LIVE REPORT: Johanna & Mikko Iivanainen ft. Maria Kalaniemi & Timo Alakotila
Seimiyö-konsertti
Kaukasten Juhlatalo, Hyvinkää; December 14th, 2024
By December 2024, it’s very much worth saying that some of the absolute best shows I’ve seen this year have involved Johanna & Mikko Iivanainen. From the five(!) Altamullan Road shows that I attended in January, March, and May to the two Smalltime Players shows in the fall, every show I’ve attended has been warm, evocative, and full of multiple layers of incredible talent. As such, I had planned to attend the show in Tampere on December 7th, but unfortunately, the tour in Germany left the couple with COVID and the first leg of their tour was canceled to give them time to recover. Personally, I was going to go to the Ensiferum show on the 14th, but when it came down to it, given the choice between the two, I ultimately felt like I have seen Ensiferum enough times (they cap my list at 22 times thanks to a lot of festival appearances), so I decided that I’d rather stick a little closer to home (especially in the wild weather we were having) and see these two one more time to help wind the year down. As such, my December 14th, 2024, took me out to yet another new little place I’ve never heard of before, the Kaukasten Juhlatalo, for what happened to be a rather special event on this tour, as it featured accordionist Maria Kalaniemi on accordions and Timo Alakotila on piano.
Photos by Joanna Orchide (@joannaorchidephoto)
We were warned that it might be a wild journey out into the boonies on this day, as the night and morning until around noon involved about 20 cm of snowfall, but the rest of the day got a bit of sleet/rain, and it was supposed to get cold at night, so we were bracing for an interesting drive to say the least. Fortunately, the roads were not too bad—we certainly had to be careful but it wasn’t particularly white-knuckled. The roads to this little place were not plowed when we arrived, but they had been when we left, which was also a pleasant bonus.
How many new venues have I tried thanks to these folks now? Four? Five? More!?* Based on the name, I was expecting the Kaukasten Juhlatalo to be some sort of community center, especially considering that it’s really in the middle of nowhere out near Jokela. That seemed more or less accurate, as it looked like an old manor building that’s been adjusted to host nice little events like this. The crowd was certainly older folks, with us ladies in our almost-40s being surely the youngest ones in attendance. It was an extremely cute venue, especially considering the forest backdrops on the stage, which really made for a unique and fitting atmosphere. I just love these little places! Wait and see, I’ll soon be following the Iivanaiset around on tour, just so I can experience all of the fun little places they find to play at.
Another thing about this show was that I had no idea what to expect musically. These two both have fantastic solo careers, yet this was still a Christmas tour. Would there be solo songs? Christmas songs? And would it be different with Maria Kalaniemi and Timo Alakotila than their usual duo shows? What was in store for the evening was left completely up to our imaginations, meaning this would certainly be a fresh and interesting event!
The result ended up being a lovely mix of diverse seasonal songs, not quite all sung in Finnish. They did a great job of introducing everything as well, naming the original composers, as well as the ones who had made the arrangements for their performances. My photographer recognized a couple of the same songs from Raskasta Joulua (and admitted to actually preferring these renditions!), while the only song I knew was “Jouluyö, juhlayö,” which is the Finnish rendition of “Silent Night” (which I just recently heard Johanna Kurkela performing at her Christmas shows—great minds have similar taste, it seems!).
The show was nice and early (I’m such a geezer, hah!), beginning around 18.00, with the venue host introducing the event before inviting the artists to the stage. In the very first song, I realized that this might be the first time I’ve heard Johanna completely forefronted in the vocals. I’ve always known she was an incredible singer, but this venue and their chosen setlist really showed off what she can do. During the Smalltime Players shows, Edu Kettunen and Mika Kuokkanen were singing with her, and of course she shares vocal duties with Johanna Kurkela in Altamullan Road, so it was such a great chance to hear her front and center of everything. However, even on that note, there were a couple of songs where Maria took over lead vocals, as well as a couple of instrumental tracks, where Johanna did backing and ambient vocals and every time she sounded amazing. She can put a lot of power into her voice without ruining the tenderness, which is incredible. I’d wager she had to deal with a fair bit of tickling in her throat too, considering she was very recently sick, but you’d have never noticed.
Another immediate shout-out has to go to Mikko, as I’ve never seen him playing from so close in the front row before, so I was able to more clearly see what a bafflingly talented guitarist he is. I kept thinking about how much I wish my dad would pop by Finland sometime so I could take him to one of these shows, guitar enthusiast that he is. Alongside that, I’m so used to only hearing accordions in folk metal, that I had completely forgotten the classy, Parisian sound the accordion is also known for, which is the sort of ambience Maria Kalaniemi’s performance leaned toward. Keeping in mind that old Finnish heritage has some accordion in the music, she added a surprisingly beautiful element to the sound… I only wish she had been a wee bit more quiet in the mix and the guitars had been a wee bit louder, to be a bit more balanced.
