| Korpiklaani | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Origin | Lahti, Finland |
| Genres | Folk metal |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Labels | Nuclear Blast Napalm |
| Associated acts | Falchion, Finntroll |
| Website | www.korpiklaani.com |
| Members | |
| Jonne Järvelä Kalle "Cane" Savijärvi Jarkko Aaltonen Juho Kauppinen Matti "Matson" Johansson Teemu Eerola |
|
Korpiklaani (Finnish: Wilderness Clan) is a folk metal band from Finland who were formerly known as Shaman.
Contents |
While other folk metal bands began with metal before adding folk music, Korpiklaani started with folk music before turning metal.[1] The roots of Korpiklaani can be traced back to a Sami folk music group under the name of Shamaani Duo,[2] an "in house restaurant band" created by Jonne Järvelä in 1993.[3] An album of folk music (Hunka Lunka) was released under this name before Järvelä relocated and formed a new band Shaman.[4] The folk metal act Shaman was based on the folk music of Shamaani Duo.[5] Two albums were released in 1999 and 2001 before Shaman changed their name to Korpiklaani.[4] The change in name was accompanied by a change in the music. The traditional yoik vocals and the use of the Sámi language were dropped while the synthesizer was replaced with real folk instruments.[6] Jonne Järvelä credits his work with Finntroll as the catalyst for the shift in emphasis from folk to metal.[7] Their song lyrics are often related to alcohol and partying.
According to Jonne Järvelä, Korpiklaani's music would be seen as "old people's music with heavy metal guitars"[8] in Finland.
There has been some collaboration between Korpiklaani and Finntroll, as Samu Ruotsalainen of Finntroll provided session drums for their debut album Spirit of the Forest and Järvelä provided the yoiking for the title track of Finntroll's album Jaktens Tid.
There is also collaboration between Korpiklaani and the Finnish ethnic rock band Poropetra. Hittavainen from Korpiklaani also plays in Poropetra, and Juha Jyrkäs from Poropetra writes the Finnish lyrics on Korpiklaani albums using the Kalevala-metre. Jyrkäs has also played some kantele in two Korpiklaani songs, Kädet siipinä and Tuli kokko, under the pseudonym "Virva Holtiton".
Korpiklaani released a sixth studio album in the summer of 2009, titled Karkelo ("Party" in English).[9][10]
They released their new album Ukon Wacka in early February 2011.
The name Korpiklaani means "Forest Clan" in the Finnish language.[5] In spoken language "korpi" means dark old forest. In biology it refers to nutritious type of swamp which has trees.
In September 2011 Korpiklaani announced that Jaakko "Hittavainen" Lemmetty would be leaving the band due to personal health issues which made the constant touring and recording impossible. His replacement was violist Teemu Eerola. Korpiklaani's first concert with this new line-up since 2005 was on Baroeg Open Air 2011 in Rotterdam(NL). On December 7, 2011, Korpiklaani announced that Teemu would not be on the rest of the tour.[11] His last show on the tour was in Vancouver.[12]
Shaman was a Finnish folk metal band formed in 1993 which is notable for the heavy use of original native Sámic music elements and lyrics in Sámi. The most widely used elements are the shamanic drum, yoik and humppa. Besides yoik, the vocals vary from clean to rather aggressive growling.
The musical style of Shaman is quite distinctive, especially in the slow songs, due to its entrancing atmosphere created by the monophonic, "narrow" synth sound making the deep contrast to the spacious sound of the acoustic guitar, the shamanic drum and yoik singing.
The first recording released under the name of Shaman was the demo single Ođđa máilbmi (New World in Sámi). The video clip shot for the song featured a wolf breaking free from its cage and running into the forest. Besides the single CD the song was included to the band's first full-length album Idja (Night in Sámi, 1999) as well.
In 2003 Jonne Järvelä disbanded Shaman, and formed Korpiklaani, with the music style to a more conventional folk metal with folk/thrash vocals instead of yoiking. The last album of Shaman Shamániac (2002) already featured much of the future Korpiklaani style. In fact, the song, "Vuola lávlla", has the same music as the Korpiklaani song, "Beer Beer".
Shaman had no permanent line up except the frontman Jonne Järvelä.
|
||||||||||||||