Sakari Kukko
Encyclopedia
Sakari Kukko, Born on July 8, 1953, Kajaani
, Finland
, started his career in the early 1960s as a singer participating in several singing contests and performing in radio stations ,TV programs and other venues. At the age of 7, He began taking piano lessons. Soon after that he started to play also guitar and flute,and later saxophone. In the Mid 60's, He started forming bands . He constructed a school band, playing mainly rock & roll, but soon after that he formed a group of local dance bands. He embarked his career by playing with other musicians like Kajaani Big Band (1969–1972), Kisu & Uniset (1970–1971), Markku Suominen's Monopol (1970–1971), Tapiola Big Band (1972–1974), Oulunkylä Big Band (1972–1974), Maarit & Afrikan Tähti (1972–1973), Kalevala
(1972–1973), SIMO Big Band(pre-UMO)(1972–1973), Jukka Tolonen
's band (1973–1974), Heikki Sarmanto
's band (1979), Sensation Band of Addis Ababa (1976), Mahmoud Ahmed
's Ibex Band (1976), Etoile de Dakar (1979), Espoo Big Band (1990), Samuli Mikkonen & 7 henkeä (2003), Kingston Wall
(1992–1994), Amorphis
(1999–2001), Pori Jazz All Stars, Okay Temiz
(several different bands 1992-2008) and so on. He founded the group "Piirpauke" in 1974 . Apart from that, he performed with other artists like Aladji Faye, Tilahun Gessesse
, Youssou Ndour, John McLaughlin
, Pat Metheny
, Bob Mose, Lester Bowie
, David Schnitter
,Polo Orti, Aster Aweke
, Rainer Bruninghaus, Jakob Magnusson, Jon Eberson, Stefan Nilsson, Anders Kjellberg, Zakir Hussein, Ivo Papasoff, Ran Diallo, Finn Siegler, Baluji Shrivastav, Charlie Mariano
, Thad Jones
, Gunter Christmann, Paquito d'Rivera
, Ted Curson
, Walter Bishop Jr., Herbie Hanckock's Head Hunters, Marian Petrescu, Zoltan Lantos, Mihail Petrescu, Kornel Horvath, Borbely Mihaly, Wladislaw Jagiello, Wojeck Tschaikowsky, Hamid Drake
, Bill Öhrström, Coste Apetrea, Bruno Råberg
, Richie Cole
, Raivo Tafenau, Hüsnü Şenlendirici, Ergun Senlenderici, Jimi Mbaye
,Yamar Thiam, Orchestra Baobab, No. 1 de Dakar, Super Diamono de Dakar, Ethio Stars, Assane Thiam, Eric M'backe-N'doye, Alla Seck, Ali Birra
, Mike Rose
, Antonio Coronel , Pepe Roca, Alameda
, Juan Carlos Romero and numerous Finnish musicians.
Kukko represented YLE (Finnish broadcasting company) in the EBU Big Band in Sarajevo (1976) and participated many radio and festival Big Bands which anticipated the UMO Big Band. In the early 70's, Kukko worked as a studio-musician and performed as a freelancer with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
(RSO), and the Finnish National Opera
.
Kukko composed music for his own bands, EBB, Koiton Laulu and several films and theaters.
Since 1974, Piirpauke has been Kukko's main project. The band has given hundreds of concerts in almost 40 countries in countless festivals and other venues.
Kajaani
Kajaani is a town and municipality in Finland.It is the capital of the Kainuu region. It is located southeast of Oulujärvi , which drains to the Gulf of Bothnia along the Oulujoki . There are inhabitants and city surface area is of which is water. The population density is . The town is...
, Finland
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...
, started his career in the early 1960s as a singer participating in several singing contests and performing in radio stations ,TV programs and other venues. At the age of 7, He began taking piano lessons. Soon after that he started to play also guitar and flute,and later saxophone. In the Mid 60's, He started forming bands . He constructed a school band, playing mainly rock & roll, but soon after that he formed a group of local dance bands. He embarked his career by playing with other musicians like Kajaani Big Band (1969–1972), Kisu & Uniset (1970–1971), Markku Suominen's Monopol (1970–1971), Tapiola Big Band (1972–1974), Oulunkylä Big Band (1972–1974), Maarit & Afrikan Tähti (1972–1973), Kalevala
Kalevala
The Kalevala is a 19th century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore and mythology.It is regarded as the national epic of Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature...
