Pekko Käppi

Biography

Pekko Käppi is a player of Jouhikko, the ancient Finnish-Karelian bowed lyre, in all-improvised settings and traditional folk songs. Crossing bowed strings with soft locomotive rhythms, grainy drones and circling, buzzing patterns with otherwordly vocals chasing the arc of his bow with beautiful melodies. His music has been described like this: "In his hands the rough sound of weaved horsehair strings are swaying between the foul and lovely – dirty and pure. The old songs of unwritten tradition,...

Pekko Käppi is a player of Jouhikko, the ancient Finnish-Karelian bowed lyre, in all-improvised settings and traditional folk songs. Crossing bowed strings with soft locomotive rhythms, grainy drones and circling, buzzing patterns with otherwordly vocals chasing the arc of his bow with beautiful melodies.
His music has been described like this: "In his hands the rough sound of weaved horsehair strings are swaying between the foul and lovely – dirty and pure. The old songs of unwritten tradition, timeless and dark stories mediates in his mouth."
He got involved with the Jouhikko in 1997 in the Ala-Könni–institute of Kaustinen. Ever since he has been studying the Jouhikko tradition with the master players of Finland, Estonia and Sweden. He performed with different Jouhikkos in diverse ensembles, theatre productions etc. His debut recording, EP “Kalastajia ja kaivostyöläisiä" was released in 2001. Pekko also co-produced the album “Hiien Hivuksista – Jouhikko Music from Finland" (2003). His first full-length album “Jos ken pahoin uneksii" was released autumn 2007, and the next one, LP "Vuonna '86" is just out via Singing Knives label.
Also he played with Jouhiorkesteri, Kiila, Lau Nau, Vilddas, Päivänsäde, Äijä. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.