative duo of Finnish tango music Milla Viljamaa & Johanna Juhola. The mysterious nature and creative ferocity of their music has attracted a host of top-level dancers, actors, singers and acrobats, etc. to work with them. Last summer, in addition to their own projects, the Duo arranged Astor Piazzolla’s tango operita Maria de Buenos Aires for the Sulatto Festival in Karkkila, and further commissioned work is in the pipeline for the forthcoming summer as well. When the Duo Viljamaa & Juhola are crowned by the tango princess Kukka-Maaria Ahonen, the resulting line-up takes the name of Las Chicas del tango, when the air vibrates to the Argentinean music of the tango girls. There will be another opportunity to catch the Duo in the Tango Roto show at the Savoy Theatre, which will include the dancers Jussi Väänänen and Katja Koukkula; the show will be directed by Minna Vainikainen.

The power of music carries listeners forward and speaks to people. The music of the Miette album will soon be experiencing a new life in Japan. What is the source of the power of Johanna Juhola’s music? If there is a secret recipe encoded in the titles of her latest albums, then it would include: “composing in a free space, with a high caffeine content and at full pitch”, and naturally with a spontaneous state of alertness.

Forthcoming performances

Johanna Juhola Trio: Johanna Juhola, accordion, Hannu Oskala, voice engineer and Roope Aarnio, guitar. Photo by Sami Perttilä.