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More than five years ago, Finnish singer Teea Aarnio started a collaboration with American-based producer and musician Jukka Backlund. A collaboration that grew into the diverse and authentic-sounding CD Väki. With Backlund she wrote most of the pieces based on her own texts/poems.

Väki is an album with pop, jazz and Scandinavian folk influences that are connected in such a way that an organic patchwork has been created in which styles are interwoven with the sparkling vocals of Teea Aarnio on top. That is great work and produces special music.

Teea Aarnio sings in Finnish, Northern Sami and Swedish about nature, about the inner natural power of man and her as a person. She is accompanied on piano (beautiful in Löyly), synthesizer, violin, mandolin, sax (tight solo in Löyly and in the Interlude Kesä), accordion, (bass) guitar, drums/percussion, throat singing and the kantele (wonderful in Kevät), the beautiful Finnish folk instrument that we encounter also in the Baltic States in the variations of kokle and kankles.

The pieces have catchy melodies and sound remarkably fresh and clear, with beautiful harmonic background vocals here and there. The songs are connected with short interludes. A kind of soundscapes that form an organic transition between the songs by the use of synthesizers, kantele, percussion and guitar. This makes Väki actually sound like óne big track, featuring the work of an enthusiastic singer who immediately achieved (artistic) fame with her debut album!”

Heaven Magazine – Eric van Domburg Scipio

“Via the Finnish Eclipse label we received the beautiful VÄKI by creative all-rounder Teea Aarnio. To describe her purely as a modern folk singer- songwriter would be much too narrow, since she manifests herself in a very wide range of creative expressions, from dancer and poet to storyteller, teacher and visual artist. On VÄKI, however, we consider her primarily a composer, musician and sublime singer, in a modern style that combines folk, jazz, world music and pop, spread over eight beautiful songs separated by five interludes. It leads to a wonderful piece of work that is absolutely beautiful in all ways and doesn’t leave a stitch anywhere, as it delicately taps into different points of view, all of which are captivating.

It will take a lot of hard work to try and top a debut like this one this year.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/4

Desibeli.net – Mika Roth

Ilkka-Pohjalainen – Juha Seitz

“Teea Aarnio heittäytyi yhteistyöhön kansanmusiikkitaiteilijoiden kanssa ja loi kuulaudella viettelevän mestariteoksen. Akustisuus limittyi elektronisuuteen aistikkaasti.

Sävelissä kuullaan vaikutteita folkista, etnosta, laulelmasta, sekä pohjoissaamenkielisestä traditiosta, mikä poikii koukuttavaa eksotiikkaa. Matka tummista mullista iloiseen karkelointiin on sykähdyttävä.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

5/5

“Teea Aarnio collaborated with folk music artists and created a masterpiece that seduces with brightness. Acoustic and electronics intertwined in a sensual way.

The tunes are influenced by folk, ethno, chansons, and North Sami tradition, creating an addictive mystique. The journey from dark soil to joyous cavorting is an enchanting one.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

5/5

The Progressive Aspect – Bob Mulvey

Soundi – Lotta Savolainen

Interviews | Press

Minä Olen Magazine 5/2021 (writer: Tosha Einiö)

‘I SING, I BReathe’

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Trendi Magazine 10/2021 (Writer: Moona Laakso)

“FROM VISIONS TO REALITY —

AN ALBUM”

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