Ismo Kullervo Alanko (; born November 12, 1960) is a Finnish musician. He is known as the frontman of several bands, most famously Hassisen Kone, Sielun Veljet and Ismo Alanko Säätiö, as well as a successful solo artist. Alanko is known for his versatility and interest in different musical styles. During his career he has recorded

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

, schlager,

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...

, children's music and

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

s. He has achieved eight

platinum record Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music Sound recording and reproduction, recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video ...

s, 16

gold record Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

s and four Emma awards.Tero Valkonen on – Retrieved on April 17, 2008 Also a recognized lyricist, Alanko won the Juha Vainio Writer's Award (Juha Vainio -sanoittajapalkinto) in 2003 for his song texts. In a ''

City A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

'' magazine article in 1999, 43 Finnish journalists picked the top 99 Finnish rock artists. Ismo Alanko placed 20th, with his former bands Hassisen Kone and Sielun Veljet placing 12th and 4th, respectively. Alanko comes from a musical family: of his two younger brothers, Petri Alanko is a reputed classical flute player, Ilkka Alanko is the singer/guitarist of Neljä Ruusua, and his sister Satu Alanko-Rautamaa a violinist, and a member or the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.

Biography

Background

Alanko was born on November 12, 1960, in Kerava, but grew up in Joensuu, North Karelia. As a 15-year-old he played in a band called Sight, already writing some of his own songs. In the Finnish Rock Championship, an annual competition for young musicians, the band finished second in the

category. After completing his secondary education degree ('' ylioppilastutkinto''), he took a break from music to move to work in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Hassisen Kone

After returning to Finland in 1979, Alanko, then 19 years of age, gained immediate success as the singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist of the new wave group Hassisen Kone. They won the Finnish rock championship in 1980 and recorded three very successful albums, '' Täältä tullaan Venäjä'', '' Rumat sävelet'' and '' Harsoinen teräs'', where the band went from punk-related new wave to

. All three remain among the best-selling records in Alanko's career. Hassisen Kone disbanded in 1982.

Sielun Veljet

Soon after Hassisen Kone broke up, Alanko and former Hassisen Kone guitarist Jukka Orma started Sielun Veljet. Some of their early audience was expecting another Hassisen Kone, but instead the band played aggressive and repetitive

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

. Only one Sielun Veljet album came close to reaching Hassisen Kone's album sales ('' L'amourha'', 1985), but the band gained fame for their powerful, loud and intense live performances. The band toured constantly and played a wide variety of musical styles, including old schlager hits under the alias Kullervo Kivi & Gehenna. Sielun Veljet quit in 1991, after seven studio albums, two

EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

, a

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

and a 1991 documentary film titled ''Veljet''.

Solo career

Alanko's solo debut, '' Kun Suomi putos puusta'', was released in 1990. At this point Sielun Veljet still existed, but the band had become less and less active. After the band broke up, Alanko recorded the

-influenced '' Jäätyneitä lauluja'' and toured Finland with his band that was named Tuonelan Lukio. The band's keyboardist was Izmo Heikkilä of the band Raptori. Alanko went on to release two more solo albums, '' Taiteilijaelämää'' (1995) and '' Irti'' (1996). In 1997, a four-CD

''Alangolla – Ismo Alangon lauluja'' was released. It spanned his entire career starting from Hassisen Kone and including material from different side projects. Until then, very few Finnish artists had released a box set. Sielun Veljet had released '' Musta laatikko'' in 1991 and CMX their collection '' Cloaca Maxima'' in 1997. Alanko's most popular song, " Pop-musiikkia", was recorded in 1997 with fellow rock stars Ilkka Alanko (of Neljä Ruusua), Kalle Ahola (of Don Huonot) and A. W. Yrjänä (of CMX) under the name Neljä baritonia (Four Baritones). The single has been certified platinum in Finland and is one of the most successful songs of all time on the Finnish singles chart. In 2002, Alanko appeared on Timo Rautiainen's

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

-selling ''Tiernapojat'' play with Jarkko Martikainen, Toni Wirtanen and Rautiainen himself, playing King Herod. In 2009, Alanko continues his varied projects playing with contemporary Finnish artists. In April he joined former Alanko Säätiö percussionist Teho Majamäki onstage as Teholla at Helsinki's mini-festival Arctic Paradise Live, having the same evening performed a solo concert in the Ateneum Art Museum series (A Land Without Kantele) with resident houseband of Jarmo Saari (guitars), Arttu Tolonen (bass) and Abdissa "Mamba" Assefa (drums).

Ismo Alanko Säätiö

In 1998, Alanko started the semi-ironically named Ismo Alanko Säätiö (Ismo Alanko Foundation). Though Säätiö performed many of Alanko's old hits, the arrangements were radically revamped to fit with their unique acoustic sound, heavily featuring the

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

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 ...

sound of Kimmo Pohjonen, a successful artist in his own right. Even though Säätiö is a band, it can be said that it is a backing band for solo performances by Alanko, as members of the band have changed rapidly.

Ismo Alanko Teholla

In 2007, Alanko ended Säätiö in its current form, and began touring with multi-instrumentalist Teho Majamäki as "Ismo Alanko Teholla". The name of the band is a play on words, and can mean either "Ismo Alanko with Power" or "Ismo Alanko in ICU (Intensive Care Unit)".

Instruments

Alanko studied classical cello in his youth, but didn't pursue a classical career because he felt it would require too much practice. In Hassisen Kone and onwards, he has played rhythm guitar in his bands in addition to singing. He still occasionally plays the cello, as well as the piano, both in the studio and on live performances. Alanko composed the music for the 2007 TV series ''Taivaan tulet'' by Kari Väänänen. Alanko also played all instruments for the score, except for flute parts that were played by his brother Petri. Alanko has said that the decision to play all the instruments himself came "out of curiosity".Sari Sainio
Vastavirtaan
– '' Aamulehti'', February 2, 2007

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilations

DVDs

Singles

References

External links

Official site

Official Facebook site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alanko, Ismo 1960 births Living people People from Kerava 20th-century Finnish male singers Finnish male songwriters Finnish rock musicians 21st-century Finnish male singers