Piirpauke - Piirpauke 2 (1976)

Mientras se vivía la explosión mental y musical en los lejanos setentas, allí en los países nórdicos, medio alejados de todo y sin tanto mercado, pero con muchos lagos y mucha naturaleza y toda su cultura enérgica, allí se concibió otro tipo de rock, con las características naturales de la región que se asemejan quizás más al rock vanguardista latinoamericano que a lo que se hacía en las grandes urbes de EEUU e Inglaterra. Aquí el segundo disco de Piirpauke para afirmar esta aseveración, puro folk rock progresivo del mejor para endulzar tus oídos. Excelente progresivo étnico que combina la excelente música de grupos como Haikara o Labanda.

Artista: Piirpauke

Álbum: Piirpauke 2
Año: 1976
Género: Folk Prog
Duración: 39:09
Nacionalidad: Finlandia

Lista de Temas:
1. Laulu
2. Sirtos
3. Fyssouni
4. Prazider Adeus (Sanon Hyvästi)
5. Agjek
6. Peäldoaivi
7. Penang Osa 1
8. Penang Osa 2
9. Imala Maika

Alineación:
- Antti Kytti / bass, kalimba, tambourine
- Hasse Walli / harmonium, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, tambourine, goblet drum, maracas, producer
- Jukka Wasama / percussion, Chinese wedding bells
- Sakari Kukko / saxello, bouzouki, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, piano, flute goblet drum, tambourine, talking drum

Muchas cosas en Finlandia, cosas básicas como el lenguaje, -uno de los más antiguos del mundo y también uno de los más difíciles, gramaticalmente- está relacionada con esos orígenes y con una enorme tradición musical. Este idioma finlandés expresa las ideas de manera muy distinta a la de los otros idiomas europeos que habitualmente se estudian. En otras palabras, el finés es "diferente". Este antiguo lenguaje oculta armonías mágicas.

El finlandés o el finés, que las dos acepciones están consideradas correctas por la Real Academia de la Lengua, es según infinidad de rankings uno de los idiomas más complicados del mundo. Pertenece a la familia de las lenguas fino-úgricas, a las que pertenecen además del finés, el húngaro y el estonio.

En los años setenta son varios los grupos musicales de jazz rock y rock progresivo que salen de esas tierras: Kalevala, Tasavallan Presidentti, Piirpauke, Pekka Pohjola, Jukka Tolonen, por nombrar algunas de las más importantes, desconocidas para el mundo hasta bastante tiempo después, con gran calidad y toques personales, donde se conjugan las características propias del país, su idioma, su folcklore, su música popular, junto con la psicodelia, el jazz, la experimentación y la vanguardia, dando un resultado propio que no es ajena a lo que sucedió en otros lugares del mundo.

While in Finland, a huge country with not so many people, but many lakes and lots of nature with still all the natural energies and totem animals there, lots of people are going to travel into that nature more often. This homeland of wolfs, bears, the lynx, dears is so beautiful it seems that this is the safest and quietest place on earth. In the North of the country the sun comes up and goes down again, but never goes under.
Beautiful architectural buildings can be seen everywhere. Much attention to harmony with nature is expressed in that too.
Some of the shamans came originally from Mongolia. Many things, like even the language, -one of the oldest in the world (,and also one of the most difficult ones, grammatically,) is related with those origins. This language is also related to a huge musical tradition. This ancient language hides magical harmonies. The Kalevala, one of the oldest books, tells stories and songs from old times. Vikings came from Scandinavia with no doubt. The most magical origins of them, of living according to nature's laws can still be found in Finnish sources.
People still like music very much. The Sibelius Academy is extremely important for it. There's mostly tradionally based folk music, fusion and classical music interest. From contempory classical music I can recommend Rautavaara who made extremely good music (which he also combined with some electronica).
Since the seventies a few progressive music groups came to live like Wigwam (one of the first Finnish rock groups to get a contract with Virgin to get internationally known), Kalevala, Tasavallan Presidentti, Piirpauke, Pekka Pohjola, Jukka Tolonen,..to name some important ones (-,most of thosehaveh lots of jazz fusion rock approach-).
From 80's to early 2000 most important Finnish groups contain still have this origin of folk music. Folk became enriched in a very spontaneous way and became a bit more progressive during the last twenty years. Some chamber music was combined here too. The rich vocal music tradition enriched the folk music mostly into more acoustic traditional roots. Most of the music groups have had a very good education in music including classical music and Scandinavian folk. This can be heard clearly. The classical music foundations are completely different in temperament than in Italy for instance, where people have been more often trained in classical music too.
In comparing with other Scandinavian countries Norway in progressive music showed more dark areas in music, Sweden in comparrisment has the richest progressive music tradition, while in Finland the importance of folk, (jazz) fusion and classical tradition took more lead. In Scandinavia all countries experienced freedom longer than in Europe, while not being involved as much in World War. This is an influence which mostly makes their music without to much inner struggle and inconvenience or risk in comparing with progressive music from some other countries.
Here are some of the most important progressive music groups listed with a small description (folk is also included if not traditional, but when with some distance toward it and more attention to originality). Important links for Finnish music are added too. If you think there are errors or important data missing, please E-mail me. On the second page some reviews of progressive music is being reviewed.

