Maria Kalaniemi (born 27 May 1964 in

Espoo Espoo (, ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsi ...

, Finland) is a Finnish

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 ...

ist. She was classically trained, gaining her MMus from 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 1992, but has become mostly known as a folk musician having played this music from childhood, besides her

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

studies, and also at the

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

department of the

Groups

Ensembles she is or has been involved with are: *'' Niekku'', formed during the years at the Sibelius Academy: before they disbanded, they recorded three albums. *'' Aldargaz'', also formed at the Sibelius Academy including

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

Arto Järvelä Arto Järvelä (born in 1964 in Hattula, Finland) is a Finnish violin, fiddler and composer. Because of the many groups and projects he is involved in, he has been called "the busiest man in Finnish folk music". He is primarily a violinist, but am ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

Timo Alakotila,

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

ist Petri Hakala,

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

ist Olli Varis and Tapani Varis. The group made their last recording in 1999. *A duo consisting of her and Timo Alakotila, that recorded the album ''Ambra''. *''Maria Kalaniemi Trio'', extending the duo with Olli Varis. Both the duo and the trio play traditional tunes, popular Finnish tunes from about the mid-20th century as well as new material by Kalaniemi and Alakotila. The trio released a live CD recorded in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, ''Tokyo concert'', that partly contains the same tunes as ''Ambra''. *'' Accordion Tribe'', an international accordion group consisting of Kalaniemi,

Guy Klucevsek Guy Klucevsek (February 26, 1947 – May 22, 2025) was an American accordionist and composer known for his fusion of polka, minimalism and experimental music. He began playing accordion at age five and later studied at the California Institute of ...

from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, Bratko Bibic from

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

Lars Hollmer Lars Gustav Gabriel Hollmer (21 July 1948 – 25 December 2008) was a Swedish accordionist, keyboardist and composer, whose work drew on music ranging from Nordic folk tunes to progressive rock. He has been a member and/or founder of over hal ...

from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and Otto Lechner from

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

*'' Unto Tango Orchestra'' (''Tango-Orkesteri Unto'') with

Pirjo Aittomäki Pirjo is a Finland, Finnish female given name. Its name day is celebrated on 7 October. It began to be used in the 1920s, and it reached its peak of popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. As of 2013 there are 34,650 women with this name in Finland. ...

(

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

), Timo Alakotila, Petri Hakala (

), Mauno Järvelä (

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

) and Hannu Rantanen (

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

). The group was formed to perform at one particular occasion, and later released a CD that outside of Finland is sold as ''Finnish tango''. *'' Helsinki Melodeon Ladies'' *'' Ramunder'', a Swedish-speaking project with the singer Anna-Kaisa Liedes and the fiddler Marianne Maans She has also worked and recorded with the Swedish fiddler Sven Ahlbäck, the popular Finnish singer

Katri Helena Katri Helena Kalaoja (; born 17 August 1945) is a Finnish singer. Career Katri Helena released her first songs in 1963 and has since sold over 630,000 certified records, which makes her the second-best-selling female soloist in Finland ...

, the singer/actor/flautist

Vesa-Matti Loiri Vesa-Matti "Vesku" Loiri (4 January 1945 – 10 August 2022) was a Finnish actor, musician and comedian, best known for his role as Uuno Turhapuro, whom he portrayed in a total of 20 movies between the years 1973 and 2004. Loiri made a strong i ...

, the Finnish accordionist

Kimmo Pohjonen Kimmo Pohjonen (born August 16, 1964) is a Finnish accordionist who is known for his avant-garde and experimental work with his custom-made electrified and modified instrument. He has released nine albums of his work and has toured Europe extens ...

and many others. In 2004, she was the special guest at a concert in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

with the

BBC Concert Orchestra The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British concert orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five BBC orchestras which is not a full-scale sym ...

and the Finnish fiddler group JPP playing duets with Timo Alakotila plus a piece by Alakotila for accordion, orchestra and JPP written for this occasion.

Discography

*''Planet Squeezebox'', 1995 (

Ellipsis Arts The ellipsis (, plural ellipses; from , , ), rendered , alternatively described as suspension points/dots, points/periods of ellipsis, or ellipsis points, or colloquially, dot-dot-dot,. According to Toner it is difficult to establish when th ...

) *''Ahma'', 2001 ( Rockadillo Records) *''Bellow Poetry'', 2006 (

Alula Records The alula , or bastard wing, (plural ''alulae'') is a small projection on the anterior edge of the wing of modern birds and a few non-avian dinosaurs. The word is Latin and means "winglet"; it is the diminutive of ''ala'', meaning "wing". The a ...

)

Collaborations

*''Åkerö'', 2011, with Timo Alakotila (

Åkerö Åkerö, also called Akero or Okera, is an old apple cultivar of presumed Swedish origin, but possibly introduced from the Netherlands. It is a dessert apple with an aromatic flavor. Åkerö was first described by pomologist Olof Eneroth in 1 ...

ÅKERÖCD011)

Also appears on

*''Beginner's Guide to Scandinavia'', 2011 (Nascente/

Demon Music Group Demon Music Group Limited (DMG; formerly Object Enterprises Limited from 19821991 and Music Collection International Limited from 19912000) is a record company owned by BBC Studios that is mainly concerned with back-catalogue rights and re-iss ...

)

Honours

*1997: 3 Years Composer Grant *1996: Prize of Finland *1983: Golden Accordion Competition

References

External links

Official website at Hoedown, in EnglishMaria Kalaniemi - Virtual International Philharmonic
1964 births Living people Finnish women accordionists Finnish composers Finnish women composers Nordic folk musicians 20th-century Finnish women musicians 21st-century Finnish women musicians 21st-century Finnish accordionists {{finland-musician-stub