Loituma

This article is about the band. For the song, see Ievan Polkka. For the animation, see Loituma Girl.
Loituma
Also known as Jäykkä Leipä
Origin Helsinki, Finland Finland
Genres Folk
Years active 1989–present
Labels NorthSide
Members Sari Kauranen
Anita Lehtola-Tollin
Timo Väänänen
Hanni-Mari Autere
Past members Sanna Kurki-Suonio
Tellu Paulasto

Loituma is a Finnish quartet whose members combine the Finnish vocal tradition with the sounds of the kantele. Loituma were selected Ensemble of the Year at the 1997 Kaustinen Folk Music Festival.

History

Loituma’s initial incarnation was in the autumn of 1989 as a septet called Jäykkä Leipä ("Stiff Bread"), born in the Sibelius Academy’s Folk music department. The original lineup included singers Sanna Kurki-Suonio and Tellu Paulasto, who later left for Sweden to join Hedningarna.

Over the years, the group has persistently followed its own musical path, applying different musical influences to its music. It has dived into musical streams of diverse origins. One of the cornerstones of Finnish folk music is the art of singing: stories and feelings are best conveyed through this instrument. Loituma's songs convey the Finnish heritage, aided in the background by Martti Pokela and Toivo Alaspää. Another cornerstone of Loituma's art is a Finnish folk instrument called kantele, which is featured in varied ways in their recordings.

Loituma members compose or arrange the tunes by themselves, often using improvisation. Lyrics come from many sources, two main traditional sources are the Kalevala, the national epic of Finland, and the Kanteletar. The lyrics are in Finnish.

Loituma gained enormous popularity[1] in 2006 when the Loituma Girl (also known as Leekspin), a looped Flash animation of an anime girl Orihime Inoue from the Bleach series twirling a leek, set to a scat singing section of Ievan Polkka sung by Loituma on their 1995 debut album Things of Beauty[2] was posted in Russian LiveJournal. The animation instantly became an Internet phenomenon and the song clip soon enjoyed overwhelming popularity as a ringtone, with most of the young urban population aware of the "Yak zup zop" lyrics.[3]

Band members

Discography

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Web Search interest: Loituma, folk music - Worldwide, 2004 - present". Google Trends. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  2. ↑ Werman, Marco (18 August 2006). "Global Hit" (radio). The World. Public Radio International. Retrieved 18 August 2006.
  3. ↑ Russian meme and cultural phenomena wiki Lurkmore - Yak Zup Zop article


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