progressive.homestead.com

Es as{i que en esta presentación de rock finlandés que presentamos en la Escuelita de Rock Cabezona, les traemos rock pero también folklore y cultura finlandesa, siendo Piirpauke un excelente ejemplo de estos dos extremos que se combinan para ser uno solo.
Muy en sintonía con el primer disco, con sus interesantes experimentos que mezclan el rock, el jazz y el folk; percusiones étnicas mezcladas con violines, guitarras y teclados, todo combinado de una manera muy atractiva aunque a veces pude llegar a faltarle algo de pimienta, según el oído de cada uno. También, como en el primer disco, la música folk de la banda se centra no solamente en su propia patria sino también en música de todo el mundo.

Si te gustó el primer disco no te pierdas este, pero ojo que en realidad esto es una presentación porque los mejores discos de la banda están por venir. Ahora les dejo algunos comentarios en inglés.

Piirpauke's second album is the same sort of beast than its predecessor, despite not being a carbon copy either. Proposing eight shorter tracks (as opposed to five longer ones), the general musical mood also shifts to a jazzier feel, sometimes bordering on the gypsy-klezmer realm. Graced with a psych-folk artwork, the album features the same multi- instrumental line-up than its predecessor, and was released on the inevitable Finn label Love Records the following year (76).
Again, a good deal of the tracks are traditional folk music from around the planet, but their adaptation and rearrangements make Piirpauke's second album just as interesting as their first for adventurous progheads, because instruments like the Bouzouki, Egyptian violin, tambura, ethnic percussions, . Opening on the dronal Celtic Laulu and following on the Greek trad Sirtos, the album remains in the general artistic lines of the band. Fyssouni has a certain Spanish or flamenco slant crossed with a raga rhythm, but it's more in the klezmer realm. Plenty of instrumental interplay and a great alto sax solo to boot. The following band-written original Pazider Adeus is a pure jazz piece with plenty of tenor sax and electric guitar solo and is the perfect way to close the A-side.
On the flipside, we're transported in the Indian subcontinent with the short band-written Agjek, with ethnic flutes and percussions. Tambura are laying delicate dronal layers in Pealdoaivi, but the main attraction are the ethnic percussions and shrill flutes. The lengthy 11-mins two-parts Penang is definitely in the African sonic realm, and if I understand Finnish well enough, they have a few (unnamed) African musicians guesting. We're in the Niger River basin (Mali and Guinea) and it's rather fun to travel so far from your living room for so cheap, being carried away by the sonic waves emerging from your speakers. The middle section is more dissonant and tends to digress into Indian realm, but the closing part head into a fantastic 100-mph JR/F frenzy where Walli's electric guitar soars like an eagle over Kukko's electric piano and jazz-funk rhythm. The closing Imala Maika is apparently a Bulgarian piece, but it's not immediately obvious because it's got a general but undefined eastern European folk, but one can hear some western (read Celtic) flute solo.
In some ways, I tend to prefer the debut over their second, but it's rather clear that Piirpauke progressed, especially that the band wrote over half the music, and in doing so, also presented a lightly jazzier slant that's quite welcomed. If you're into Embryo, Archimedes Badkar and other bands playing "world music" avant-la-lettre (since the term would be coined with Peter Gabriel's Womad thing in the mid-80's), no doubt that Piirpauke's first few album will delight you, and I gather that the group's present (they're still together as a band) sonic realm remains fairly similar nowadays.

