Sähköpaimen is Finnish for 'electric shepherd', electric fence.
The band brings opposite poles together – ancient tradition meets modern technology, organic melts into electric, natural becomes modified, improvisation smashes into the beat.
The resulting music is a sort of inverse archive recording – vocals and wind instruments play acoustically, but machines hammer in the noise and soundscape of phonograph recordings, boosted with a bit of electric tickle.
Despite their differences, archaic music and electronic music are soulmates: they share the aesthetics of length, minimalism and continuous variation. Their soldering joint is Sähköpaimen.
Eero Grundström - machines
Amanda Kauranne - vocals, looping and mouth harp
Kirsi Ojala - wind instruments and mouth harp
Upcoming concerts
4.8. 2023 Festival Norpas, Taalintehdas
30.9. 2023 Kannuksen Kahvibaari, Kannus
6.10. 2023 Nilkko Taproom, Mäntyharju
11.10. 2023 OMJ Jazz & Etno, RioLive, Oulu
12.10. 2023 Rahvaan musiikin kerho, Telakka, Tampere
13.10. 2023 Perinnearkku, Roasbergin sivukonttori, Helsinki
Discography
Hämärä (Finnish for dusk or twilight) is a toned moment between light and shadow, new and old. It is apt to describe Sähköpaimen’s modern folk music. Hämärä is momentary and transformative, it is a magical moment of transition and danger where anything can happen. The celebration of light and shadow is also part of the annual cycle, which runs its own circle on the Hämärä record.
Twilight moments (which in Finland are long) have been important for the transition of folklore. Families and close ones have gathered together to pass on stories and beliefs from one generation to another. Now we invite you, dear listener, to join us for the twilight moment, the celebration of dusk!
Sähköpaimen also draws from another meaning of hämärä in Finnish: from strange folk tales and obscure music from the twilight zone. We have them in our repertoire from Ingria, Karelia, different corners of Finland, Finno-Ugric language relatives, our Nordic neighbors and the Italian Alps.
The Hämärä record includes the Cantoira village choir Li Magnoutou, who speaks Franco-Provençal, an Italian minority language, whose Piedmontese spells, cattle calls and traditional songs create a bridge from different corners of Europe with the music of Sähköpaimen. The master folk singer, Roma music collector Hilja Grönfors and the Piedmontese folk singer Gigi Ubaudi also sing on the album.
We have shared time, music and traditions with each other, as it should be in the twilight moment. Thank you to the bearers of the tradition, the sharers of the tradition and the recorders of the tradition. Let's celebrate the twilight!
The debute album Niitto, ”harvesting the fields” in Finnish, was relased in September 2014. The record release concert was in an old bear cage in Helsinki’s Korkeasaari Zoo.
On the Niitto record, the rusty sounds of a 100-year-old wax cylinder, the soundscapes of shores and cities, forests and arcades becomes the rhythm and chords of Sähköpaimen music.
A Greenlandic tractor and the local bingo hostess, burning sauna woods, the flight of a bumblebee and the rhythms of a washing machine, a small red synthesizer, grandmothers and shepherds... the music infuses together anything and everything that feels right. Chopped up and reassembled sounds weave different times and places into one mental landscape. On such a basis, singing, flutes, horns, moutharps play the Finnish-Karelian-Ingrian archaic tradition but sometimes takes wild avant-garde liberties. The past tense tells stories about the present.
Music videos
Jyrinpäivä
Video by Bruno Genotti.
Livestock has traditionally been part of women's circle of life, and thus the magics that protect livestock have also been part of women's tasks.
On the spring day of St. George, the cattle were let out to graze, and in addition to the happy jumping of the cows, the women and shepherds also got to let loose. The day of St. Catherine (Kaisa or Katriina in Finnish), which protects cows and sheep, has been celebrated in November, when, according to beliefs, the best sheep's wool has been collected.
Cattle calls are a living tradition that, in addition to Finland and Sweden, can be found in e.g. the Italian Alps. The video is filmed in Cantoira, Piedmonte region, and Sähköpaimen is joined by local cattle call tradition bearers such as Li Magnoutoun choir.
Minä mies meren keskelt'
Video by Alisa Javits. Choreography by Sini Siipola.
In the old days, conscripts were sometimes drawn by the luck of the draw.
Life’s lottery has many tickets; who knows which one will win? The polska tune is from the region of Ostrobothnia in Finland and the lament is from Ingria.
Minä mies meren keskelt' is from Sähköpaimen's debut album Niitto.
Meet Sähköpaimen
Sähköpaimen
Eero Grundström – machines
Amanda Kauranne – vocals, looping and mouth harp
Kirsi Ojala – wind instruments and mouth harp
Sähköpaimen is Finnish for 'electric shepherd', electric fence.
During the summer of 2008, Amanda had a vision of a band whilst in feverish delirium – a band that would combine archaic music with electricity. Sähköpaimen was formed.
Debute album Niitto (Harvest) was released in 2014.
Second Album Hämärä (Twilight/Dusk) was released in July 2023 by record label Nordic Notes.
Eero Grundström
Eero Grundström is a versatile folk musician, who plays machines, harmonium and harmonica. Besides Sähköpaimen, Eero plays is various groups such as Suistamon sähkö, Sväng and as a duo with Maria Kalaniemi.
Amanda Kauranne
Amanda Kauranne is a singer, percussion player and music journalist, who lives in Finland and Italy. Her bands and projects include e.g. Karjalasta kolttien maille (From Karelia to Skolt Sami Lands) and Keitaat/Oases installation series.
Kirsi Ojala
Kirsi Ojala plays and teaches various traditional wind instruments. She is also specialized in storytelling, singing, improvisation and she gives guided tours in her home town Porvoo. Kirsi plays in various band, e.g. Wind on Wind and Eppel & Peppel.