RinneRadio is a Finnish group of electro jazz pioneers. Operating on the boundaries of

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 ...

and

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 ...

, RinneRadio fused jazz into

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...

and

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

years before it became a worldwide

trend A fad, trend, or craze is any form of collective behavior that develops within a culture, a generation, or social group in which a group of people enthusiastically follow an impulse for a short time period. Fads are objects or behaviors th ...

and added hints of

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

into it. In the third part, ( Tammi, 2005) of a book series about popular music in Finland, it has been written that RinneRadio was several years ahead of their time when they started. The biography on the band's website provides the following description of the music they produce: "As the

drum'n'bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-bass lines, samples, and synthesizers. The genre ...

and techno rhythms are fermented with dark dub, lush ambient soundscapes and timeless saxophone and bass clarinet textures, the resulting brew becomes equally sexy trance jazz and surreal dance music." RinneRadio currently consists of Tapani Rinne (reeds), Aleksi Myllykoski (electronics), and Juuso Hannukainen (percussion). Author Petri Silas described Tapani Rinne's status as a Finnish musician the following way in the fifth edition of ''Finnish Jazz'' published by the Finnish Music Information Centre in 1998: "Forever on the lookout for new horizons, Rinne’s sexy soprano sax and solemn bass clarinet remain among the most original Finnish jazz voices."

Early history

The band was formed in 1988 by saxophone player/reedsman and composer Tapani Rinne, who still leads the band and is the musical conductor. Rinne participated in the composer and 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 ...

's Sound & Fury workshops in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, and during these workshops the band started to form. RinneRadio's

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

ous debut album was released in 1988 and it featured a stellar cast of Finland's current jazz elite, including

Raoul Björkenheim Raoul Melvin Björkenheim (born February 11, 1956) is a Finnish-American jazz guitarist, who has lived in Helsinki, New York, and Los Angeles. His mother is Finnish-American actress Taina Elg.''Finlands ridderskaps och adels kalender 1992'', pp ...

, Iro Haarla and Seppo Tyni. The second album ''Dance and Visions'' was released in 1990 and the album featured the

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ne ...

yoik singer

Wimme Saari Wimme Saari (also known as Wimme; born 1959; Kelottijärvi, Enontekiö) is a Finnish Sami yoiker. Wimme Saari combines traditional Sami singing with his own improvisations, usually to a techno-ambient accompaniment by members of Finnish elect ...

for the first time in RinneRadio's history. ''Dance and Visions'' also introduced Jari Kokkonen as a new member of RinneRadio. He continued in the group until 2001. ''Dance and Visions'' established RinneRadio's trademark sound, which they are best known for, fusing electronic music from ambient techno to drum'n'bass and jazzy wind instruments. RinneRadio's club-friendly sound with strong electronic influence caused stir and confusion in the Finnish jazz scene as well as abroad when the band performed in the beginning. In an interview with Markus Partanen on his book , Tapani Rinne described their early years: "We probably focused performing too much at jazz and art music venues. Techno scene and clubs were a different thing, but we got into these circles only afterwards after the band had achieved more commercial success." In 1992 RinneRadio released the album ''Joik'', where another one of Rinne's long-time collaborators, Kimmo Kajasto, appeared for the first time. The same year, Tapani Rinne garnered the Finnish Georgie Award (Yrjö) for Jazz Musician of the Year, given by the Finnish Jazz Federation. The group's fourth album, ''Unik,'' was released in 1994. It followed an EP titled ''DiorInNera'' released one year earlier. ''Unik'' received one of the highest record industry accolades in Finland, the Jazz Emma Award, which could be called the Finnish equivalent of the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

. By this time, word had spread about the new concoction of

and

ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

sounds played by RinneRadio, and the band toured extensively in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Japan, Spain and Sweden. The band's core group was now Rinne, Kajasto and Kokkonen. The trio continued to develop the sound further particularly on RinneRadio's fifth album ''RoK'' (1996) consisting of influences from hip hop, drum and bass and jazz. The same year they won the Golden Pumpeli Award at the

Oulu Music Video Festival Oulu Music Video Festival was founded in 1994 by students of the Oulu School of Arts and Crafts. The festival's back bone is the Finnish Music Video Contest. The best Finnish music video is awarded with The Golden Pumpeli Award and the most promisi ...

