(You can read about the project in Swedish and Finnish here) Some things matter, and Nils Ferlin managed to put a surprising number of them into cast-iron words in his poems. Reverberating with biblical turns of phrases, Ferlin’s poems bring up an unlikely set of heroes: tramps and vagabonds, freezing old geezers in the poorhouse, and the mystical beauty of nature. The record “Tigerbrand” is a tribute to Ferlin and a fresh, Finnish look at his poems. Perhaps we can help bring out the “Finn blood” that Nils claimed to have inherited. To do so, we have brought together some of the present generation’s finest Finnish musician from classical music, jazz, folk and pop.
Life’s a circus, and we’re the clowns. Cirkus42 is a new project band consisting of singer / songwriter Petter Korkman, pianist Jan-Erik Mansikka, bass player / percussionist / singer Kaarle Mannila and guitarist Mats Nyman. After having initially chosen the songs to work on, we’ve fooled around with the music and let playful experimentation take us where it would. Now we have fourteen songs ready to mix. But we need your help to walk that final mile – please help us make “Tigerbrand” real!
In addition to our core group, we’ve had the pleasure and honour to share our musical playground with several proficient Finnish musicians: Jouko Kyhälä (known among other things as the founder of the internationally renowned mouth organ quartet “Sväng”), Verneri Pohjola (one of Finland’s most renowned jazz trumpet players), Niko Kumpuvaara (one of the foremost accordion players in the world today), as well as the brilliant “Jousikaiku” quartet (Pasi Eerikäinen, Laura Airola, Mauri Kuokkanen and Riikka Lampinen). The “Tigerbrand” project has brought together Finnish artists and singers from various genres and generations. Singers on the record are Riki Sorsa, Jonte Ramsten, Ida Olsonen, Jonas Sebastian, Elsa Korkman, Julia Korkman, Bella Jensen, Petter Korkman and Emma Salokoski. The pictures on this page are mainly by Heidi-Maria Karhu (thank you Heidi!). Finally, the music was recorded with a man who is often introduced as the best recording engineer in Finland: Speedy Saarinen. Most of the music on “Tigerbrand” has been composed by Petter Korkman, but the record also includes hitherto unpublished Ferlin-songs by some of the big names in Finnish songwriting and composition: Kaj Chydenius, Jussi Chydenius and Toivo Kärki. Special thanks go to Kalervo Kärki for digging out Kärki’s compositions “Tre dagar” and “I folkviseton” från the family archives. Thanks in fact to all who’ve shared this journey with us and made it possible. A big thank you also to Svenska kulturfonden and to Musiikin edistämisen säätiö. Now all that remains is to mix, master and print the cd. This is what we need your help for. Please help us raise the funds to finalize this chapter of Finnish and Scandinavian culture! Before you go, please listen to our second “single” from “Tigerbrand”. This is the song Cirkus, based on a poem that provided us with a name both for the band Cirkus42 and for the record “Tigerbrand”. The video was produced by Nils-Erik Ekblom and Petter Korkman, and the song is performed by Jonte Ramsten. Enjoy! Cirkus from TIUKU on Vimeo.