Hei

Mikko Pettinen &
Happy People´s new CD+DVD

Hello!

I am Mikko Pettinen, a trumpet player, singer, keyboard player, composer and an arranger from Helsinki. I have been a professional musician for over 20 years and played in dozens of bands, orchestras and vocal groups like Umo Jazz Orchestra, Helsinki – Cotonou Ensemble, Higher Ground Vocals, MP4, Nat Newborn Big Time and Kerkko Koskinen Kollektiivi. About a million people heard me in The Voice Of Finland television show last year.

I have recorded three albums with my jazz quartet MP4, which won the 1st prize in the International jazz group competition in Getxo (Spain, 2002), and an acoustic duo album with an amazing guitarist Teemu Viinikainen. I have also won the 2nd prize in the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition in 2001 and played or sang on more than 100 albums (e.g. Redrama, Paleface, Mariska, Axl Smith, Higher Ground Movement, Kerkko Koskinen Kollektiivi, Asa, Anssi Kela, Antti Kleemola, Sandhja) over the years.

Still Happy – The Pasila Sessions

Mikko Pettinen & Happy People is my pride and joy, my own thing. I am the lead singer, keyboard player, trumpet soloist, composer and arranger of the band.

We have played about 20 gigs with Happy People and last year after a couple of very good festival gigs I had an idea to organize a studio live session with my band. I wanted to capture the energy and soulfulness of the live performance with a good studio quality sound. As a result we recorded 8 new tunes (7 originals of mine and my soulful rendition of the Ben E. King Classic Stand By Me) live in the studio in the Umo´s practice room in YLE´s (Finnish national radio) Radiotalo (Radiohouse) last autumn, companied by a small invited audience. At the same, all of the performances were filmed with professional video cameras.

I think we certainly managed to capture the magic on these sessions. The general atmosphere and the attitude between the musicians, the lightning guy, the sound engineer, the filming team and the live audience was truly wonderful!

A teaser from The Pasila sessions

We didn´t get any kind of grant for the session and there is no record companies involved; everything was organized by me for the love of music and for the passion and commitment I have for my music. Now I wish to publish this amazing material in a cd+dvd -package with your help. The campaign has three goals: the minimum goal is 3500 euros (cd), the medium goal is 5000 euroa (cd+dvd) and the maximum goal 8000 euros (cd+dvd+lp vinyl).

Happy People

Happy People 2015

The members of the Mikko Pettinen & Happy People are amazing musicians: great team players and extraordinary soloists. Happy People features a 4-piece horn section and a soulful vocal trio TriSis. On the Pasila sessions the original member of the TriSis, Jonnu Heikkilä, who also wrote the lyrics for 5 of the tunes, is replaced by an amazing Finnish soul singer Heini Ikonen.

“If our music will make you smile, we know our job is well done.”

– Happy People Theme (Everybody Get Up, written by Mikko Pettinen)

My compositions are combination of old school soul, funk, r&b, neosoul, jazz, gospel, pop and afrofunk and still have some Finnish ingredient on it. Some of my influences are Stevie Wonder, Tower Of Power, Earth, Wind & Fire, Steely Dan, Anthony Hamilton, Snarky Puppy and Jarrod Lawson.

Audiences´responses have always been enthusiastic and highly positive and supportive on our gigs. My debut album as a singer ”2Happy” has received dozens of very positive reviews and there are less than 100 copies of the cd-album left, but you can still get one as a campaign reward from here.

Mikko Pettinen & Happy People is:

Mikko Pettinen: lead vocals, Rhodes piano, keyboards, trumpet, flugelhorn
Janne Halonen: guitars, vocals
Sampo Tiittanen: bass
Jonatan Sarikoski: drums
William Suvanne: tenor saxophone, flute
Janne Toivonen: trumpet
Ilmari Pohjola: trombone
Timo Rantanen: baritone saxophone
Jepa Lambert: vocals
Heini Ikonen: vocals
Hanna-Maria Helenius: vocals, lead vocals with Mikko on Waiting (For My Change)

In addition to Live in Pasila session:

Markus Ketola: sound engineer, mixing, mastering
Heikki Kynsijärvi & Joni Laitinen: video production
Ville Pajala/DLS Entertainment: lightning design

The Goal

Our plan is to release all of the tunes as a cd and a dvd in the same package.

– If we will reach the minimum 3500€, we will release a cd

– If we will reach the medium goal 5000€, we can release a cd+dvd

– If we will reach the maximum goal 8000€, we will have enough money to pay for a promotion and release the music also as a vinyl and pay for the musicians who spent two very long days in the studio for free

Happy People

Why do we need the crowdfunding campaign for?

It is very hard, almost impossible to find a record company in Finland to release soul/funk music. The record companies release mostly commercial pop music in Finnish, yet Happy People’s music is not jazz enough for the small jazz labels (there aren´t too many of those either…). On the other hand, it is still too “pop” for the foundations that give grants for the art projects/releases. So my music is truly in the marginal and on the so called “grey area”. However, I believe that the most important thing about the development and the future of music is when the different styles and genres blend. That´s what happened in these sessions and I am really happy that we were able to do the sessions. I sincerely believe in my music and hope that it will make the world a little bit better place. Not to mention everyone wanted to do their best and even more at the sessions. So put on the good headphones, turn up the volume and listen to our videos and you´ll understand what I mean…

I truly believe that these sessions deserve to be released.

