For the last few years, composer and accordionist Anne-Mari Kivimäki has been working on a series of recordings and concerts called Suistamo Suite: The Laboratory of Tradition, an artistic research project she has been working on at the Sibelius Academy in Finland. The final episode in the series, Ilja, is now finished, and I asked her to share a little bit about one of the songs with us.
"Karjalan poikia Karjalassa Live / Karelian Boys in Karelia Live"
Composition: trad / Kivimäki, Grundström
Anne-Mari Kivimäki: Notka accordion
Eero Grundström: harmonica
One of the influences on this album have been the accordion posses I’ve been part of along the way: with them, I have journeyed from the bushes of Suistamo via the smoke sauna of Kinnermäki to the clubs of Petrozavodsk. Karelian Boys in Karelia is a mix of two different field trips to Karelia 2016.
In June, 2016, we travelled to Suistamo Karelia. Suistamo is a former Finnish municipality that is now part of Russia. We played old Finnish polka song "Karelian Boys" and we made our own version of it. We played "Karelian Boys in Karelia" song in front of the Roikonkoski village shop.
Here is a video link from Roikonkoski.
Two weeks later in the beginning of July we travelled to the Viena Karelia and we played the same song on the way to Haikola village in the car. After the trip Eero edited the song.
