Värttinä

The career of Finnish folk ensemble Värttinä can be broadly defined into two phases, new Värttinä and old Värttinä. The old Värttinä began in 1983 when two sisters, Sari and Mari Kaasinen from Rääkkylä, formed a singing group which began to make a significant impact in regional music competitions before making a successful appearance at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival, the largest folk festival in the Nordic region. The band became a valuable springboard for young Finnish singers to start their performing careers but by the release of the group's second album 'Musta Lindu' in 1989 the sisters felt the project had run its course in its current format and felt a change was needed. A new version of the band was relaunched following a record deal with Sonet Records. The new band consisted of a strong female vocal section and musicians playing acoustic pieces based on Finno-Ugric culture but taking influences from rock, jazz and pop. The new format secured a coveted Finnish Emma Award for the album 'Oi Dai' and the band went from strength to strength within the world music category, climaxing in an appearance at the Rock in Rio Festival in 2001 where they performed to a crowd of more than 200,000. In 2012 the band's 11th studio album 'Utu' made it number one in the World Music charts and in 2013 they celebrated their 30th anniversary beginning work on their 16th album 'Viena'.

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