Juhana Iivonen

In the organizer's words:

Juhana Iivonen, a Finnish singer-songwriter, has been active in the European indie music scene since 2009. He has released several albums and EPs and has toured Europe with his songs.

In 2015, Iivonen started a collaboration with the record label Smiling Lizard Music, which has released his albums and has also been involved in the design and promotion of his releases and tours.

Recently he has gathered a number of creative and talented musicians around him and recorded two live albums with a full band. An album with poems by the Finnish modernist poet Edith Södergran, freely composed in different styles. You can hear bossa nova, blues, southern rock ... Another album consists exclusively of songs and lyrics composed by Iivonen, and in this album the boundaries of folk and indie-folk are also expanded by adding just a little reggae, jazz and dream pop to the tracks, to name just a few ingredients. And all this in an intense live session with a full band. These two recordings will be released in the course of 2025.

Helsinki-born guitarist Aki Haarala is a versatile professional in rhythmic music. He studied at the Guitar Institute of Technology in Los Angeles and at the London School of Music.

Haarala made his debut in the spotlight of the Finnish music scene with the nu-soul sensation Quintessence and has been an essential member of the soul music community ever since.

He works as a musician, composer and producer for national and international acts and artists. In addition to Quintessence, he is known for the bands of Tuomo, Janna and Nicole Willis, Sirius Sextet and Q-Continuum. He currently plays with Paleface & Räjähtävä nyrkki, LightBo- xer and the Ultralum collective.