Beat a Go Go

I definitely had a sense of anticipation as I entered the Old Liberty Theater, a pleasant, well-worn auditorium, with a feeling of the past lurking in the corners. Something good did happen, as Helsinki Express delighted the audience with its own special brand of music from several corners of the world.

The members of Helsinki Express are: Ruthie Dornfeld on violin and John Miller on guitar, both of Seattle, Washington; and Petri Hakala on mandolin and Tapani Varis on bass, jawharp, and overtone flute, both of Helsinki, Finland. A common love for music of diverse cultures and styles, as well as the enjoyment of playing, brought these musicians together, and inspired them to create some exciting music.

The old adage "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" fits well here. Each of the musicians plays brilliantly and has years of experience playing in other groups. Each writes songs in a variety of genres, from Finnish-inspired polskas and waltzes to Brazilian style tangos and choros. Together they create a wonderful musical feast. The combination of instruments creates a richness and fullness of sound that gives the listener plenty to absorb. Additionally, the diversity of the music they played that night moved the concert along at a lively pace, perhaps accounting for the "express" part of their name.

The concert opened with a polska, a traditional Finnish dance tune. Original tunes by John, Ruthie, and Petri followed. Then Ruthie and Petri performed a fiddle and mandolin duet of three traditional American folk tunes. Next came several Brazilian pieces; a bossa nova written by John, a samba written by Tapani, a choro performed on mandolin and guitar, a tango and another choro. Brazilian music is a prominent feature of the group's repertoire (more about that later). Following the intermission, there were more Finnish polskas and waltzes. Then Tapani was featured on the jawharp in a solo traditional Norwegian piece, followed by a Finnish tune, accompanied by Petri on mandolin. Next came more original tunes by each group member, and more Brazilian choros, sambas, and bossa novas. It all works, and it's all fun to listen to.

From their expressions and frequent smiles at each other, it was evident that the musicians were having a really good time playing together. We in the audience were fortunate to be able to share in the fruits of their collaboration.

When I first heard of Helsinki Express, but especially after experiencing and enjoying their concert, I wanted to know more about how this group came about, and what plans they have for the future. Ruthie obligingly satisfied my curiosity on these and other points in an email interview.

I first met Tapani Varis on a tour to Finland with The American Café Orchestra around 1990. I was in fact the only American in that trio, which was another Scandinavian/American collaboration. Morten Alfred Høirup, from Denmark, played guitar, and Anders Hofset, from Norway but living in Copenhagen, was the bassist. Tapani was playing in a great band called Koinurit, which also included his brother Olli Varis, Arto Järvelä, Perttu Paappanen, and Marko Rantanen. We were very impressed with the group and with Tapani's fine bass playing, and when Anders took a full-time job that prevented him from touring, we asked Tapani to join us. Tapani then became the bassist for The American Café Orchestra for several years. Petri and I also met in Finland sometime in the early '90's. We both taught at Timo Hanula's folk music workshops in Haapavesi, and I think we must have met there. At that time he was playing with the wonderful group Ottopasuuna. John Miller and I met through mutual musical friends and began playing together shortly after I moved to Seattle in 1996. We continue to enjoy working together as a duo.

How did you decide to play together, as an actual group? When do you practice?

Two years ago Petri came to Seattle with the Helsinki Mandoliners. I was excited to have them in town, thoroughly enjoyed their concert, invited them to my house for a few tunes, and sometime in there Petri and I simultaneously had the idea that it would be fun to play together more. He suggested that perhaps I could come to Finland and we could set up something there, find a guitarist and Tapani would be the natural choice for bass. Later it occurred to me that John Miller would be the perfect guitarist for the group. He's not only a brilliant guitarist and tune writer, but also has a wonderful style for accompanying the Brazilian choros that both Petri and I were interested in playing. Plus John and I already had a repertoire together, which made the task of setting up the group a little easier. We practice first by sending each other recordings and/or written music which we all learn before getting together. John and I will rehearse together over here, and Petri and Tapani work together in Helsinki. Then we allow a few days at the beginning of a tour to pare down and fine-tune the material, see what works and what doesn't, and iron out arrangements. Since we have a very limited amount of time together we try to set aside our other usual commitments, so it's very focused, intense work. The music continues to develop as we concertize, and we keep trying out new ideas. We have so far only done 2 tours, each 2 weeks long, so it still feels extremely fresh and exciting.