(1972–1973), SIMO Big Band(pre-UMO)(1972–1973), Jukka Tolonen
Jukka Tolonen
Jukka Tolonen is a Finnish jazz guitarist. Tolonen became famous as guitarist for the band Tasavallan Presidentti...
's band (1973–1974), Heikki Sarmanto
Heikki Sarmanto
Heikki Veli Uolevi Sarmanto is a Finnish jazz pianist and composer.Sarmanto started playing jazz in the 1960s. He studied first at the Sibelius Academy and later in Berklee College of Music in Boston...
's band (1979), Sensation Band of Addis Ababa (1976), Mahmoud Ahmed
Mahmoud Ahmed
Mahmoud Ahmed is an Ethiopian singer of Gurage ancestry.-Biography:Born in Addis Ababa, Mahmoud shined shoes in that city before becoming a handyman at the Arizona Club, where he first sang professionally in the early 1960s...
's Ibex Band (1976), Etoile de Dakar (1979), Espoo Big Band (1990), Samuli Mikkonen & 7 henkeä (2003), Kingston Wall
Kingston Wall
Kingston Wall was a psychedelic/progressive rock group from Helsinki, Finland, originally formed in 1987. Influenced by such artists as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, the group combined eastern themes, mysticism and vivid psychedelia with acid-rock.The band consisted of Petri Walli ,...
(1992–1994), Amorphis
Amorphis
Amorphis is a Finnish heavy metal band started by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari, and Esa Holopainen in 1990. Initially, the band was a death metal act, but on later albums they evolved into playing other types of genres, which include heavy metal, progressive metal, and folk metal...
(1999–2001), Pori Jazz All Stars, Okay Temiz
Okay Temiz
Okay Temiz is a leading Turkish fusion jazz percussionist and drummer.-Discography:* Maffy Falay & Sevda: ditto. * Maffy Falay & Sevda: Live at Jazzhus Montmartre....
(several different bands 1992-2008) and so on. He founded the group "Piirpauke" in 1974 . Apart from that, he performed with other artists like Aladji Faye, Tilahun Gessesse
Tilahun Gessesse
Tilahun Gessesse was an Ethiopian singer regarded as one of the most popular of his country's "Golden Age" in the 1960s....
, Youssou Ndour, John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
, Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
, Bob Mose, Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the AACM, and cofounded the Art Ensemble of Chicago.-Biography:...
, David Schnitter
David Schnitter
David Schnitter is an American hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist.Schnitter played clarinet as a youth and switched to tenor sax at age 15. After moving to New York City he played with Ted Dunbar and then became a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers from 1974 to 1979...
,Polo Orti, Aster Aweke
Aster Aweke
Aster Aweke is an Ethiopian singer who lives in the United States. She is sometimes referred to as Ethiopia’s Aretha Franklin.Aweke was born in 1961 in Gondar, Ethiopia, and was raised in the capital city of Addis Ababa...
, Rainer Bruninghaus, Jakob Magnusson, Jon Eberson, Stefan Nilsson, Anders Kjellberg, Zakir Hussein, Ivo Papasoff, Ran Diallo, Finn Siegler, Baluji Shrivastav, Charlie Mariano
Charlie Mariano
Carmine Ugo Mariano was an American jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and died in Cologne, Germany.-Biography:Mariano was the son of Italian immigrants....
, Thad Jones
Thad Jones
Thaddeus Joseph Jones was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader.-Biography:Thad Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan to a musical family of ten . Thad Jones was a self taught musician, performing professionally by the age of sixteen...
, Gunter Christmann, Paquito d'Rivera
Paquito D'Rivera
Paquito D'Rivera is a Cuban alto saxophonist, clarinetist and soprano saxophonist. The winner of multiple Grammys and other awards, D'Rivera has lived in the United States since the early 1980s. He has worked in a variety of contexts, but is perhaps best known for playing Latin...
, Ted Curson
Ted Curson
Theodore "Ted" Curson is a jazz trumpeter. He is perhaps best-known for recording and performing with Charles Mingus....
