In Trad We Trust

This irrepressible Finnish harmonica quartet have delighted and astonished us for 17 years, producing eight albums ranging music from Sibelius and Chopin to tango, Baltic and bluegrass, and entertaining us with the brilliance of their live concerts. Behind their outrageous virtuosity, navigating different sizes of harmonica, are four supremely gifted composers and arrangers. Their latest release pays homage to what they call their ‘spiritual home’, Finnish folk music: ancient runo songs, the kantele and jouhikko traditions and the great fiddle heritage. It’s a risk to take tunes widely known throughout Finland. ‘Kirkonkellot ja Maanitus’ is a kantele tune based on the sound of church bells, but its cascading rhythms come alive in Sväng’s arrangement achieved by throwing motifs around like a ‘ball game’ they say, while the ‘Peltoniemen Hintriikin Surumarssi’ (Funeral March of Hintriiki Peltoniemi), a melancholy meditation on the departure of a respected fiddler, reveals something less solitary than the original, more reminiscent of the changing colours of a church organ. But we love them too for their zany fairground-like adventures, and who wouldn’t want to join them in the set of quadrilles that end the album, ‘Katrillia, Pilkkua ja Wappua’, tunes that leave us giddy and breathless. In Sväng we trust. Always.