Nova was formed in early 1975 in Helsinki. Most of the band members had played together earlier in a band called Isojako, which apparently played more pop-orientated music. From the start, Nova's main figure was Antti Ortamo who was the main composer, lyricist and also played keyboards and sang for the band. In february 1976 Nova started recording their debut "Atlantis" in Stockholm, Sweden. The music on this album will probably remind you of Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, Wigwam, perhaps even Eloy and Yes at times. It's not the most innovative album to walk the earth, but it's a nice effort full of warm keyboard sounds and atmospheres.
First CD of this double disc set has the original version of the album, just as released in 1976. Second disc contains the brand new mix with bonus track plus the band's only single "Käytävä / Kaupungin naiset"…

Einojuhani Rautavaara and Kalevi Aho, teacher and pupil, are both key figures in the Finnish music of their respective generations. Rautavaara’s musical language evolved from neoclassicism through dodecaphony and the stylistic freedom of the 1960s before he eventually allowed himself to choose his expressive idiom according to the individual requirements of his works. Towards the end of his career, his works took on a very consistent, softtoned character. For his part, Aho also began his career using a freely applied neoclassical style before gradually progressing to a more varied, at times modernist expressive and incisive approach.

Jean Sibelius born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius, (8 December 1865 – 20 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often credited with having helped Finland develop a national identity during its struggle for independence from Russia.

The highly acclaimed Finnish prog group Haikara confronted the dilemma between artistic ambitions and commercial demands, when their 2nd album Geafar (1974) didn't sell well enough to please the record company. Left without a deal, they found a new opportunity after Vesa Lattunen had made arrangements for Jukka Kuoppamäki's album. The popular singer had his own record company, Satsanga Records. Iso Lintu was recorded in March 1975 with a new vocalist, Matti Heinänen, in the line-up. The album received mixed feelings at the time, and basically that hasn't changed in 40 years.

This fascinating collection was put together by archivist Christopher Wagner, who assembled these vintage 78 rpms recorded between 1922 and 1959 by all manner of emigrant musicians – each addressing the hopes, dreams, fears and confusions of starting a new life in a new world – into an amazing statement on diversity. Some 50 million people migrated from Europe to America in the 19th century, with millions more coming from the Far East, the West Indies, and points in between, all putting to the test the melting pot theory of American democracy, a theory that is, in many ways, still being tested. Consisting of selections by Irish string bands, Scandinavian folk ensembles, ragged street corner calypso orchestras, conjunto bands and so much more, Stranded in the USA holds a mirror to a vital period in U.S. history, and also sheds light on a nascent recording industry trying anything and everything to reach pocket audiences, a process that is difficult to imagine in a contemporary setting full of corporate multimedia giants more intent on selling culture than reflecting or serving it. This truly is the sound of America singing. Kudos to Trikont Records, a German label, for recognizing the importance of these tracks.

How do you describe a feeling, an atmosphere, a memory? How do you reach a state, a space without words? Trio Peltomaa Fraanje Perkola explores unworldly states in their newly created album komorebi, combining their original compositions and improvisations with inspiration from medieval chant and Finnish poetry. A word that cannot be transcribed, Komorebi refers to three Japanese words:木(ko),漏れ(more), and日(bi) with no straightforward translation. It can be described as “to the sunlight shining through the trees”. It beautifully captures the interplay of the aesthetics between the light and the leaves, and the shape of nature’s most profound earthly existence.

"Rankarumpu" is the 12th studio album by Korpiklaani offering a perfect mix of old school up-tempo catchiness, brilliant folk elements by Olli Vänskä (violin) and Sami Perttula (accordion), Jonne Järvelä's impeccable hooks and lyrics, resulting in refreshing, feel-good songs about going to the sauna, Finland's blue skies and snowy fields, and the band themselves in the title song. Supported by massive touring, 2024 is going to be a triumph for Korpiklaani.

'Anthology Of Contemporary Music From Far East' is part of the 'Sound Mapping project' published by ©Unexplained Sounds Group, and featuring anthologies of music from the African continent, the Middle East region, Latina America continent, Persia, Lebanon, Indonesia, China, India, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Scandinavia, Italy, Greece, South Africa, Finland, the Balkan region.

"Rankarumpu" is the 12th studio album by Korpiklaani offering a perfect mix of old school up-tempo catchiness, brilliant folk elements by Olli Vänskä (violin) and Sami Perttula (accordion), Jonne Järvelä's impeccable hooks and lyrics, resulting in refreshing, feel-good songs about going to the sauna, Finland's blue skies and snowy fields, and the band themselves in the title song. Supported by massive touring, 2024 is going to be a triumph for Korpiklaani.

