Islaja or Merja Kokkonen (born 19 May 1979) is a singer-songwriter and musician from

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Finland. Besides her solo career, she is a member of

free improv Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician(s) involved. The term can refer to both a technique (employed by any musician in any genre) and as a recognizable genre in its ...

and

psychedelic folk Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelic music, psychedelia that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of contemporary folk music, folk, but adds musical el ...

bands Avarus,

Kemialliset Ystävät Kemialliset Ystävät (Finnish for "Chemical Friends") is the name of a recording project of musician Jan Anderzén of Tampere, Finland. Anderzén began recording under the name in 1995 and although he has enlisted numerous musicians over the years ...

, and the trio Hertta Lussu Ässä. She has been compared to

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

Syd Barrett Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) was an English singer, songwriter, and musician who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd in 1965. Barrett was their original frontman and primary songwriter, becoming known for his ...

, and

Nico Naftiran Intertrade Company limited (NICO) is a Swiss-based subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). NICO is a general contractor for the oil and gas industry. NIOC buys the vast majority of Iran's gasoline imports. NICO is a key pl ...

. Her music is psychedelic and intimate using a large variety of instruments. She is a

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where ...

. As of 2017, she is based in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

Discography

* ''Meritie'' (Fonal, 2004) * ''Palaa aurinkoon'' (Fonal, 2005) * ''Ulual Yyy'' (Fonal, 2007) * ''Blaze Mountain Recordings'' (Ecstatic Peace, 2008) * ''Keraaminen Pää'' (Fonal, 2010) * ''S U U'' (Monika Enterprise, 2014) * ''Tarrantulla'' (Svart Records, 2017)

Also appears on

*''Beginner's Guide to Scandinavia'' (3CD, Nascente 2011)

Images

File:Islaja.jpg, Islaja, 2006 File:Islaja2.jpg, Islaja, 2006

References

External links

Islaja siteInterview, Drowned in Sound, 22 September 2008
1979 births Living people 21st-century Finnish women singers Finnish songwriters Musicians from Helsinki Psychedelic folk musicians Women in electronic music Writers from Helsinki {{Finland-singer-stub