for the visuals for "Aromaa AltToo". ''RoK'' was the ultimate commercial breakthrough for RinneRadio. It peaked at number 22 in 1996 on the Official Finnish Album Chart and stayed on the chart for six weeks. According to Tapani Rinne, after "being in wrong places at the wrong time so many times earlier", the situation was now the opposite. The big audience was now ready for RinneRadio's music and suddenly they were considered trendsetters, although that was never their aim. The band found new passionate fans especially in the European club music scene, which was driven by the rising deejay culture. In 1997, RinneRadio released a new album titled '','' which was a collaboration with

Pan Sonic Pan Sonic was a Finnish electronic music group founded in Turku in 1993. The group consisted of Mika Vainio, Ilpo Väisänen, and Sami Salo. Salo left in 1996 leaving Pan Sonic a duo. The group was originally named Panasonic until 1998. In Dec ...

Mika Vainio Mika Tapio Vainio (May 15, 1963 – April 12, 2017) was a Finnish electronic musician. He was best known as a member of Pan Sonic. In addition to his real name, he recorded under the aliases Ø, Kentolevi, Philus, and Tekonivel. He has worked w ...

, based on an earlier live

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

project where Vainio remixed one of RinneRadio's live shows. In 1997, they also played a show at

Knitting Factory The Knitting Factory is a nightclub in New York City that features eclectic music and entertainment and is co-owned and co-operated by Knitting Factory Entertainment. After opening in 1987, various other locations were opened in the United Stat ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

from which the audio signal was sent live to Finland and

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 where

DJ Spooky Paul Dennis Miller (born September 6, 1970), known professionally as DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is an American Electronic music, electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics "illbient" or "trip hop". ...

made a live interpretation of the concert for the festival audience. After this, two more smaller releases, EP's ''Osaka'' and ''Juju'', were issued before RinneRadio started to work on a new album, ''G''. The album was released in 1998 and was an important milestone because programmer Kimmo Kajasto had been replaced with DJ Ken-One (aka Jean Johansson) in the lineup. Their collaborations with various DJ's culminated in the 1999 release ''B'', which features RinneRadio tracks remixed by Finland's top DJs and remixers, including

Brothomstates Brothomstates is one of the stage names of Lassi Nikko, a Finnish composer and musician. He also used to produce music in the demoscene under the moniker of Dune in the demogroup Orange. His works are mostly downtempo or ambient, but he is also ...

Jori Hulkkonen Jori Hulkkonen (born 28 September 1973), is a Finnish DJ and a producer of house music, originally from Kemi, Finland. Hulkkonen started his career in the early 1990s when he worked with Jukka Hautamäki, Tuomas Salmela and Ari Ruokamo for the ...

JS16 Jaakko Sakari Salovaara (born 13 January 1975), better known by his stage name JS16, is a Finnish musician, DJ and record producer. He is best known for his work with Finnish hip hop group Bomfunk MC's, producing their most successful song " Fr ...

and Slow.

2000 – 2009

Work with

continued, as he was largely responsible for the production of the next RinneRadio album, ''Nao'' (2001), along with Veikka Erkola. DJ Ken-One was now replaced by percussionist Zarkus Poussa and later by Abdissa Assefa in live performances. ''Nao'' reached number 32 on the Official Finnish Album Chart, making it the group's most commercially successful album after ''RoK''. This was followed by another album, ''Lumix'', in 2003, which included strong efforts by Veikka Erkola and Pauli Saastamoinen. The latter has had a significant role in RinneRadio's sound throughout the years regarding recording, mixing and mastering. During this time, Verneri Lumi and Juusonik (known also from Don Johnson Big Band) joined the band with Tapani Rinne, and RinneRadio reformed as a trio. Their first joint effort was the new album ''Pan'' in 2004. ''Pan'' featured again a range of guests, such as

Pekka Kuusisto Pekka Kuusisto (born 7 October 1976) is a Finnish musician. Biography Kuusisto comes from a musical lineage. His grandfather was the composer and organist Taneli Kuusisto, his father Ilkka Kuusisto, who had many functions in Finnish musical l ...

on violin. In 2005, RinneRadio concentrated on touring and performed at a festival curated by

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

Barbican Arts Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings an ...

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 ...

as well as in the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

North Sea Jazz Festival The North Sea Jazz Festival is a festival held annually on the second weekend of July in the Netherlands at the Ahoy venue. The festival moved to Rotterdam in 2006 after the demolition of the Statenhal in The Hague where it was originally held. ...

