Jätkäjätkät
Finnish Balkan hip hop spiced with bouzok
Jätkäjätkät rock! The Finnish hip hop reggae Balkan folk rhythm music posse just keeps getting better year by year and album by album. Or rather, Jätkäjätkät have released only one album, as they were previously known as Asa & Jätkäjätkät. Their album Loppuasukas, released in 2009 under the previous name, mixed hiphop with Eastern European sounds, shaping their music into something completely novel. They won the Finnish Composers' Copyright Society Teosto's annual award for the album and grew to be one of the most successful groups in Finland. Their latest album Ykstoist ykstoist took another leap towards sweaty Balkan ethno rhythms taking their live intensity to a new, wildly crazy level.
If there was only one word to describe Jätkäjätkät, it would be energy. Although these guys make immensely deep social commentary in their songs, their gigs are magnificently entertaining events. They have actually started to resemble the gipsy punk group Gogol Bordello – with the exception, to be honest, that Jätkäjätkät make better songs. This nine-piece orchestra have played together for years and it really shows. There aren't many bands that have the ability to play intensely but still sound so careless. Their music, spiced with the bouzok, mandoline, slide trombone and accordion, is drifting away from traditional hiphop and towards a whole new music style. The group is working on their next album, Jatkotjatkot, which will be released in the spring. With the new album coming up, the gig at Sulo Club is destined to be unbelievable. It is marvellous that we have such a great band in Finland!
