Kimmo Pohjonen is a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 accordion

Accordion

The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

ist who is involved in a number of projects.

Uniko

Kluster meets Kronos Quartet

Kronos Quartet

Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola, and Joan...

 in the Uniko project featuring music composed by Pohjonen and Samuli Kosminen, commissioned by Kronos. Concerts in Helsinki, Moscow and Molde

Molde

is a city and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Romsdal region. The municipality is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord...

 Jazz Festival were major successes. The US premiere of Uniko was October 3,5,6, 2007 at Brooklyn Academy of Music

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Brooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....

. The Uniko album with Kronos was recorded in 2007 and was released in 2011 by Finnish art music record label Ondine.

Pohjonen and Kluster also perform Uniko with Finland’s Proton String Quartet and have performed in Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

 and Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

, with recent performances in Macau

Macau

Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

 International Arts Festival in 2007 and Köln Philharmonie in 2008. Kluster / Proton Uniko toured Estonia in February 2009.

KTU

KTU

KTU (band)

KTU is a progressive/experimental musical supergroup. In 2004 Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto started collaborating with Kimmo Pohjonen and Samuli Kosminen, forming KTU out of their respective duos TU and Kluster.-History:...

 is the trio featuring Pohjonen with Texans Pat Mastelotto

Pat Mastelotto

Pat Mastelotto is a rock drummer who has worked with Mr. Mister and King Crimson, amongst others. For King Crimson he initially formed part of the "double trio" lineup, joining Bill Bruford on drums...

 and Trey Gunn

Trey Gunn

Trey Gunn is an American musician, known for his membership in progressive rock band King Crimson from 1994 to 2003, playing Warr Guitar and Chapman Stick.-Biography:...

 from King Crimson

King Crimson

King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...

. The second KTU album, entitled Quiver, was released in February 2009 in Europe, Japan and America. It features all new music composed and produced by the trio with three pieces mixed by Porcupine Tree’s Steven Wilson. Since 2004, KTU have performed in Finland, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

, Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

, Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

, USA, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 and Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. In August 2008, KTU performed at the Creation of Peace Festival in Kazan

Kazan

Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...

, Tatarstan

Tatarstan

The Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of Russia located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, which is one of Russia's largest and most prosperous cities. The republic borders with Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, and with the Mari El, Udmurt,...

 (Russia) with Patti Smith

Patti Smith

Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....

, Keith Emerson

Keith Emerson

Keith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...

, Zemfira

Zemfira

Zemfira, officially Zemfira Talgatovna Ramazanova ; born 26 August 1976 in Ufa, Bashkortostan) is a Russian rock artist of Bashkir descent...

, Adrian Belew

Adrian Belew

Adrian Belew is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer...

 and many more. This was followed by a double bill at B1 Club in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 with Adrian Belew Power Trio.. The first KTU album 8 Armed Monkey (also featuring sampling genius Samuli Kosminen) was released in 2005.

Kluster

Kimmo Pohjonen Kluster features sampling experts Samuli Kosminen (also known from Icelandic band MuM) or Juuso Hannukainen (known for his work with RinneRadio

RinneRadio

RinneRadio is group of electro jazz pioneers from Finland. Operating on the boundaries of jazz and electronic music, the output of RinneRadio has been described as "some jazz, plenty of techno and ambient influences, a few poppy melodies, and hints of world music"...

 and more). The Kluster album is released in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 via Rockadillo and Westpark

Westpark Music

Westpark Music is a German record label based in Cologne, best known for publishing albums by Gjallarhorn, Oysterband, Hedningarna, Varttina, Bellowhead, Stockholm Lisboa Project, Chumbawamba, Lydie Auvray, Garmarna and many others...

.

K Cube: Pohjonen, Kämäräinen, Kuoppamäki

K Cube is the trio with drummer Sami Kuoppamäki

Sami Kuoppamäki

Sami Kuoppamäki is a Finnish drummer who has been a very prolific jazz and popular music session musician after the break-up of his early-90s band, Kingston Wall. His current, most active group in which he plays in is called Zook...

 and guitarist Timo Kämäräinen. They toured Finland in 2010 and will tour Belgium and Netherlands in 2011.

Accordion Wrestling

Kimmo Pohjonen and Helsinki Nelson wrestling group perform Accordion Wrestling which is a music, sport, dance, theatre, performance art revival of wrestling and accordion tradition from the 1920s-1960s. Accordion Wrestling toured Finland in 2010, and goes to Hamburg in 2011. Choreographer is Ari Numminen.

Rautakeuhko / Iron Lung

Kimmo Pohjonen and performance artist Ville Walo present a music / conceptual performance art piece called Iron Lung consisting of over 100 accordion bellows used in a specially designed stage set. Iron Lung was premiered in Finland in 2009 and continues to Poland in 2011 and again in Finland in May 2011.

Pohjonen / Echampard

Pohjonen works in the improvisation duo with French drummer, Eric Echampard. Their album Uumen was released by Rockadillo and Westpark and they have performed in Finland, France, Estonia, Norway and Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

.

Earth Machine Music

Pohjonen’s Earth Machine Music project is a live concert program featuring Pohjonen in collaboration on farms with farmers, featuring accordion with live and sampled sounds of farm machines and noises. Earth Machine Music began in Rämsöö, Finland in 2006, toured UK in May 2008 and returned to Finland in August 2008 in the Motor Symphony festival in Rämsöö. Earth Machine Music tours Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 in summer 2009.

Kalevala

Improvisational trio: Reijo Kela (dance), Heikki Laitinen (voice), Kimmo Pohjonen (accordion). Celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2009.