. In 2006, they were invited to play at the 40th anniversary opening night of Midem in

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

. After Midem the band was ready to release their twelfth full-length album, simply called ''+''. The violinist, Pekka Kuusisto, returned on this album as a guest. In September 2007, RinneRadio released ''On''. It featured Sanni Orasmaa and

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

er Kira Kira on vocals. The following year, the band celebrated their 20th anniversary by releasing a compilation album titled ''20'', which featured 20 tracks from throughout their career. The tracks were chosen by radio and club DJs who were asked to give a list of tracks of their personal RinneRadio dream album. The result was a double album with tracks categorized into Side and Side . In 2009, RinneRadio released again material in the form of the album ''Pole Stars''. Musically, it represented an upgrade to their "ethno techno" with a strong Nordic twist. The album featured artists such as Sámi

joik A joik or yoik (anglicised, where the latter spelling in English conforms with the pronunciation; also named , , , or in the Sámi languages) is a traditional form of song in Sámi music performed by the Sámi people of Sápmi in Northern E ...

singers Ulla Pirttijärvi and

, Johanna Juhola on accordion and Eva Alkula playing Finnish

zither Zither (; , from the Greek ''cithara'') is a class of stringed instruments. The modern instrument has many strings stretched across a thin, flat body. Zithers are typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers or a ...

2010 – present day

The next phase of RinneRadio started with Tuomas "Verneri Lumi" Norvio being replaced in the lineup with the Finnish drum'n'bass artist Konsta "DJ Muffler" Mikkonen soon after the release of ''Pole Stars'' album. The biggest evolution was the new raw and hard-edged flavour combined with the moody and floating RinneRadio sound. This is also very recognizable on their next ''StaRRk'' (2012) album, which has been stylistically described as more rugged, sharper and darker than their earlier productions. The official lineup (including Tapani Rinne and Juuso Hannukainen) stayed the same for several years until 2020, when DJ Muffler was replaced in the line-up by Helsinki-based electronic music artist Aleksi Myllykoski, who had been filling in for him more and more often on live occasions. Although RinneRadio has been actively performing live both domestically and abroad, they have not released a new album since ''StaRRk'' in 2012. All the members of the group have been busy with other projects. For example, group leader Tapani Rinne released his fourth solo album ''Radioton'' in 2019, the second collaboration album with Wimme Saari titled ''Human'' in 2017 as well as collaboration albums ''Under The Ground'' (2015) and ''Inside The Temple'' (2012) with Teho Majamäki. Since 1996, all the official RinneRadio releases had been published by the Finnish record label, Rockadillo Records. However, for the singles they tried something new by reaching their international fans through national airplay in the UK with The Ambient Zone. The London-based label published their latest two singles "Yasmin" in 2017 and "Zarkukselle" in 2018. Hence they have been working on material for their next album, scheduled to be released by Rockadillo Records in winter 2020–2021. According to their website: "In 2020, the dynamic trio is known for their invigorating performances of rich and eclectic sound ranging from fervent rumble to wild and transcendent meditative ambiance. Avoiding formats and predictability they do not have a fixed set for their live show. Instead they customize it according to the event and venue, which can nowadays be anything from a church concert to a live club, concert arena or a rave festival organized in the middle of forest."

Discography

Albums

* ''RinneRadio'' (1988) * ''Dance And Visions'' (1990) * ''Joik'' (1992) * ''Unik'' (1994) * ''RoK'' (1996) * (1997) * ''G'' (1998) * ''B'' (1999) * ''Nao'' (2001) * ''Lumix'' (2003) * ''Pan'' (2004) * ''+'' (2006) * ''On'' (2007) * ''Pole Stars'' (2009) * ''StaRRk'' (2012)

EPs

* ''Dior In Nera'' (1993) * (1994) * ''Aromaa Alt'' (1995) * ''Osaka'' (1998) * ''Juju'' (1998) * ''( OST)'' (2016)

Singles

*"Santa Claus" (1991) *"Affluenza" (2000) *"Kuvala" (2002) *"Yasmin" (2017) *"Zarkukselle" (2018) *"Talk" (RinneRadio Remix) (2019) (remix for the song originally performed by Construction)

Compilation albums

* ''RinneRadio and Wimme: File Under ‒ Finnish Ambient Techno Chant'' (1997) * ''20 (2008)''

References

External links

RinneRadio's official website

RinneRadio at Rockadillo.fi

The website of Tapani Rinne
{{Authority control Finnish electronic music groups Experimental musical groups Enemy Records artists