Poropetra
Encyclopedia
Poropetra is an ethnic rock
band from Finland
, founded in 2002.
Poropetra is ancient Finnish
and it means the same as Elk of Hiisi (hiiden hirvi in Finnish) from Finnish mythology. Elk is an old totem animal of Uralic and Siberia
n peoples, thus it describes so well Poropetra's unique ethnic rock
music, combining together Uralic myths and legends, Finnic kantele
- and runo-singing traditions, Tuvan throat-singing, world music, psychedelic rock
, progressive music, blues
, punk
and heavy rock
. The more specific and exact genre definition shall be left for a listener to decide.
. After the demo, the band wanted to electrify the sound and bring some more influences into the soup. Lineup changed at the year 2005, when Nancy and Elsa Pardonen came along as singers and Aapo Hopeakoski joined in as a drummer. Susanna Mast played the guitar a short time in Poropetra, but she left the band already at the end of the same year.
It took two years to record the new songs little by little. After the long and hard recording sessions, Poropetra's debut album, Sinihirwi saw the daylight at 18.07.2007. It had much elements from the rock music and heavy rock. Along with the electric guitar sounds, there was also some distorted kantele
-effects on the album.
In the autumn 2007 skilful guitar player Markus Ylikoski joined the Poropetra crew, which made their sound even more guitar-driven than before. Lineup was changed once more very soon, as kantele player Kuuraparta and drummer Aapo Hopeakoski left the band because of their other duties. Pretty soon the new drummer was recruited. He was Lari Hammarberg from the band Auringon hauta. Poropetra also found the permanent bass player, when Leo Herranen joined in. Band has made some new music with the new line-up. There are now more and more different music influences in it; progressive music, psychedelic rock, blues and punk – and of course all the previous music influences too. Right now Poropetra is writing some new songs to be published sometimes in the future..
In the autumn 2008 Poropetra signed a licence deal with Open Grave Records in order to reissue Sinihirwi. Unfortunately the label closed before nothing happened, so Poropetra is still looking for the licence deal. At the same autumn, however, the band took a part into a compilation album – published by Ukrainian ug-label called Boyanov Gimn – with a song Sinihirwi. The name of the album is New Dawn. Alongside with Poropetra, the compilation represents many other good European artists and bands playing good ethnic music.
Juha Jyrkäs also writes Finnish lyrics for Korpiklaani
.
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
band from Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, founded in 2002.
Poropetra is ancient Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
and it means the same as Elk of Hiisi (hiiden hirvi in Finnish) from Finnish mythology. Elk is an old totem animal of Uralic and Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
n peoples, thus it describes so well Poropetra's unique ethnic rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
music, combining together Uralic myths and legends, Finnic kantele
Kantele
A kantele or kannel is a traditional plucked string instrument of the zither family native to Finland, Estonia, and Karelia. It is related to the Russian gusli, the Latvian kokle and the Lithuanian kanklės. Together these instruments make up the family known as Baltic psalteries...
- and runo-singing traditions, Tuvan throat-singing, world music, psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
, progressive music, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and heavy rock
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
. The more specific and exact genre definition shall be left for a listener to decide.
Biography
Poropetra was founded by Juha Jyrkäs at the year 2002. Kuuraparta and Hittavainen joined the band already in the beginning. The first demo, Poropetra, was published at the year 2004. It represented almost pure modern Finnish folk musicFolk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
. After the demo, the band wanted to electrify the sound and bring some more influences into the soup. Lineup changed at the year 2005, when Nancy and Elsa Pardonen came along as singers and Aapo Hopeakoski joined in as a drummer. Susanna Mast played the guitar a short time in Poropetra, but she left the band already at the end of the same year.
It took two years to record the new songs little by little. After the long and hard recording sessions, Poropetra's debut album, Sinihirwi saw the daylight at 18.07.2007. It had much elements from the rock music and heavy rock. Along with the electric guitar sounds, there was also some distorted kantele
Kantele
A kantele or kannel is a traditional plucked string instrument of the zither family native to Finland, Estonia, and Karelia. It is related to the Russian gusli, the Latvian kokle and the Lithuanian kanklės. Together these instruments make up the family known as Baltic psalteries...
-effects on the album.
In the autumn 2007 skilful guitar player Markus Ylikoski joined the Poropetra crew, which made their sound even more guitar-driven than before. Lineup was changed once more very soon, as kantele player Kuuraparta and drummer Aapo Hopeakoski left the band because of their other duties. Pretty soon the new drummer was recruited. He was Lari Hammarberg from the band Auringon hauta. Poropetra also found the permanent bass player, when Leo Herranen joined in. Band has made some new music with the new line-up. There are now more and more different music influences in it; progressive music, psychedelic rock, blues and punk – and of course all the previous music influences too. Right now Poropetra is writing some new songs to be published sometimes in the future..
In the autumn 2008 Poropetra signed a licence deal with Open Grave Records in order to reissue Sinihirwi. Unfortunately the label closed before nothing happened, so Poropetra is still looking for the licence deal. At the same autumn, however, the band took a part into a compilation album – published by Ukrainian ug-label called Boyanov Gimn – with a song Sinihirwi. The name of the album is New Dawn. Alongside with Poropetra, the compilation represents many other good European artists and bands playing good ethnic music.
Juha Jyrkäs also writes Finnish lyrics for Korpiklaani
Korpiklaani
Korpiklaani is a folk metal band from Finland who were formerly known as Shaman.-Biography:While other folk metal bands began with metal before adding folk music, Korpiklaani started with folk music before turning metal...
.
Current members
- Elsa Pardonen – vocals
- Nancy – vocals
- Juha Jyrkäs – throat-singing, 12-stringed kanteleKanteleA kantele or kannel is a traditional plucked string instrument of the zither family native to Finland, Estonia, and Karelia. It is related to the Russian gusli, the Latvian kokle and the Lithuanian kanklės. Together these instruments make up the family known as Baltic psalteries...
, distorted kantele-effects, djembeDjembeA djembe also known as jembe, jenbe, djbobimbe, jymbe, yembe, or jimbay, or sanbanyi in Susu; is a skin-covered drum meant played with bare hands.... - Markus Ylikoski – guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, background vocals - Hittavainen: violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, jouhikkoJouhikkothumb|right| Replica of a 19th century Jouhikko made by Simon ChadwickThe jouhikko is a traditional, 2 or 3 stringed bowed lyre, from Finland and Karelia. Its strings are traditionally of horsehair. The playing of this instrument died out in the early 20th century but has been revived and there...
, torupill, keyboards, woodwinds, mouth harpMouth harpMouth harp may refer to:* Harmonica* Jew's harp...
, background vocals - Leo Herranen: bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, contrabassContrabassContrabass refers to a musical instrument of very low pitch; generally those pitched one octave below instruments of the bass register...
, background vocals
Former members
- Lari Hammarberg: drums (2008–2009)
- Aapo Hopeakoski – drums, percussions (2005–2008)
- Kuuraparta – vocals, 12-stringed kantele, guitar (2002–2008)
- Susanna Mast – guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
(2004–2005)