Other projects

Pohjonen has composed music for a Swedish dance performance premiered in October 2006 by choreographer Lisa Torun. Pohjonen also collaborated in Paris in June 2006 with dancers /choreographers Tero Saarinen

Tero Saarinen

Tero Saarinen is a Finnish dancer and choreographer. Saarinen grew up in Finland and began training at the Finnish Ballet School, where he was for three years before appearing as a professional dancer. He went on to join the Ballet Company in 1985 and received accolades for his work as a soloist...

 and Carolyn Carlson

Carolyn Carlson

Carolyn Carlson is an American contemporary dance choreographer and performer. She is of Finnish descent.She is the director of the 'Centre Chorégraphique National' in Roubaix and of the 'Atelier de Paris' at 'La Cartoucherie de Vincennes' in Paris.She was awarded the title of Chevalier des Arts...

.

Pohjonen’s ”solo” show continues to tour regularly.

Pohjonen enjoys a high profile UK with performances at The Proms

The Proms

The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...

 at Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall

The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....

 London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Jazz Festival at the Barbican

Barbican

A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from...

, Kalmuk and Kluster at Queen Elizabeth Hall

Queen Elizabeth Hall

The Queen Elizabeth Hall is a music venue on the South Bank in London, United Kingdom that hosts daily classical, jazz, and avant-garde music and dance performances. The QEH forms part of Southbank Centre arts complex and stands alongside the Royal Festival Hall, which was built for the Festival...

 and solo in the Purcell Room

Purcell Room

The Purcell Room is a concert and performance venue which forms part of the Southbank Centre, one of central London's leading cultural complexes. It is named after the 17th century English composer Henry Purcell and has 370 seats....

. Pohjonen has performed at two Meltdown Festivals in London. Pohjonen / Kosminen Kluster at David Bowie

David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

’s Meltdown performed one set of Bowie music followed by their own show. At Patti Smith’s Meltdown at Royal Festival Hall 2005, Pohjonen and drummer Sami Kuoppamäki participated in the Songs of Experience concert performing music of Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...

. Pohjonen was nominated for BBC Radio

BBC Radio

BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...

 3 World Music

World music

World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...

 Awards in 2002 and again in 2005 for the BBC Radio 3 Planet Award.

Finnish choreographer Jorma Uotinen

Jorma Uotinen

Jorma Leo Kalevi Uotinen is a Finnish dancer, singer and choreographer. As a dancer and choreographer, Uotinen has worked both in many dance groups, both in and outside of Finland, since 1970...

 directed the Finnish National Opera

Finnish National Opera

The Finnish National Opera in Helsinki is the leading opera company in Finland. Its home base is the Opera House on Töölönlahti bay in Töölö which opened in 1993, and is state-owned through Senate Properties...

 Ballet performing Pohjonen’s Kielo music at Helsinki‘s National Opera House and again in Netherlands and Australia with local dance companies.

Kimmo Pohjonen has received two consecutive five year artist grants from the Finnish state. He was Named “Accordionist of the Year” for 2000 and 2001 in Finnish Jazz magazine Jazz Rytmit and received the Nordic Council Music Award.

Past projects include:

Kalmuk, featuring fifteen piece Tapiola

Tapiola

Tapiola or Hagalund is a district of Espoo on the south coast of Finland, and is one of the major urban centres of Espoo...

 Sinfonietta orchestra plus Samuli Kosminen, a second percussionist, light show and surround sound. Kalmuk premiered in Helsinki 2000 then toured UK in 2002 with a simultaneous DVD release featuring extra video effects and archive film footage.

Animator featured Pohjonen with live computer designs by multi-media artist/designer Marita Liulia

Marita Liulia

Marita Liulia is a Finnish media artist.Her production includes media art works, photography, painting and stage performances....

 and live video mix by Antti Kuivalainen. Successful concerts took place in Helsinki, Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...

 and in the late 2005 tour of Portugal.

The Manipulator project, 2002, featured Marita Liulia and buto dancer /choreographer Aki Suzuki and was performed in Helsinki, Sweden, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. In Helsinki, the show was six hours of improvised performance on each of three days, total eighteen hours. Folk music groups included the side project Pinnin Pojat with JPP fiddler Arto Järvelä

Arto Järvelä

Arto Järvelä is a Finnish fiddler and composer. Because of the many groups and projects he is involved in, he has been called "the busiest man in Finnish folk music". He is primarily a violinist, but among other instruments of his are nyckelharpa, mandolin and kantele...

 and Sibelius Academy Folk Music Department group Ottopasuuna.

Film music

Pohjonen has composed and performed music for three films: the British short film ”Flickerman and the Ivory-Skinned Woman”, the Russian full length feature film, ”Majak” and, with Samuli Kosminen, the full length Finnish feature film ”Jade Warrior

Jade Warrior (film)

According to the MTV3 website, the soundtrack was released on October 11, 2006.- External links :...

”. They have also composed music for a Finnish ”new circus theatre” performance, Keskusteluja.

Discography

• 1999 Kielo (Finland: Rockadillo, Japan: P Vine)
• 2002 Kluster (Finland: Rockadillo, Germany: Westpark)
• 2002 Kalmuk (Westpark)
• 2002 Kalmuk DVD Symphony (Lilith)
• 2004 Iron Lung (Russia: Soyuz) (compilation from Kielo and Kluster)
• 2005 Kimmo Pohjonen and Eric Echampard – Uumen (Finland: Rockadillo, Germany: Westpark)
• 2005 KTU – 8 Armed Monkey (Finland: Rockadillo, Germany: Westpark, North America: Thirsty Ear, Japan: Besection)
• 2009 KTU – Quiver (Finland and Europe: Rockadillo and Westpark Music, Japan: Disk Union, America: 7dMedia)
• 2011 Kimmo Pohjonen, Samuli Kosminen and Kronos Quartet - Uniko (Ondine Records)

External links

• Official homepage