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There’s music from Finland for this New Sounds, which is a musical hotbed of many genres: classical, folk, weirdly dressed heavy metal rock bands, and some of the less easily defined new music types.  We’ll hear from accordion virtuoso Maria Kalaniemi along with something else for accordion (& electronics) by Kimmo Pohjonen. 

New music from Finland, including music for kantele (Finnish folk harp) and electronic soundscape is what’s in store for this New Sounds program.  Also, there’s music from the folk-pop-electronica group Varttina, along with a tune from the harmonium and fiddle-heavy Finnish folk revivalists JPP.  Plus, hear some new works built around pre-existing music, where contemporary ensembles perform strange and unexpected arrangements of Metallica, Kraftwerk and other rock songs.

For this New Sounds, listen to new choral music from Eastern Europe, including one by Georgian composer Giya Kancheli.  His 2005 “Amao omi” fuses Baltic folksong, liturgical choral music and minimalism and plays against sax quartet.  There’s also music by Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara, along with a new choral album of music by Estonia’s Veljo Tormis, and more.

There’s music from Finland for this New Sounds, which is a musical hotbed of many genres: classical, folk, weirdly dressed heavy metal rock bands, and some of the less easily defined new music types.  We’ll hear from accordion virtuoso Maria Kalaniemi along with something else for accordion (& electronics) by Kimmo Pohjonen.  Plus, there’s also music by multi-instrumentalist Pekka Pohjola, who was best known as a bass player, of the jazz-inflected (maybe even proggy) variety.  We might also hear music by Einojuhani Rautavaara, and perhaps even  “Winter was Hard,” by composer Aulis Sallinen in a Kronos Quartet performance.   All that, and more.

Lau Nau and Kuupuu are two musicians from Finland. Each in her own way is finding rich musical ground in the territory between song and sound. They join host David Garland in the WNYC Studio to perform and improvise, and to talk about their music.