Finland's Värttinä are without doubt the leading force in contemporary Finnish folk music. The explosive and emotive frontline female trio of singers with the powerhouse acoustic band of six make a dynamic new sound that is as unclassifiable as it is thrilling. Värttinä composes most of their music and lyrics, drawing on traditional Karelian and other Finno-Ugric styles, but with modern and thoroughly distinctive and original arrangements.
Since 1990, Värttinä has toured internationally and built a solid reputation as one the most inventive and uncompromising ensembles in the contemporary world music arena.

Värttinä latest high profile achievement is in the role as co-composers of the music for the stage adaptation of ‘The Lord of the Rings’, which opened in London in June 2007 at The Theatre Royal.  The biggest production to take to a West End stage, ‘Lord of the Rings’ has been heralded as one of the most spectacular productions ever staged.

Värttinä have performed at Glastonbury, QEH, WOMAD, The Barbican Centre and Celtic Connections and in 2005 a collaboration with Eliza Carthy took them to Salisbury Festival, Sage Gateshead and Wychwood Festival. Their album ‘Iki’(2003) was recently picked for the ‘Top 50 World Music Albums You Should Own’ by Songlines magazine and they are regularly featured on BBC Radio 3 Late Junction.

Fiona Talkington, BBC 3 Late Junction, said of the group; "Värttinä has seemingly unstoppable creative energy. They thrill, surprise and amaze audiences all over the world." New York's Newsday described their music as "a gale-force musical attack...beautifully poignant tunes...exotic but accessible, complex but exciting" and from Billboard magazine; "exquisite beauty...groundbreaking yet steeped in tradition, definitely Finnish, yet worldly."

 Värttinä's 10th studio album ‘Miero’ was released worldwide in January 2006 on Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records with distribution by EMI. ‘Meiro’ reached Number 5 in the World Music Charts Europe and was placed in the Top 10 in Songlines Magazine "Top of the World".

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www.varttina.com