Iro Haarla (born 7 November 1956) is a Finnish

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

pianist and

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

ist, as well as composer and band leader.

Career

At the

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy (, ) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It also has an adult education centre in Järvenpää and a training centre in Seinäjoki ...

, in Helsinki, Haarla studied classical piano under

Izumi Tateno Izumi Tateno (, ''Tateno Izumi'', (born 10 November 1936 in Tokyo) is a Japanese pianist. Tateno studied at the Tokyo University of the Arts, Tōkyō Geijutsu Daigaku and is today a professor at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. After a stroke d ...

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an Originality, original piece or work of music, either Human voice, vocal or Musical instrument, instrumental, the musical form, structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new pie ...

under

Einar Englund Sven Einar Englund (June 17, 1916 – June 27, 1999) was a Finnish composer. Life Sven Einar Englund was born at Ljugarn in Gotland, Sweden, on June 17, 1916; he died June 27, 1999, in Visby, Sweden. He married twice: in 1941 to Meri Mirjam ...

, and

improvisation Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

under

Heikki Sarmanto Heikki Veli Uolevi Sarmanto (born 22 June 1939) is a Finnish jazz pianist and composer. Sarmanto was born in Helsinki, Finland, and began to play jazz during the 1960s. He studied first at the Sibelius Academy and later at the Berklee College o ...

. She was initially intending to become a concert pianist, but pivoted to jazz upon meeting the jazz drummer

Edward Vesala Edward Vesala (15 February 1945 – 4 December 1999), born Martti Vesala, was a Finnish avant-garde jazz drummer. Career Born in Mäntyharju, he began playing jazz and rock in the 1960s, in such bands as Blues Section and Apollo. In the 1970s ...

in 1978. She first became known as the

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

of the works of Vesala for his 'Sound & Fury' ensemble. They went on to collaborate extensively over two decades, and in a 2008 ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' interview, she stated that during that time she did not play her own music at all but was instead totally focused on supporting Vesala. As part of her support role she also broadened her instrument repertoire to keyboards, the

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

and especially the harp, in which she is entirely self-taught. Vesala died in 1999, and afterwards Haarla launched her solo career, performing in and leading numerous ensembles. She also went on to record several albums, both as a leader and ensemble artist. Haarla's music has been characterised as "sit

ing Ing, ING or ing may refer to: Art and media * '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film * i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group * The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes'' * "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 199 ...

at that mystical halfway point between improv and composition". Her piano-playing has been described as having a "weightless, displaced" quality, and her harp "delicate romanticism".

Recognition

Haarla has received two '' Emma'' awards for the jazz record of the year, in 2005 (''Penguin Beguine'') and 2011 (''Vespers''). In 2006, she was awarded the ''Yrjö'' prize by the Finnish Jazz Federation. In 2018, Haarla received the

Ted Curson Theodore Curson (June 3, 1935 – November 4, 2012) was an American jazz trumpeter. Life and career Curson was born in Philadelphia. He became interested in playing trumpet after watching a newspaper salesman play a silver trumpet. Curson's fath ...

award at the

Pori Jazz Pori Jazz is a large international jazz festival, held annually during the month of July in the coastal city of Pori (a population of 82,809 in January 2010), Finland. It is one of the oldest and best known jazz festivals in Europe, having be ...

Festival. In 2020, she was recognised with the ' ( 'Jazz Legend of Finland') award.

Personal life

Iro Haarla's parents were the actor

Saulo Haarla Saulo Ismaro Haarla (21 November 1930, Helsinki – 4 October 1971) was a Finnish actor and theatre manager. He appeared in seven films between 1951–1961 and worked as a theatre manager in the Oulu City Theatre 1970–1971. Having been a heavy ...

and his first wife, opera singer

Helena Salonius Helena Salonius (17 March 1930 — 24 September 2012) was a Finnish operatic soprano and actress. Early life and education Salonius was born into a musical family: her mother was the singer Helmi Frilander-Salonius, a close friend of the opera ...

. Haarla was married to Edward Vesala, until his death in 1999. Later she married the bassist , with whom both herself and Vesala had collaborated extensively.

Discography

*''Yarra Yarra'' (2001), with Pertti Päivinen *''Heart of a Bird'' (2003) *''Northbound'' (2005) *''Penguin Beguine'' (2005), with Haarla-Krokfors Loco Motife *''The Sky Is Ruby'' (2007) *''Vespers'' (2011), with Iro Haarla Quintet *''Kolibri'' (2013), with Iro Haarla Sextet *''Kirkastus'' (2015) *''Vodjanoi'' (2020)

References

External links

*
Iro Haarla profile on ECM Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haarla, Iro Finnish jazz musicians Finnish jazz pianists Jazz harpists Harpists Women harpists Finnish jazz composers Finnish women composers Women jazz composers ECM Records artists 1956 births Sibelius Academy alumni Musicians from Tampere Finnish women jazz musicians Women jazz pianists Living people