Värttinä
Heroes and Villains
The first time I ever played Värttinä on Radio 3 was back in 1997 on a programme called Musical Encounters where they rubbed shoulders with Dvořák, Mozart, Giya Kancheli, Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble. Once Late Junction had begun, in 1999, they had a natural home for their music, and we recorded them at the Wychwood Festival and at Womad. I remember being at their 20th anniversary celebrations in Helsinki too. I just feel I’ve known them forever, and that this exciting collaboration with the BBC Concert Orchestra is a very natural next chapter.
I haven’t seen them since 2012 when I was honoured to present them with a Lifetime Achievement Award at Womex in Thessaloniki so I can’t wait for that moment when BBC 6 Music’s Tom Ravenscroft and I are live on Radio 3 sharing the stage with them and the orchestra and conductor Charles Hazlewood.
The Värttinä story goes back to 1983 to the Finnish village of Rääkkylä where mothers and grandmothers got some of the children together to sing and play the old songs of the Karelian region, and recite ancient stories to the accompaniment of the kantele, the Finnish zither-like instrument. The idea caught on and soon there were saxes and flutes, accordions and basses joining in, and these old songs had a new lease of life.
By 1991 Värttinä were teenagers, about to record their third album. They had their own ideas about how to reinvent tradition and some of them were going off to study at the world-renowned Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. They branched out, researching singing traditions from a wider area and women’s traditions in particular. Oi Dai went platinum and marked Finland’s biggest folk success for 20 years. A year later Seleniko was number one in the World Music Charts and the major festivals of the world were beckoning. Their energy seemed unstoppable, the awards flowed in, and the heavy touring schedule meant their suitcases were rarely unpacked, and so it continued.
In over 30 years of making music together, Värttinä have toured extensively throughout the world: they have a huge global fan-base, they’ve won numerous awards, recorded 14 albums, sold thousands and thousands of them and collaborated with the great A.R. Rahman in writing music for The Lord of theRings musical. They are outstanding ambassadors for Finnish music, and perfect examples of musicians who remain true to the roots of a tradition yet find a new voice and way of expression.
You don’t have to be a Finnish speaker to have been intoxicated by Värttinä’s tales of fishwives and lovers, murder and revenge, from ancient blood-curdling spells to heart-breaking songs of betrayal and loss. The rhythms and sounds of the language itself are a key part of the music’s energy. Sibelius's music shows Finnish forests with all their majesty and unquiet, the extraordinary beauty of the Finnish light as well as revealing the legends of the Kalevala full of anguish and adventure. Rautavaara opens the doors to mystical visions inspired by Nature, and Lindberg’s exquisite writing for orchestra gives us a link to the past to the music of Bach, yet they all inhabit a world in which Värttinä so easily belongs too. They have never been afraid to confront audiences with the hissing and spitting of ancient stories from a front-line attack of striking vocals and a rear-guard of thrilling instrumentals.
It’s over a century since the first performance of Finlandia and today Finland boasts world-class orchestras, singers, conductors and composers, acclaimed dance and design, jazz and contemporary music, beautiful concert halls and a huge programme of festivals. Let’s celebrate!