Then, of course, I would be remiss to not mention Timo Alakotila on piano. He had the perfect shy Finnish gentleman charisma and humor every time it was his turn to introduce a song, which was so very endearing. He was also a magnificent piano player, really working some magic into the songs. His best speech, however, was when he informed us that we were at the last song, but made sure we knew that they had a really good encore planned. Naturally, we had to know what they had in store: “Silmäni aukaise,” though we were still treated to “Jouluyö, juhlayö” as a second encore, which of course got the entire crowd singing along.
Even though I couldn’t have named any of the songs, I was able to pick out a few favorites from their atmosphere or bits of the lyrics that I picked out. There was a nicely melancholic (as in, very Finnish-sounding) song about a bird on Christmas morning called “Varpunen jouluaamuna,” that showed off a gloomier side of Johanna’s sound that was really cool, while a medieval Austrian song that Maria introduced, “Maria herran piikanen,” was an absolute treat, with really cool accordion parts and amazing ambient vocals from Johanna. I also think that there were some compositions from the artists themselves, many of which also stood out amongst my favorites of the evening—I Mikko’s “Blessings” and Timo’s “Valo” were definitely worth coming to the show for alone. Another one, I believe, was called “Kettu ja tähti,” or “fox and star,” which at least intrigued me deeply while sounding wonderful. Really, every song was something new, which was delightful on its own, but we really had to appreciate the musicianship of the quartet as well—they were all incredible! It was such a nice selection of songs and everyone really seemed to be enjoying themselves and feeling the music and the spirit of the performance.
Photos by Joanna Orchide (IG @joannaorchidephoto)
It probably goes without saying, at this point, that we had an amazing time. I cannot recommend these shows enough, they’re such a different display of unique talent when compared to all the heavy metal shows I’ve been covering for the past decade. It’s a breath of fresh air to be seeing all of these new places and completely different styles of music, all done with such style and skill. Suffice to say, if you enjoy reading about the Iivanaiset, I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about them from me in the future!
Setlist
Seimiyö (comp. Olli Ahvenlahti lyr. Tommy Tabermann)
Varpunen jouluaamuna (comp. Otto Kotilainen lyr. Sakari Topelius)
Maria herran piikanen (Austrian folk song lyr. Anna-Maija Raittila)
Valo (comp. Timo Alakotila)
Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song) (comp. Chris Eaton lyr. Amy Grant)
Joulukoti “comp. Veera Kuisma”
The Little Town of Bethlehem (comp. Michael Head lyr. Margaret Rose)
Heinillä härkien kaukalon (French folk song lyrics. Martti Korpilahti)
Blessings (comp. Mikko Iivanainen)
Kettu ja tähti (comp.&lyr. Sakari Heikkilä )
Hiljaisessa siimeksessä (comp. Erik Lindschöld lyr. Anna-Maija Raittila)
Pois kulkee joulut (comp. Anna-Mari Kähärä lyr. Helena Viertola)
Me käymme joulun viettohon (comp. Martti Turunen lyr. Mauno Isola)
Enkelijää (comp.Matti Mäkelä lyr. Reijo Rikkonen)
Nyt syttyy valot tuhannet (comp.&lyr. Emmy Köhler Finnish lyr. Kullervo)
~encore~
Silmäni aukaise (Irish folk song, lyr. Anna-Mari Kaskinen)
~2nd encore~
Jouluyö, juhlayö (Franz Gruber lyr. G.O. Schönemann)
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MORE: Off the Record with Altamullan Road (2024); On the Record with Altamullan Road (2020); Guest Interview with Altamullan Road (2024); Live Report: Altamullan Road Kitee (2024); Live Report: Altamullan Road Hyvinkää (2024); Live Report: Altamullan Road Porvoo (2024); Travel Blog: Altamullan Road in Kitee (2024); Guest Travel Blog: Altamullan Road in the Netherlands (2024); Guest Travel Blog: Altamullan Roat pt.1 (2024); Guest Travel Blog: Altamullan Roat pt. 2 (2024); Guest Travel Blog: Altamullan Road pt. 3 (2024)
*Sellosali (Espoo), Rekolan Kino (Vantaa), Hedon (Zwolle), Bibelot (Dordrecht), Taidetehdas (Porvoo), Kiteesali (Kitee), & Kaukasten Juhlatalo (Hyvinkää)
