If we really "all come from our childhood," then artist Emmi Kujanpää certainly carries part of Karelia's musical culture - a legacy from her mother's parents. As for the young Finnish woman's interest in Bulgarian folklore, the roads are unknown - her first auditory experience came from a recording she accidently came across years ago. Both ancient cultures have been present in her life of a professional musician for more than a decade. They are also the basis of her first album as a singer-songwriter whose Finnish premiere was only days ago.

Having studied Bulgarian folklore in 2009 in the Music Academy in Bulgaria’s second-biggest city Plovdiv, she later graduated the Sibelius Academy with the University of the Arts in Helsinki. She now teaches folk singing and kantele, a traditional Finnish plucked string instrument, at the same academy and in Käpylä Music (a school specializing in Finnish traditional music and world music). The songs in Emmi’s new project are based on the two folklore traditions and were recorded in two venues - the Bulgarian National Television and the Music Centre in Helsinki. She tells us more:

The newly-released album features Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares Vocal Academy. Set up about two years ago, this formation prepares singers for the world-renowned Bulgarian choir. The conductor of both groups is Prof. Dora Hristova who previously taught at the Music Academy in Plovdiv, and among her students for some time was alsoEmmi Kujanpää.

"I was very pleasantly surprised by her quick refinement of music skills," Prof. Dora Hristova recalls. “She mastered the technique of folklore singing, ornamentation, and learned many songs. She recorded a CD featuring two quartets. The Bulgarian group was Vaya Quartet from the Plovdiv Music Academy, and the Finnish group was called Mama. It was very interesting because they sang both Bulgarian and Finnish songs. I was invited to conduct the two ensembles for the recordings made in Finland. The album we are presenting now features only Emmi’s own compositions. The girls from the choir very much like Emmi’s songs and are very happy to work with her. And the album Nani is the first production of our International Academy. "

The album was already presented at concerts in Bulgaria, and on March 13 the music was performed in Helsinki, in the hall of Sibelius Academy, but with only a few people present in the hall. "This new 'corona-reality' is exhausting, but there’s nothing we can do!" Emmi says, explaining that the concert was broadcast live and can now be heard on the Internet.

She first came up with the idea to write a song that combines the style of Bulgaria’s Rhodope folk songs with a refrain in Karelian when she was listening to her daughter play the piano at home. The album title song Nani is dedicated to the deity of Mother Earth and as the songwriter explains, she was driven by her realization that numerous women in the world are subject to discrimination and violence. There is also a song written she wrote at the suggestion of Prof. Dora Hristova who suggested she should combine choral music to the accompaniment of the Finnish kantele. And another song is a memory for her grandmother who was from Karelia and whom she loved a lot. As Emmi says, Karelians and Bulgarians are very similar to each other in terms of mentality – they are warm, sociable and emotional people. And there are also similarities in their singing traditions. More about the album from Emmi herself:

The Finnish choir led by Emmi bears the melodious Bulgarian name "Kukuvitsa" (Cuckoo) and performs Bulgarian and Ugro-Finnish songs. Even one of the singers in the group is Bulgarian. Why did she choose this name for her choir?