, Walter Bishop Jr., Herbie Hanckock's Head Hunters, Marian Petrescu, Zoltan Lantos, Mihail Petrescu, Kornel Horvath, Borbely Mihaly, Wladislaw Jagiello, Wojeck Tschaikowsky, Hamid Drake
Hamid Drake
Hamid Drake is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. He lives in Chicago, IL but spends much of his time traveling around the world for concerts and studio dates....
, Bill Öhrström, Coste Apetrea, Bruno Råberg
Bruno Råberg
Bruno Råberg born July 13, 1954, is a Swedish-born jazz bassist, composer and music professor based in Boston.-Career:BRUNO RÅBERG is an internationally renowned bass player and composer...
, Richie Cole
Richie Cole
Richard Cole was an Australian rules footballer for the Collingwood and Essendon Football Clubs in the Australian Football League....
, Raivo Tafenau, Hüsnü Şenlendirici, Ergun Senlenderici, Jimi Mbaye
Jimi Mbaye
Jimi Mbaye is a Senegalese guitarist best known for his work with Youssou N'dour. Mamadou 'Jimi' Mbaye has developed a unique Senegalese guitar style in which he makes his Fender Stratocaster sound like local instruments such as the kora or xalam....
,Yamar Thiam, Orchestra Baobab, No. 1 de Dakar, Super Diamono de Dakar, Ethio Stars, Assane Thiam, Eric M'backe-N'doye, Alla Seck, Ali Birra
Ali Birra
Ali Birra is a famous Oromo singer, composer, poet and nationalist. He was born in Lagaharre village in the city of Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.- Early life :Ali birra was born in Dire Dawa ....
, Mike Rose
Mike Rose
For the other baseball player with a similar name, see Mike Rouse.Michael John-Ferrero Rose is a Major League Baseball catcher, who is currently a free agent....
, Antonio Coronel , Pepe Roca, Alameda
Alameda
Alameda is a Spanish word that means "A place full of poplars", and may refer to:-Colleges and universities:* College of Alameda, a two-year community college located in Alameda, California, in the United States-Music:...
, Juan Carlos Romero and numerous Finnish musicians.
Kukko represented YLE (Finnish broadcasting company) in the EBU Big Band in Sarajevo (1976) and participated many radio and festival Big Bands which anticipated the UMO Big Band. In the early 70's, Kukko worked as a studio-musician and performed as a freelancer with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra is an orchestra based in Helsinki, Finland...
, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra is a Finnish orchestra based in Helsinki, and is the chief radio orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company . The orchestra primarily gives concerts at the Helsinki Music Centre...
(RSO), and 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...
.
Kukko composed music for his own bands, EBB, Koiton Laulu and several films and theaters.
Since 1974, Piirpauke has been Kukko's main project. The band has given hundreds of concerts in almost 40 countries in countless festivals and other venues.
Studies
- Kukko's Piano Teachers: Anni Helasvuo (1960–1962),Arvi Tuomi (1969),Ossi Säily (1969–1971) (Kajaani Musik-School),Kirsi Tavastjerna (1972–1973) (Sibelius-Akademy) & Mervi Kianto (1973–1974) Sibelius-Akademy)
- Kukko's Flute Teachers: Jorma Joensuu (1965–1970), Olli Ruottinen (1969),Pekka Pöyry (1969), & Ilari Lehtinen (1972–1974) (Sibelius-Academy)
- Kukko's Saxophone Teachers: Hannu Sovelius (1969), Pekka Pöyry (1969) & Asser Sipilä (1972–1974) (Sibelius-Academy)
- Kukko's Jazz-theory/composing Teachers: Otto Donner(1969), Tapani Tamminen(1972–1973), Edward Vesala (1972–1974)
Awards
- Suomen Jazzliiton George Award (1976)
- KTL:n (Kultturityöntekijäin Liitto) Award for Piirpauke (1977)
- Oulun läänin Artist Award (2002)
- Kajaani City Culture Award (2004)
- Golden Gospel Award (2009)
Solo albums
- Kajastus (1979)
- Moonlight Caravan with Espoo Big Band (1989)
- Virret (2001)
- Joulu (2003)
- Soi Kiitos (2009)