Korpiklaani

Korpiklaani
Background information
Also known as	Shamaani Duo (1993–1996) Shaman (1996–2003)
Origin	Lahti, Finland
Genres	Folk metal
Years active	1993–present
Labels	Nuclear Blast, Napalm
Associated acts	Falchion Finntroll
Website	www.korpiklaani.com
Members	Jonne Järvelä Matti "Matson" Johansson Kalle "Cane" Savijärvi Jarkko Aaltonen Tuomas Rounakari Sami Perttula
Past members	Maaren Aikio Juke Eräkangas Ilkka Kilpeläinen Tero Piirainen Samu Ruotsalainen Janne G`thaur Hosse Latvala Veera Muhli Toni Nãykki Henri "Trollhorn" Sorvali Jaakko "Hittavainen" Lemmetty Toni "Honka" Honkanen Ali Määttä Arto Tissari Juho Kauppinen Teemu Eerola

Korpiklaani (Finnish: Forest Clan) is a folk metal band from Finland who were formerly known as Shaman.

Biography

Shamaani Duo

While other folk metal bands began with metal before adding folk music, Korpiklaani started with folk music before turning metal. The roots of Korpiklaani can be traced back to a Sami folk music group under the name of "Shamaani Duo", an "in house restaurant band" created by Jonne Järvelä in 1993. An album of folk music (Hunka Lunka) was released under this name before Järvelä relocated and "Shamaani Duo" morphed into "Shaman".

Shaman

Shaman was the second incarnation of Korpiklaani, formed in 1996 which is notable for the heavy use of original native Sámic music elements and lyrics in Sámi. The band's music was based on the folk music of Shamaani Duo. The most widely used elements are the shamanic drum, yoik and humppa. Besides yoik, the vocals vary from clean to rather aggressive growling.

The musical style of Shaman is quite distinctive, especially in the slow songs, due to its entrancing atmosphere created by the monophonic, "narrow" synth sound making the deep contrast to the spacious sound of the acoustic guitar, the shamanic drum and yoik singing.

The first recording released under the name of Shaman was the demo single Ođđa máilbmi (New World in Sámi). The video clip shot for the song featured a wolf breaking free from its cage and running into the forest. Besides the single CD the song was included on the band's first full-length album Idja (Night in Sámi, 1999) as well.

The band released another album, Shamániac, in 2002.

Korpiklaani

The band underwent another evolution in 2003, and "Shaman" became "Korpiklaani" (with only Järvelä and drummer Samu Ruotsalainen remaining from the last "Shaman" lineup), with the music style to a more conventional folk metal with folk/thrash vocals instead of yoiking. Shamániac had already featured a strong resemblance to the future Korpiklaani style. In fact, the song, "Vuola lávlla", has the same music as the Korpiklaani song, "Beer Beer".

The change in name was accompanied by a change in the music. The traditional yoik vocals and the use of the Sámi language were dropped while the synthesizer was replaced with real folk instruments. Jonne Järvelä credits his work with Finntroll as the catalyst for the shift in emphasis from folk to metal. Their song lyrics are often related to alcohol and partying.

According to Jonne Järvelä, Korpiklaani's music would be seen as "old people's music with heavy metal guitars" in Finland.

There has been some collaboration between Korpiklaani and Finntroll, as Samu Ruotsalainen of Finntroll provided session drums for their debut album Spirit of the Forest and Järvelä provided the yoiking for the title track of Finntroll's album Jaktens Tid.

Juha Jyrkäs has written some Finnish lyrics to Korpiklaani and from 2011 lyrics are written by poet Tuomas Keskimäki, he write lyrics in the old Finnish "kalevalametre".

The name Korpiklaani means "Forest Clan" in the Finnish language. In spoken language "korpi" means dark old forest. In biology it refers to boreal forest appearing on moist moraine soils, characterized by dense growth of spruce and a deep layer of moss as undergrowth.

In September 2011 Korpiklaani announced that Jaakko "Hittavainen" Lemmetty would be leaving the band due to personal health issues which made the constant touring and recording impossible. First his replacement was violist Teemu Eerola and later, nowadays permanent member, Tuomas Rounakari. In 2013 accordion player Juho Kauppinen left Korpiklaani and new accordion player is Sami Perttula.

Personnel

Members

Current lineup

• Jonne Järvelä – vocals, guitars (1993–2012) vocals (2012-present)
• Matti "Matson" Johansson – drums (2003–present)
• Kalle "Cane" Savijärvi – guitars (2003–present)
• Jarkko Aaltonen – bass (2005–present)
• Tuomas Rounakari – violin (2012–present)
• Sami Perttula – accordion (2013–present)

Former members

• Maaren Aikio – vocals, percussion (1993–1996)
• Juke Eräkangas – drums, keyboards, backing vocals (1999)
• Ilkka Kilpeläinen – bass, backing vocals (1999)
• Tero Piirainen – guitars, keyboards, backing vocals (1999)
• Samu Ruotsalainen – drums (2002–2003)
• Janne G`thaur – bass (2002)
• Hosse Latvala – drums, percussion (2002)
• Veera Muhli – keyboards (2002)
• Toni Nãykki – guitars (2002)
• Henri "Trollhorn" Sorvali – keyboards (2002)
• Jaakko "Hittavainen" Lemmetty – violin, jouhikko, bagpipes, flute (2003–2011)
• Toni "Honka" Honkanen – guitars (2003–2005)
• Ali Määttä – percussion (2003–2005)
• Arto Tissari – bass (2003–2005)
• Juho Kauppinen – accordion (2004–2013)
• Teemu Eerola – violin (2011)

Timeline

Discography

Main article: Korpiklaani discography

• Hunka Lunka (1996)
• Idja (1999)
• Shamániac (2002)
• Spirit of the Forest (2003)
• Voice of Wilderness (2005)
• Tales Along This Road (2006)
• Tervaskanto (2007)
• Korven Kuningas (2008)
• Karkelo (2009)
• Ukon Wacka (2011)
• Manala (2012)
• Noita (2015)

External links

• Official website
• Korpiklaani at Napalm Records