Q: Your music is described as blending the Buenos Aires tango halls with forest-dark Finnish landscapes. Can you explain how the tango came to Finland?
JJ: Tango came to Finland first time in
the beginning of 19th century but it became popular not until the 60s. Finnish
tango acquired influences from German marches and Russian romances on its way
from Argentina and those were the ingredients of Finnish tango; melancholy and
clear rhythm. There were a few very productive tango composers like Unto Mononen and Toivo Kärki and their tangos have become a symbol of Finnish
melancholy and their tangos are still very popular and performed by many
artists.
Q:
Your music is an original blend of contemporary tango and inventive use of
electronica – is it important to update the tradition?
JJ:. It's always important to update the
tradition to keep it fresh and alive. But when I make music I don't think so
much about updating anything, I just do what feels exciting to me. Tango is my
great inspiration because of the great passion and big emotions, the drama and the
melancholy. The feeling is more important than the style. Electronica is a
great way to create images. When you use sounds that you can't associate to any
instrument you start to create images in your own head and that's interesting.
My electronica player Tumppi also plays for example vocal samples from Carlos
Gardel and from a Finnish vocal group (Metro-tytöt) who were popular in the
50s. These kind of things create more ‘stories’ in the instrumental music.