Sonata Arctica have been many things in their storied career. Finnish power metal messiahs, relentlessly touring powerhouses, champions of sublime melody. First and foremost, however, they have been stalwarts in showcasing the magic and the enchantment flowing through heavy metal. They have been embodying the majesty and serenity of Nordic nature since their foundation in 1995 and have been spellbinding their world with ten records, EPs and countless tours. “Clear Cold Beyond” easily is the most relentless Sonata Arctica record to date, a spectacular resurgence of their trademark, lightning fast power metal forged far, far north. “We’ve felt for a while now that we’d need to get heavier again after some unintentionally softer albums,” Tony says. With production duties handles by your truly Mikko Karmila, key figure of their early days, “Clear Cold Beyond” sounds massive, heavy and hungry and takes a bow to their early work when everything was shrouded in a profound sense of magic and mystery. This magic is back now – only with a band that’s 25 years down the road and nothing less than an experienced beast urging to go mental like they never did before.

Finnish composer Kalevi Aho’s Fourth Symphony (1972) contains, in its three movements, elements both typical of his early work and prophetic of things to come. The first movement’s fugal exposition reveals a continuation of that concern with musical shape and form already quite evident in Aho’s previous symphonies. His skillful use of counterpoint to convey an impression of sadness or dread echoes that great master of creepy fugue writing, Bartók. The second movement unleashes a violent whirlwind of sound very much in the spirit of Mahler’s or Shostakovich’s more nihilistic moments, and its instrumental virtuosity very much anticipates the composer’s most recent, concertante-style symphonic writing.

There is a long tradition of Electroacoustic music in Finland beginning in the 1950’s with the experimentation of tape music. Finland’s first electronic musical instrument the "Sähkövalopiano" or "Electric Light Piano" was built before this in 1894. It was constructed in the Polytechnic Institute (now Aalto University) in Helsinki. Finland also has a tradition of blending archaic traditional music in the contemporary music scene. The Kalevala tradition for example dates back centuries before today and the instruments associated with it were used to accompany shepherds on their lonely watches, or village dance parties bringing joy and sense of belonging to communities. These musical traditions have been revitalised by being used in a modern context. Even with the emerging of new technologies to open new horizons for composing music, the avant garde movement and a plethora of new and continuously evolving music genres, the very root of Finnish Kalevala tradition has stayed alive and has been brought to the present, not only in its original form, but also being integrated into electroacoustic realm by the musicians willing to experiment.

Lain Huuto kutsuu juhlistamaan kesän tuloa ja Valoon!-levynsä julkistamista ainutlaatuiselle
klubikeikalle Korjaamon Kulmasaliin. Luvassa on toiveikasta ja aurinkoista poppia Saima Haapasen
sovituksilla, joiden kaikkia aisteja hivelevät harmoniat pääsevät tässä intiimissä tilassa oikeuksiinsa.

The colours of The Magical Forest glow in this remarkable recording which brings together Sinikka Langeland’s Norwegian-Finnish-Swedish Starflowers quintet with the singers of the Trio Mediӕval. It’s an inspired concept: the Trio Mediӕval, with their affinity for folk music and their unique vocal blend, adapt themselves ideally to Sinikka’s sound-world, which is once archaic, timeless and contemporary. The quintet members, all bandleaders in their own right, are amongst the most characterful players in Scandinavia today, and Sinikka sets them free to improvise around her cycle of songs, built upon myths and legends of the world tree.

Famous among Progressive rock fans worldwide for being probably the classiest (and most complete) publication in this style, the Finnish magazine Colossus had the great idea to ask thirty bands of the whole world to illustrate the national Finnish epic: "Kalevala". It is made of old ballads and traditional songs, but is also part of a huge group of legends, which has inspired both J.R.R. Tolkien for his mythic "Lord Of The Rings" and composer Sibelius, among others. The idea that contributed to the creation of "Kalevala - A Finnish Progressive Rock Epic" was to use exclusively instruments of the Seventies, in order to obtain the "Aging" that the story needed. The result is absolutely stunning: three albums included in a box-set designed as beautifully as the famous Colossus covers. As for the music, the listener won't be disappointed! He'll be delighted to hear about four hours of sumptuous and rich (Vocal or instrumental) Progressive rock…