How did you decide what songs to play? Did every member contribute some ideas?

We all submitted tunes that we like and thought would work well for this combination of instruments and musical personalities. John and I love the special rhythm of the Finnish polska, which Tapani and Petri play with amazing freedom, so that was a natural choice. We all happened to have an affinity for Brazilian music, and our instrumentation seemed to suit it, so we chose that direction as well. We made sure to feature Tapani's rare talents on the jawharp and flute. And since all of us are interested in writing tunes, it was a supportive environment for original music, and especially exciting to try a tune either for the first time or in a new context and to collaborate in working out harmonic, rhythmic, and arranging ideas. For this last tour we had more than enough material, and narrowed the tune choices down by what seemed to work the best and by keeping a certain proportion of tempos and feels. We try to keep the program varied and at the same time maintain a sense of continuity, which can be a challenge with the breadth of our material! Fortunately we are all pretty open to hearing each other's opinions and being flexible.

The group did a short tour of Finland in spring 2002. What was the tour like? What kind of response did you get?

The Finnish tour was a mixture of school concerts and club dates. We played for music students at several schools and also taught workshops. The students there were really superb, and very inspiring to play for. The clubs were quite similar to folk venues in the States, mostly bars where people come especially to listen to music. We also played at a festival at the Sibelius Academy. We were received very enthusiastically, and that, combined with the excitement of working together for the first time, made it really a fabulous trip.

What prompted the 2003 tour of the Pacific Northwest?

We had such a marvelous time playing together that we couldn't stop there! I really wanted people over here to hear these incredible musicians from Finland, so I suggested that we do the next tour in the Northwest. Since we needed a lot of time to set it up, it ended up being exactly a year later.

Did the make-up of the group come from the musicians or the instruments? Did you consider any other instruments in the group, such as accordion? Would you still?

I'd say it was a combination of instrumentation and people. Petri and I formed a complementary pair, with our related instruments, mandolin and fiddle. It's a fairly standard American format, I suppose, to use guitar and bass as accompaniment, but more importantly, both Petri and I had worked a lot with Tapani, and John and I were already a unit, so knowing that we would have limited time to "gel" our sound, so to speak, it seemed to make sense to work with people we'd already had experience with. We do have multi-instrumentalists in the band, and we may expand instrumental possibilities that way. We already use Tapani's skills on jawharp and overtone flute, but Petri is also accomplished on guitar, fiddle, and mandocello/octave mandolin, so perhaps that will come into play at some point.

How is Helsinki Express different from other musical collaborations you've worked with? How much are personalities a factor in this group?

This is one of the few bands I've played in where everyone is a fluent music reader, which I think helps us to convey musical details along with the recordings we exchange. It allows us to tackle tunes that would be difficult to learn by ear, like the Brazilian choros. Also everyone in the band has very wide musical interests, which gives a feeling of freedom both in the repertoire we choose and in our approach to the tunes. Personalities are always a factor in groups, and the fact that we all enjoy each others' company is an essential ingredient in our working well together. When on tour you spend a lot of time together, there's a lot of coordinating and problem solving, and there are always stressful situations to cope with, especially in foreign countries, so it's pretty important that band members have respect for each other and get along well. Our temperaments seem to match very well, it doesn't feel like any one person dominates, we all pitch in to figure out solutions to problems, acknowledge strengths and weaknesses, and basically care about each other, so that really makes it possible to work together well both from a distance and in the intense proximity of a tour.

Future plans? How about a recording?

We intend to keep playing together and to definitely make a recording during this next year. We hope to tour Finland in the summer of 2004, and who knows what may come up before then. We'll be sending stuff out to festivals in the USA and Europe and see what happens. We're all excited about playing together, so despite the complications posed by living in different countries, I have no doubt that we will keep going. In fact, in a certain way it's an asset to have half the band in Europe and half in the US, since we have doors open to us in both places. We're really looking forward to making our first recording and in doing more tours in both Europe and the USA in the coming year.

For further information, contact Ruthie at ruthied@eskimo.com