WIMME
Wimme (Northside)
Gierran/Enchantment (Rockadillo/Finland)
Wimme Saari's Wimme (my Scandanavian friends pronounce it
"VIM-mae") is his self-titled debut release that first appeared in the
Fall of 1995 on the Rockadillo (Finland) label. Fortunately for the
Western half of globe, "Wimme" is now released on Northside in North
America. Meanwhile, Rockadillo has concurrently released Saari's latest
full-length release, "Gierran."
Wimme is a joiker, a creator of a chanting style that originated among the peoples of Northern Scandanavia; a region known as Lapland or Samiland. Normally handed down from generation to generation, Saari instead learned the craft from listening to archival records at the national radio station in Helsinki.
I'm already a fan of electronic music. But Wimme's debut
impressed me like no other. When I first heard the European copy, I felt
like the only soul in North America to come upon this great discovery.
Later I learned that Cliff Furnald also placed it in his 1995 Top 10 list
at 'CMJ' magazine. To date, it has established standards found nowhere
else in the industry.
As if Saari and his producer Tapani Rinne never
listened to any other electronic music form, creating instead their own
folk music album complete with sequencers and studio tricks. The joiking
of Wimme is nestled into an electronic landscape of Artic tundra and
star-woven sky. As on "Milky Way," you feel as the heavens themselves
have opened onto you as the dance of the aurora borealis. For purists of
Folk, this is a great leap of faith. But for lovers of Ambient, this
album goes far beyond the weary Anglo-American product.
Once you've discovered Wimme, you may wish to hunt down his
newest release (but only to the European market) Gierran. Still at
work behind the vocals is producer Tapani Rinne. Rinne, by the way, heads
his own group called, RinneRadio, a Euro-techno-jazz outfit. And if
there was ever a vocal wing of RinneRadio, Gierran would be it. Normally
Rinne keeps his bass clarinet in the background throughout the production.
But on "Iras" ("Skittish"), the album's opening track, Rinne lets loose
with full bore, setting forth the RinneRadio tone. As on the debut, Jari
Kokkonen and Pauli Saastamoinen again provide the keyboard programming.
However, unlike the ambient landscapes of Wimme and the Bjork-like
danceteria of Texas (the extended play single released on Rockadillo
last year), Gierran serves up bigger helpings from several of the
essential music groups. Throughout we're treated to Saari's chants,
grunts, and falsetto whines, sometimes comical, other times beautiful.
Between the two releases, Gierran is the preferred choice. Wimme
presents a more soulful album, one that is satisfying after repeated
plays. In either case, this artist is past due for some mainstream
recognition. - Wayne Whitwam
Audio clip is from the album Wimme and is used by permission.
See also: Finland, Saami, Europe
