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the world music professionals directoryMarkku Lepistö
Markku Lepistö is a virtuous Finnish accordionist. He´s music can be characterized as contemporary Finnish instrumental folk music with flavours from America, Brasil and Ireland.
Markku Lepistö was born in Kuortane, Southern Ostrobothnia, in 1963. The region is renowned for its age-old folk music tradition, skilled folk fiddlers and accordionists. Inspired by the strong heritage and his fiddle-playing father, Markku started playing the accordion by ear at the age of five. At the age of eleven he began his actual music studies in accordion playing.
In 1984 Markku began his studies at the newly founded Folk Music Department of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. This education, which is unique even in Europe, enabled him to proceed into advanced studies in both folk music and classical accordion playing. He made his MA in music in 1990. Since the 1980´s, he has been teaching the young students of the Sibelius Academy in 1-, 2- and 5-row accordions.
Markku Lepistö´s first solo album Silta (The Bridge) was published in 2002 and it has been warmly welcomed all over the world. On this album, Markku Lepistö is playing with Finnish top folk players. Julian May wrote about it: "Spectacular Finnish Accordion - without the electronics" (Songlines Sep./Oct.2003). The album consists mainly of his original compositions for two-row accordion accompanied by some traditional tunes. Markku´s second solo album will be released in May 2006 by Aito Records, which published the first album as well.
As an accordion player, Markku is one of the world's acknowledged folk players. His albums are honest and unpretentious and his music has a strong feeling of life experience and the Ostrobotnian tradition. Markku reflects: "Childhood days in Ostrobotnia were full of playing in our farmyard, fishing trips to Lake Kuortane, landscapes of foggy mornings and sunsets, jamming with my father and the musicians of our village. For all this, I would like to dedicate this music."
After studies, Markku Lepistö became involved with many Finnish top folk music groups. Beginning from the year 1997 Markku has been a member of the first Finnish klezmer band titled Doina Klezmer (www.doinaklezmer.com). In 1998, Markku was invited to the most famous Finnish world music orchestra Värttinä (www.varttina.com), which had its 20th anniversary year in 2003. Their 10th studio album Miero was released in January 2006 by Real World. In 2003-2006 Värttinä composed the score together with the legendary Bollywood composer A. R. Rahman to the most expensive musical ever made in the world based on the story of The Lord of The Rings. The world premiere was in Toronto, Canada March 2006 followed by the opening night in West End, London 2007.
