Вәрттіnä: Финн халқының фольклорлық музыка тобы

Finnish folk music band

Värttinä (, meaning "spindle") is a Finnish folk music band that started as a project by Sari and Mari Kaasinen in 1983 in the village of Rääkkylä, in Karelia, the southeastern region of Finland. Many transformations have taken place in the band since then. Värttinä shot into fame with the release of their 1991 album Oi Dai. As of 2009, the band consists of three lead female vocalists supported by three acoustic musicians. The vocalists sing in the Karelian dialect of the Finnish language. In August 2005, Värttinä recorded their tenth studio album called Miero at Finnvox Studios, Helsinki. It was released on 25 January 2006 in Finland, and 30 January 2006 worldwide. In 2006, Värttinä also released the Värttinä Archive Live DVD, which included material from their 20th anniversary concert and other new and archive material. Värttinä collaborated with A. R. Rahman, a notable Indian composer, in composing the music for the theatrical adaptation of the Lord of the Rings, which played in Toronto in 2006 and in London in 2007. Värttinä has been featured in two episodes of popular animated children's show Arthur singing their hit song "Matalii ja Mustii" from the album Seleniko. The song was also featured on the show's first soundtrack, Arthur and Friends: The First Almost Real Not Live CD (Or Tape).

The birth of Värttinä was heavily influenced by two sisters, Sari and Mari Kaasinen, from Rääkkylä. The album was released also in the United States, and the next year, when Oi Dai was released in the USA, too, the band started its first North American tour. Music from the album Seleniko (an excerpt from the track Matalii ja mustii) was featured on the American children's television show Arthur. After Seleniko, Antto Varilo became the guitarist and Pekka Lehti the bassist. On Aitara, recorded in the autumn of 1994, Anssi Nykänen plays the drums, but Marko Timonen played them in concerts. The record made it to the charts again and it was remembered for the tracks Tumala and Outona omilla mailla. The band toured around the North America and Europe. Many were interested in the women's distinctive way of singing, and they made an appearance on a record of Maggie Reilly. Värttinä's sixth album Kokko was released in the end of 1996. The familiar note "trad." was not found in the credits of the pieces any more as all songs were written by the band itself. After the release of Kokko, Värttinä started its first tours in Japan and Australia, even though Sari Kaasinen had to leave the band for family reasons, and only three women were left as singers. In August 1998 their seventh album, Vihma, was released under the record company Wicklow Records, established by Paddy Moloney from the band Chieftains along with BMG. Värttinä's style can be said to have changed in Vihma. All compositions were made by the band's male members, and they contained more complex changes in time and also the singing melodies became rhythmically more diverse. Vihma made it to the charts around the world like its predecessors. During the winter 1998–1999 Värttinä experienced yet another change of members. Susan Aho, originally joined to replace Riitta Kossi (previously Potinoja), became a permanent front row singer, and Markku Lepistö joined to replace her as an accordionist. Riikka Väyrynen replaced the singer Sirpa Reiman. In June 1999 Värttinä was awarded the BASF Master Award, given to artists, producers, recorders and studios for records gaining chart success and at the same time displaying high technical and artistic quality. The award has previously been given to Metallica and Shania Twain. After the award Värttinä moved to the studio to record their next album Ilmatar, released in the beginning of 2000. Ilmatar took the experimental and diverse style of Vihma even further. Äijö became the most popular song of this album, featured by singer Ismo Alanko. During the year, Värttinä toured around Japan and Europe, ending the tour in the Savoy theatre in Helsinki, where a live album of the same name was recorded on 6 December. It was released in the beginning of the next year, simultaneously with the book Korkeelta ja kovvoo by Kimmo Nevalainen. In 2001 Ilmatar was released in Brazil, and Värttinä performed in the Rock in Rio festival in Rio de Janeiro for more than 200,000 people. Värttinä's line up was changed again, when Johanna Virtanen joined to replace Riikka Timonen (previously Väyrynen) who had left the band, and Jaakko Lukkarinen replaced the drummer Marko Timonen.

In 2002, the violinist Kari Reiman, bassist Pekka Lehti and original Värttinä singer Kirsi Kähkönen left the band, too. Reiman was replaced by Lassi Logrén, who had already been in the old Värttinä in his childhood. Hannu Rantanen became the bassist. Both had performed in the band before as substitutes. Värttinä thus started its "third era" with the singer trio Kaasinen Aho Virtanen. The first release with this line up was Iki in 2003, when the band also celebrated its 20th anniversary. Later in the same year Värttinä was invited to compose music for the Lord of the Rings theatrical adaptation, based on the book by J. R. R. Tolkien. Värttinä composed music for two and a half years together with A. R. Rahman, coordinated by Christopher Nightingale. The musical, premiered in Toronto in 2006 and moved to London in May 2007. In December 2005 Värttinä was awarded the Finland Prize, awarded yearly by the Finnish Ministry of Education for considerable artistic merits and remarkable professional achievements. In January 2006 Värttinä released their eleventh album Miero. The album was the band's first one to be made under Real World Records, established by Peter Gabriel. In 2008, Värttinä toured Finland, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Belgium, in support of their 25th anniversary CD. The concert in Tampere (Finland) was filmed by Filmiteollisuus Oy and was broadcast on YLE Finnish national TV. In late 2008, a new Värttinä book "Värttinä – Mierontiellä ja punaisella matolla" covering the story of Värttinä until now was published in Finland. Janne Lappalainen and Markku Lepistö departed the band.

In late 2009, Lassi Logrén and Antto Varilo departed the band. Accordionist and keyboard player Matti Kallio joined Värttinä. In 2010, Susan Aho and Johanna Virtanen represented Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo as Kuunkuiskaajat. Their song Työlki ellää finished 11th in the semi final. In February 2012 Värttinä released their 11th studio album Utu. The album reached number one on the World Music Charts Europe in May. In October, Värttinä received the Womex Artist Award 2012 in Thessaloniki, Greece. Later it was announced, that Karoliina Kantelinen would replace Johanna Virtanen in the lineup.