Juha Kujanpaa Ensemble is a new orchestra performing music composed by Kujanpaa and combining acoustic Nordic folk and electric rock/jazz music. The first album of this ensemble, "Tales and Travels", will be released in November 9th, 2013 at EtnoSoi Festival, Finland.
Juha Kujanpaa Ensemble is a large ensemble playing instrumental music with a strong Finnish sound. It combines beautiful violin melodies with aggressive fuzz guitars, sounds of Finnish forests and the nights of July.
Besides Kujanpaa, who plays piano, reed organ and keyboards, the line-up of the band consists of some well-established Finnish folk players and electric rock/jazz musicians: Tommi Asplund, Esko Jarvela and Kukka Lehto (violins), Timo Kamarainen (guitar), Tero Tuovinen (bass) and Jussi Miettola (drums).
Juha Kujanpaa (b.1974) is a versatile composer and musician who operates masterfully in the no-man's land between folk music and jazz. Kujanpaa's music has been released lately on Kirjava lintu: Unilintu (2012), Isis-trio: The Legend of Birth (2011) and Karuna: Hyvaa matkaa/Bon Voyage (2010).