- artist:Antti Paalanen
- event type:WOMEX 25 Special Focus
- date:25 Oct 2025
- time:23:15 - 00:00
- city/area:Tampere
- venue:Northern Connections Stage (Tampere Hall, Small Auditorium)
- country:Finland
- event posted by:Piranha Arts
Prepare to meet a force of nature. Musical shaman, Antti Paalanen is known internationally for his trademark blend of folk accordion with dance beats and throat singing. A graduate of the Sibelius Academy, he is not only master of the diatonic accordion but also a composer who takes his instrument to the limit, creating a one-man band that can ignite a whole dance-floor, with bass-heavy accordion, pulsing stompbox grooves, and wild throat-bellowing chants, invoking a wall of sound channelling folk music, heavy metal and electronic dance music. Since 2007 Paalanen has beaten out his singular artistic path to ever increasing acclaim, performing solo throughout Europe as well as in China, USA, Canada, Russia and Japan, releasing five albums, participating in projects with classical and folk orchestras and picking up a shelf-full of awards along the way.