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Antti Järvelä & Friends

Finnish Music

Antti Järvelä grew up in a small town of Kaustinen, Finland, in a family where the traditional fiddling has been carried through several generations. He started playing the fiddle from the age of four and soon adapted the local dance fiddling style directly from his grandfather. In Kaustinen Music College Antti also started to learn the double bass, which soon became his main instrument. After studying bass at the famous Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, he decided to make music his profession. Antti works as a full-time freelance musician and teacher all around the world, carrying on the energy and fun he’s got to experience with folk music. He is the founder of the Finnish-Norwegian power folk string band Frigg and a member to such bands as Baltic Crossing, JPP, Troka and Kings of Polka. Antti ahs performed with several different groups at Norsk Høstfest and has visited schools to teach tunes to the students in Minot.

Maija Pokela

Maija Pokela is a Finnish kantele player and singer. Maija started playing the kantele at the age of five and eventually fell in love with folk music.

She’s been touring with Kardemimmit since they were children, graduated from the Folk Music Department of the Sibelius Academy, forming bands like Enkel, joining different projects and recording sessions as a vocalist and kantele player, playing concerts with her bands all over the world.