01	Tuhkamaa-Intro						01:19
	02	Kosovo						03:00
	03	Valtakunta						05:21
	04	Harlekiini						03:23
	05	Klovni						05:03
	06	Tuhkamaa						08:49
	07	Hymni						06:34
	08	Oodi						04:04

Haikara - Tuhkamaa

Released: 2001
Label: Mellow Records
Cat. No.: MMP 414
Total Time: 37:37


Reviewed by: John "Bo Bo" Bollenberg, September 2002
As with bands like After Crying or Anekdoten, the cello plays a very important part in the music of the Finish band Haikara. Adding saxophone to their music as in "Valtakunta," the musical backbone gets close to that of Ensemble Nimbus. Add to that the Finish vocals and you get an original injection of folk elements as well. That same folky feeling creeps inside "Harlekiini" by means of a toy organ before the music evolves towards Isildur's Bane.

An example of how melancholic the cello can sound can be found in "Tuhkamaa," where it is accompanied by acoustic guitar, saxophone and vocals in order to fully illustrate the solitude. The originality goes one further when cello and sitar find a way to fuse into the instrumental "Hymni." With all attention beging divided between cello and saxophone I would have expected a richer diversity in sound from these six (yes SIX!) musicians. More emphasis on the keyboards would certainly be a plus and I would also like to see more playing time, because six musicians surely must be capable to compose more music than the 37' offered here!

More about Tuhkamaa:

Track Listing: Yuhkamaa - Intro / Kosovo / Valtakunta / Harlekiini / Klovni / Tuhkamaa / Hymni / Oodi

Musicians:
Vesa Lattunen - vocals, electric and acoustic guitar, keyboards
Saara Hedlund - vocals
Hannu Kivila - cello
Jan Schaper - vocals, saxophone
Tommi Makinen - electric bass
Jukka Teerisaari - drums

Guests :

Pekka Virtanen - sitar, synth
Kuja Salmi - crescendo, cymbals

Discography

Tuhkamaa (2001)