Members

28.10.1976

Helsinki, Finland

Singing always and all the time ever since I was maybe three years old. Began violin lessons at age 11. Switched to viola at age 13, and it was downhill from there. On the other hand, I did enjoy playing the Symphony Pathétique by Tchaikovsky in concert back in 1994 or something like that. I've only touched the viola a couple of times after high school. Took lessons in musical theater in Stockholm's Kulturama between 1996 and 1998, performed in Rent and Les Miserables in 1998-99, studied at the Pop/Jazz Conservatory 1999-2001, and began studies at the Sibelius Academy Jazz Department in 2001. Currently I'm studying in Denmark at the Complete Vocal Institute.

Tokyo back in May 2006, cause it's such a cool place! I also really enjoyed going completely bonkers at the Christmas show in Tavastia in December 2006.

Huba at Belly, Autumn 2006, yeah! Oddarang at Ateneum in January 2005. Sigur Ros at Kulttuuritalo in 2005 (I think), Marco Pereira at the Centro Cultural Do Brasil in Rio in December 2005. Yamandu Costa and his violinists at a jam session in April Jazz in Espoo, in the hotel lobby. Oh yeah, and Suzanne Vega's duo gig with a bassist at the Sibelius Academy back in God knows what year.

When we flew a private jet from Joensuu to Helsinki to make it to the Olympic Stadium on time for a gig. What happened afterwards wasn't too great. Technical problems, sequencer went dead live on air… But being up there in that airplane, drinking champagne… That was my Rock Star Moment.

Maybe the "gig in Tokyo, instruments in Paris" situation? Or perhaps the "sequencer doesn't work, live on air with a million viewers" incident? I don't know. Every trip is so bizarre it's kind of hard to tell them apart.

Spending time on the bus isn't really too bad when you have such great company as these fellas. Sometimes Johannes and I read a magazine called I Am.

No make-up, no gig. Screaming at the top of my lungs in the back room - much to the delight of sound engineer Teemu who tells me to be quiet, repeatedly.

Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Elvis Costello, Tori Amos, Joyce, Caetano Veloso, Thom Yorke, Suzanne Vega, Stevie Wonder, Tuomo Prättälä... Blah, too tiring to go on.

Something like the Best of Roy Orbison, I think, in vinyl. I was maybe 11 years old and I had heard a song of his on the radio. So I walked into the record store and tried to explain what the song was like, couldn’t remember the name of the track or how it went. So the sales people played detective for about half an hour and finally found what I was looking for.

Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles. I used to listen to it while hiding under the dining room table, all enchanted by the pictures on the album cover. My father would translate the stories from the songs, and I was particularly touched by ”She’s leaving home”. Then he told me that somebody had shot John Lennon for no reason. That had an awfully big impact on me.
Then there was ”Kesämaa” by Pekka Streng. The songs were more alive than in any children’s book. I also used to dance to Swan Lake in the living room wearing these beautiful scarfs. And when my mother was cleaning the house, she would listen to Louis Armstrong and Harry Belafonte, which was probably my first contact with African American music.

Cinematic Orchestra: Everyday
Joni Mitchell: Shadows and Light (or Blue or Clouds or Mingus)
Tori Amos: Boys for Pele
Arvo Pärt: Miserere
Wigwam: Being
"Kid A" by Radiohead, "Livro" by Caetano Veloso, and Joyce's "Essential" collection.

"Eraser" by Thom Yorke, "Juliette Letters" by Elvis Costello & The Brodsky Quartet, "Poses" by Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright's "Martha Wainwright", and "Back To Black" by Amy Winehouse.

Elza Soares: Eu não toco berimbau

"On Every Street".

"Island Girl" or "Johnny's Going Home".

"Nutwood Cut", of course, because of the techno mayhem ending.

Kjell Westö: Var vi en gång gått
Claes Andersson: Saltomortal
Tove Jansson: Sent i November
Astrid Lindgren: Bröderna Lejonhjärta.

Michael Moore: Bowling for Columbine
Paul Justman: Standing in the Shadows of Motown
Richard Attenborough: Cry Freedom
Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind
City of God

Angels in America

Everything Asian.

Rooibos tea

Horsies, of course.

Bahia. (I've been to Rio already, but not to Bahia!)

Autumn. No need to stress out about how the Summer is going to end, cause it's already over. Besides, the trees look nice with all those nice colored leaves.

Both will do. Depends if the view is to the East or to the West.

Gandhi.

I once had a dream in which I had a beard. Sick.

Yoga, Pilates, cycling. Reading is always worthwhile, as is escaping the Finnish winter to a more tropical climate. Writing, digging old photographs. Teaching singing is great! Playing piano. Banging percussion, especially Brazilian ones. If only I had the time to learn how to bang them a bit better... "Kitchen table psychology".

Short temper and a bad tolerance for cold or hot temperatures.

Me, Myself, I

To live is to learn.

Well blah blah.

Beyerdynamic TG-X 80 microphone
Hot water cooker

www.quintessence.fi
www.joonatoivanentrio.com
www.emmasalokoski.net