ALAMAAILMAN VASARAT

How to describe Alamaailman Vasarat to someone who has never heard the band? Maybe something like "imaginary folk music" would be the most becoming description. The title of their first album – Vasaraasia ("Hammerasia") – reflected this beautifully: the word sounds a bit like the name of a real continent, but essentially the place exists only in one's imagination.

Vasarat is an instrumental sextet that mixes its strange music up from elements as variable as klezmer and heavy metal. Neither is the combination of instruments that of your usual rock band: the melodies played by the soprano saxophone and the trombone are backed by two cellos, the harmonium and the drums. And if this doesn't tickle your imagination enough, let us mention that Vasarat's live performances are just as heavy, if not heavier, as those of any metal or rock band. Alamaailman Vasarat has got an attitude that does not reek of conservatoires but rather of the smoke and low ceilings of jazz or punk rock clubs.

After their first two albums (Vasaraasia, 2000, and Käärmelautakunta, 2003) the band started a fruitful collaboration with another individual Finnish songwriter, Tuomari Nurmio. Now, however, it's time for Vasarat to concentrate again on their own music. Their next album is already underway, and if you want to hear the kind of music you have simply never heard before anywhere on Earth, it goes without saying that their Ilosaarirock gig is not to be missed.

www.vasarat.com

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