Sean Trane

In May and September 1976 Piirpauke recorded their sophomore work simply entitled ''2''.The album features the familiar line-up of Kukko/Hytti/Walli/Wasama, this time though without any guest musicians helping aside.''2'' was released in November 76' on Love Records for the Finnish market and on Svenska Love Records for the Swedish one and, as stated by the group, it is dedicated to the national liberation movements worldwide.
As expected after such a statement, Piirpauke have filled an album with traditional tunes from all over the world.''Laulu'' is a short but excellent melancholic tune from East Karelia in Russia, based on the great work on sax and bells.Two Greek traditional interpretations follow, ''Sirtos'' from the district of Rumeli, based on Kukko's magnificent performance on bouzouki, and ''Fyssouni'' from the area of Epirus, which Piirpauke have transformed into a Folk/Fusion hybrid akin to ARCHIMEDES BADKAR's works.''Prazider adeus'' is a Lounge jazzy Brazilian melody with little to offer, sounds closer to a ballad, yet featuring an excellent guitar solo by Walli.The flute- and percussion-based ''Agjer'' is an archaic-styled improvised melody, exactly in the same style comes the opener of the second side ''Pealdoaivi''.The 11-min. ''Penang'' is an original Piirpauke composition, dedicated to the fight for the black people's rights in South Africa.So this piece contains plenty of African percussion and flutes for the most of its part, but towards the end it suddenly becomes an Electric-Fusion monster with superb drumming, bass and guitars in full energy.The closer ''Imala maika'' is a Bulgarian folk tune with great flutes and light piano in a delicate and beautiful melody.
Another strong work by Piirpauke, epitomizing how Folk Music can stand next to some Jazz/Fusion ideas.A great piece of art for all lovers of music with both ethnic and jazzier tastes.

apps79

Piirpauke was one of my dicoveries from finish music not long ago. The second album named simply II from 1976 is almost in mood and attitude as their first offer. Their music is quite intresting and in same time there are moments of boringness, a combination of jazzy parts with folk arrangements, the result is ok but far from excellent to my ears. There are instrumental parts with an eclectic fell to it, besides that folk/jazz inspired music, that I really like. ethnic percussions with violins, guitars and keybords all melted in a good way. A 3 star album to me, nothing more nothing less. I think the first two albums of this obscure band are intristing for prog/folk fans. Maybe at some point similar with Haikara

b_olariu

Half-naked children run across summer meadows on green hills and through forests with shimmering birds in a mythical land. The sun rises gently to the sound of an enchanting children’s song. Then a Greek dance-troop greets the fresh morning at the market-place. Several hours later, an oriental fire-worshipper works himself into a frenzy. Suddenly the streets are deserted, the bars close down, a slight rain falls while a lonely sax-player can be heard from the street-corner, we are in the 20th century all of a sudden. Then again, it’s back to outlandish sounds, Asian jungle-landscapes and finally a folkloristic tune from the Balkan. The sun rises again over an archaic dream world…
Piirpauke’s jazz-style is deeply rooted in folk music from all over the world, like Eastern Europe, Turkey and, of course, their own homeland, Finland. 2 is a strange and truly exotic voyage across the whole globe and possibly some different planets as well, however calling this ‘prog’ would really be a mistake. Rather, this is an astonishing musico-ethnological exercise by a jazz band. One of a kind!

Lemonhead

Otro lindo disco que marcha hacia la Biblioteca Sonora