SuomiKESKEN
kesken was a duo formed by Jaakko Nousiainen and Juha Valkeapää. Starting in 1992 they utilised vocal improvisation to explore the possibilities of human voice. The duo gave a wide variety of live performances as well as constructed sound installations in Finland and in several European countries. Their main works include kesken sound bus for The Tampere International… Read more
IKI-TURSO
Iki-Turso started as a runo song project in October 1998, transforming eventually towards voice theatre. Together Heikki Laitinen, Eila Hartikainen, Taito Hoffrén, Maari Kallberg, Ilona Korhonen, Anna-Kaisa Liedes, Outi Pulkkinen and Juha Valkeapää were better in vocal improvisation than in runo song. Or vocal impro was more interesting. From September till December 1999, Iki-Turso gave… Read more
Plumber
I wander amongst people with a one-meter-long plastic (over tone) tube on my mouth. I point the tube towards people’s ears (one person & one ear at time!) and make sounds into it: tiny little, gentle, tender whispers and mumblings and yawnings etc. My purpose is simply to surprise, to shake, but warmly, gently. From… Read more
Song of two men who are cut in their navels
The vocal piece was made for an occasion organized by the M.A. Castrén Society at the Museum of Cultures, Helsinki. It is based on exclamation ”kajjajjuujig”, used in bear rituals of Hantis and Mansis, Siberian Fenno-Ugrian people. I was accompanied by Heikki Laitinen playing naresjuk, a string organ. Sept 18, 1999, duration 15 min’s.
Boy’s Toys
Boy’s Toys was inspired by my 2-year-old son’s sounds & motions & two toys, a spinning-top and a Russian swinging & klinging doll. How does a child see and comprehend the world? Swing, tube, ladder, mimics and shadows became important elements at VaraQ’s (the Q-theatre’s main stage’s exit) high, narrow space. Lights by Tomi Humalisto. The… Read more
Taps & Tubes
A former Kugler tap factory at the crossing of the rivers Rhône and Arve, in Geneva, Switzerland. Alphorn yoik & yodling with tubes & taps I found in the factory, as my dress I had a red stretching tube. In the middle of the space there was a huge airbag where you could dive in.… Read more
Namedays
9 short vocal pieces for 9 nameday heroes under the Arcade of the Glass Palace, Helsinki, in June 1999. The phonemes of the day’s name gave the starting point & drew the borders. Duration of each 15 min’s. Under the title of Ma, Ny, Fa, Ces at the Faces Festival, Billnäs, Finland, Aug 14, 1999,… Read more
MuseumTalk / StatueTalk
MuseumTalk I went around in a museum and voiced works I found interesting, works which made me voice. The MuseumTalk was more a sound space than a performance. The museums were normally open and I was a normal visitor, getting just a little bit noisy sometimes. Between March 2000 and January 2001 I visited The Finnish Museum of… Read more
Boy
Boy researched my son’s vocal & motional world from his birth till one-and-a half-year-old. In a wide and low vaulted cellar I rolled in side lights, was amazed by the neons, explored spectators’ shoes and raged in a 3-D UV corner. Lights by Johanna Salomaa. Five performances at the Sinebrychoff Museum of Foreign Art, Helsinki,… Read more
Pointed and strong boys
Pointed and strong boys, based on sounds made by my son, in Spring and Summer 1997 at Tampere Theatre Festival, at Galleria Allinna in Riihimäki and at Galleria Titanik in Turku. Duration 15 min’s. Photo: Eero Sirén