You can participate in a various ways:

1. You can preorder my cd for 20€ or the cd+dvd for 25€ with or without my autograph*
2. You can buy my 2Happy cd for 15€
3. You can preorder my cd or cd+dvd and get your name or your company´s name on the special thanks list on the cd and the dvd for 40€*
4. You can have your company´s logo printed on the cd+dvd package and on my website for 400€
5. You can order me to have a private gig at your party or at your house for 500€ (plus the travel expenses)
6. You can order my 5-piece Happy People Combo for the private gig for 2000€ (plus travel expenses)

* if we reach the minimum goal but not the medium goal, we’ll refund you the 5 euros difference

“Smoke smoke smoking!!!!!!!!!!!Please don’t call the firemen,Don’t dare to put water on this fire. Let it BURN, BURN ,BURN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
-a YouTube comment for the video “Happy People Theme (Everybody Get Up)

Thank you for helping me to fulfill my dream and supporting new Finnish music.

Mikko Pettinen

Signmark – Empower. Together. Always.

Signmark headed towards Nepal and Mount Everest with rock band AncarA to attempt a world record, Rockin’ High – World’s highest concert. Their target is to hike up to 5,5 kilometers and perform there the highest electric concert in the world. The concert is planned to be streamed live online and the live stream is accessible globally. The whole journey is also filmed for a documentary. During the project they also want to collect funds for a music school in Nepal.

When Signmark was at school, he never received proper music teaching. No music theory was taught – only some rhythmic exercises and mostly with poor sign language. For this reason good quality music teaching at the school in Nepal was selected as the target of the fundraising.

The aim is to hire two music teachers to the project. One will be a hearing Nepalese musician and the other a sign-languaged deaf person. The whole project will also be documented on film, starting from the beginning of the teaching and up until a joint music video with the students.

When the group for the project has been gathered, Signmark and Olli Hartonen will teach them methods of music teaching and inform on the process of the documentation. The aim is that after having participated in the project, the group involved would spread out to local schools for deaf children to further share their knowledge. This stage is documented also. The idea is that the students receive basic music teaching and get to enjoy the world of music first hand. At the end of the project all the participants come together for a music video experience!

Signmark: ”The extent of the project depends on how much we all together can collect funds and work for these children. Help me to realise this amazing project in Nepal!”

 

COSMOS CAPOEIRA – Cultural Center for the children of Rio de Janeiro

Do a good thing today and support a charitable cultural center in Brazil!

Master of Capoeira Mestre Russo has a dream: to build a cultural center, which gives talented yet poor children of the Rio de Janeiro suburban area lessons in capoeira, music, dance, acrobatics, languages and international collaboration. For free!!!

The dream is alive. We are a global network of individuals and capoeira groups willing to make a contribution. Some of us have volunteered to participate in the construction works, some are ready to teach rhythm, music harmony, foreign language, dance and acrobatics. Some of us are spreading the word about the project and contributing financially. Every small contribution is valuable and important.

You too can help this dream come true. Choose your contribution & join us to make it happen!

pohja2

We want to renovate the existing building and build an additional wing including a room for capoeira, a small museum/archive of Afro-Brazilian culture, accomodation, a small kitchen and a hallway for photos and exhibitions. Later on we plan to purchase instruments and a video projector to show documentaries.

We are collaborating with the faculty of architecture of the University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). The architectural project has already started and will go on until mid 2016.

We are partners with Escola Cultural Zungu Capoeira (São Paulo, Brazil) as well with various mestres and hundreds of lovers of capoeira around the world. You too can be one of them, one of us!

Share the idea of the project with your friends and join the Dream Team!

A modest estimate about the overall expenses regarding the basic material is around 10 000 euros. This is our fundraising target by mid 2016. So there will be fundraising campaigns in future, too.

In this first phase we want to get funds for basic construction material, such as bricks, cement, wood, nails, plumbing, basic tools etc. We aim to realise this first planning and construction phase during August-December 2015. There are already many people signed up for the construction activities but there are still places left!

You can get more background information regarding the project and life of Mestre Russo by watching the video included here. Please follow us in Facebook and in the blog.

Give your contribution and join us to help children enjoy the wonders of capoeira too!

ATTENTION:

You may contribute anonymously too. Just write ”anonymous” when paying the contribution.

Elena’s Idea – The First Album

Hi!

We are Elena’s Idea, a music band based in Helsinki, Finland.

Elena’s Idea consists of three people: Pekka Sassi (guitar) is a visual/ sound artist, Veli-Matti Saarinen (guitar) is a researcher in aesthetics and art philosophy, and Yuko Takeda (vocal & bass) is an actress. She also writes lyrics to the songs. We met through a mutual friend in October, 2013, and musically hit it off immediately.

Our collaboration in making music has been magical. We have composed more than 30 original songs to date! We have also been performing live at venues such as Koko teatteri, Ravintola Kirja, Svenska Klubben, and Villa Lill-Kallvik. So far the reception has been very warm and enthusiastic.

Please listen to some of our demo’s

You find our music also on ourFacebook-page.

We are now eager to move on to the next level – our first album.
So, we are raising funds to make that happen.

Here is our budget plan:

mixing & mastering 45%
CD duplication 30%
Graphic design 10%,
Postage and website maintenance for digital album distribution 5%
Campaign fee: 10%

Our minimum goal is 2200€, which will allow us to record at least 6 songs. If we could reach our maximum goal of 5000€, we will be able to make a full album of 12 songs and distribute a lot of them. And any extra money will be used to pay the musicians.

We will also arrange an album-release concert in Villa Lill-Kallvik to which all our supporters will be invited! For those who can’t make it to the concert, we will send out the highlight video of the concert.

If you could help us by joining the fundraising campaign, you will get various rewards according to the amount you give.
But, most importantly, no matter how much money you give, we would be grateful and happy that you are part of our dream.

The goal is to share the album with you before the summer of 2015!

Enjoy the music!

Elena’s Idea