Viivi Maria Saarenkyla
Vilda is a duo from Finland that features traditional joik singing and Accordion. Hildá Länsman is from Utsjoke in the northern region of Finland and is a descendant of Sámi people. Viivi Maria Saarenkylä is an accomplished award winning accordionist, who also hails from northern Finland. After meeting in a global music class they decided to merge their world class singing and musicianship. Vilda features an interesting mix of traditional music with an avant garde flair. The new CD release is titled Vildaluodda / Wildprint. It has a haunting and mesmerizing sound that you will make you feel like you are roaming with the antelope in the most northern region of the world. Viivi explains it as “The inspiration for the music draws strongly from the Northern atmosphere where we both were born and feel the most at home.” I recently corresponded with Viivi Maria Saarenkylä about the project and her career.
R.V.B. - Congratulations on your new CD release with Hildá Länsman VILDÁ Vildaluodda / Wildprint. The music is unique and very catchy. How did you meet Hildá and what was the basic plan from the outset?
V.M.S. - Thank you! We met back in 2016 when we started to study global music at the Sibelius Academy (at the University of Arts Helsinki). It was one of the first school days and we were having little jam sessions and get-to-know games with the new class when I heard Hildá singing. I really liked her sound and proposed her that we should try playing some music together and she was right away up for it. About two weeks later she asked me to play a small gig with her and that's when we both realized that accordion and joik works pretty well together actually! I remember having strong intuition from the very beginning that this kind of duo combination will interest people and add something new to the existing ethno/folk scene. I suddenly felt that it just had to be done even though I had never before thought about starting a project like this!
R.V.B. - The accordion is a very versatile instrument and it is used in a lot of different genres of music. Did you start with the piano first and then move to the instrument?
V.M.S. - Nope, I started straight with the 5-row button accordion when I was six years old. My older brother played accordion at that time and I used to insist one for myself for a few years before my parents were convinced that I really was into it. No other instrument even came to my mind, I just wanted an accordion just as my brother had.
R.V.B. - Who were some of your early influences in music?
V.M.S. - I have always listened a bit of everything and swayed a lot between different styles, gone with the flow. I should definitely mention Finnish world/ethno band Tsuumi Sound System as one of my greatest musical crushes and influences when I was still underage. The band really provoked my interest towards Finnish folk music and ethnic music in general. Astor Piazzolla has been my longtime favorite composer especially thinking about music for my own instrument. Jazz and jazzy fusions (often mixed with something ethnic) are on my playlist too and there are many names that have definitely had an impact on me.
R.V.B. - How did the writing process go with Hilda? Did you come up with an idea on the accordion and let Hilda experiment with it? Did you build the music around of her Joiks or lyrics sometimes… or a little of both?
V.M.S. - Both! I guess we both experiment a lot on our own and then we propose stuff to each other. Then we decide what to work on more and the final arrangements are often born at the rehearsal room. On the album there are my compositions where she has written lyrics and then her joik melodies where I have build the music. And then some combinations where there are lyrics from both of us as well as melodies from both of us.
R.V.B. - How did you two come up with the title for the collection of songs?
V.M.S. - It was surprisingly hard to find a suitable name for the album, especially as we decided to create a new term or a nonexistent word. It felt good and suitable for the mood of our album to play around with the word "wild" which appears also in our name (Vilda in Northern Sami language means wild). Then we came up with the idea of leaving behind a trace - like anything that walks on the snow does. Sometimes from the trace one can identify the creature that has passed there but not always...It's fascinating!
R.V.B. - At times I can hear and feel a distinctive work of avant-garde play between the accordion and the sexy experimentation of the vocals. You can sense a painting the northern unspoiled landscape of the north in the music. Is this the feeling you were trying to invoke?
V.M.S. - Wonderfully described! We definitely aim to bring the listener to the North to experience some of the feelings and views that we feel and connect to up here. The inspiration for the music draws strongly from the Northern atmosphere where we both were born and feel the most at home. These ambiences we want to share!
R.V.B. - Was there a little bit of free form soloing in both the accordion playing as well as the vocals at times? It sounds like something that allows the freedom for that at times.
V.M.S. - There is some improvisation in most of the songs! Improvisation is always part of our arranging process and in live performances improvisation happens quite naturally too when in the studio I often feel that I'd love to fix things more in advance because improvising there might feel scary for a while. But I am happy I ended up improvising quite a lot in the studio too and some of the arrangement were actually left open so that they could really happen "in the moment".
R.V.B. - When you perform this music live, does it have the same effect and in the studio?
V.M.S. - The guest stars appearing on the album are not touring with us normally so the violin solo or men's throat singing might not be heard on live gigs. But I am playing around with the live effects for the accordion and creating the beats so our sound is very much the same as in the album, all made live on the stage with no backing tracks.
R.V.B. - Is there a story behind the 2nd track The Old Man of the Mäkrä Hill?
V.M.S. - I am an enthusiast hiker and outdoor spirit spending a lot of time in the woods, lakeside and mountains on my free time. Mäkrä hill is one of my favorite places - magical, beautiful and intriguingly gloomy place in Koli national park in eastern Finland. When hiking in places like that I can't help thinking about creatures, tales and even the ancient Finns that were living in those areas and practiced their rituals thousands of years ago. There is something exciting and powerful in the air when crossing the shady paths deep in the dark forest...that's truly something that sets my imagination flying.
R.V.B. - How did you come up with the title of Track 6? Does the music set out to sooth the less fortunate?
V.M.S. - For the Vulnerable is an introduction to the next song Beana Ciellá. Beana ciellá is a rather rough text about gossiping and the mean talk behind one's back. For me this song feels empowering in it's craziness and hilarity... gossiping is a very human action but in the song we are calling the animals to kind of fight back. No matter how strong you are, sometimes words can hurt really bad and go under the skin and this is what I was thinking when dedicating the gentle introduction for all of us vulnerable!
R.V.B. - What’s on the plans for promoting the CD? Are there any major performances in the works?
V.M.S. - The upcoming autumn is going to be excitingly busy with gigging a lot around the world! Besides the gigs in Finland and different parts of Europe will be spending quite a lot of time in Canada as well. Concerts and also some showcases are keeping us busy and I am looking forward to get to play to new audiences and hopefully surprise people with something they have not seen before. One of the most exciting dates this autumn is the opening ceremony on WOMEX world music expo, where we are selected to perform alongside three other Finnish folk music "stars"! It will be a great opportunity to share our music and meet the world of global music makers.
Interview conducted by Robert von Bernewitz
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