Susan Aho (born 5 March 1974) is a Finnish

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 ...

singer-songwriter and a member of the band Värttinä. In 2010, she represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 as part of the duo Kuunkuiskaajat.

Biography

Susan Aho was born 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 ...

, in

Southern Finland Southern Finland (, ) was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Finland and Russia. History On September 1, 1997 the Uusimaa Province, the Ky ...

, near the capital

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 ...

. Having played 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 ...

since she was 13, Aho joined Värttinä in 1998, replacing Riitta Kossi, and was the accordionist and a vocalist on their album '' Vihma''. By the next album, '' Ilmatar'' (2001), she confined herself to singing, having been replaced as accordionist by Markku Lepistö. Aho studies 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 and is involved in a variety of other projects besides Värttinä. For example, she was vocalist and accordionist in the Greek group Odysseia, was a member of the folk band Metsänväki, and with the Finnish accordionist Minna Luoma played Finnish gypsy songs in the group Rotunaiset. Since 1998 she has been a member of the Balkan-Finnish group Vaeltajat, with whom she also sings and plays accordion. Aho also works with the Nukketeatteri Sampo (Sampo Puppet Theatre, founded in 1977) in Helsinki; the interplay of traditional puppet theatre with music and poetry plays a big role in its work. She founded the duo Kuunkuiskaajat with Johanna Virtanen in 2008. In 2010 they won the Finnish trials for that year's Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Työlki ellää", but did not qualify for the final. In 2011 Aho read the Finnish scoring for the 56th Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf.

Discography (with Värttinä)

*1998 '' Vihma'' *2000 '' Ilmatar'' (various re-releases 2001) *2001: '' 6.12.'' (live album) *2002: ''Live in Helsinki'' (= ''6.12.'' ), ''Double Life'' (2-CD compilation) *2003: ''

Iki IKI may refer to: * Internationales Kulturinstitut, in Vienna * Iodine potassium-iodide, a chemical compound * Russian Space Research Institute, originally known as IKI RAN * Iki Airport, IATA code Iki or iki may refer to: * Iki Island, a Japane ...

'' *2005: '' Snow Angel'' (compilation, released only in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

); with Värttinä on Simon Ho: ''Simon Ho'' *2006: '' Miero''; with Värttinä on: Ho Orchestra: ''A normal Sunday'' (live CD); ''Archive Live'' (DVD) *2007: '' 25'' (compilation including songs from every Värttinä album) *2008: Kuunkuiskaajat – ''Kuunkuiskaajat'' *2012: ''Utu''

References

External links

Official homepage of Värttinä

Official homepage of Kuunkuiskaajat
1974 births Living people Musicians from Espoo 21st-century Finnish women singers 21st-century Finnish accordionists Finnish women accordionists 21st-century Finnish singers {{Finland-musician-stub