Ilmatar (album) explained

Ilmatar
Type:	Album
Artist:	Värttinä
Cover:	Varttina - Ilmatar.jpg
Released:	May 24, 2000
Recorded:	November 1999, Finnvox Studios, Helsinki
Genre:	Finnish folk music
Length:	47:03
Label:	BMG Finland
Producer:	Hughes de Courson
Prev Title:	Vihma
Prev Year:	1998
Next Title:	6.12
Next Year:	2001

Ilmatar is Värttinä's 8th album, released in 2000.

The album is named for the Finnish goddess of air Ilmatar who, according to the creation story in the Kalevala, creates the world from two eggs from the eagle Kokko (which is also the name of an earlier Värttinä album). A version of this story (in English and Finnish) is printed in the liner notes of the United States release.

Track listing

1. "Itkin" (Pekka Lehti / Kirsi Kähkönen, Mari Kaasinen, traditional) – 5:20
2. "Käppee" (Kaasinen / Kaasinen, trad.) – 2:34
3. "Laiska" (Kari Reiman / Sirpa Reiman) – 4:06
4. "Liigua" (Susan Aho / Aho, trad.) – 5:08
5. "Milja" (K. Reiman / S. Reiman) – 4:27
6. "Äijö" (Antto Varilo / Kähkönen) – 4:22
7. "Kivutar" (K. Reiman / S. Reiman, K. Reiman, trad.) – 3:28
8. "Linnunmieli" (K. Reiman, trad. / S. Reiman, trad.) – 3:57
9. "Lieto" (K. Reiman) – 3:06
10. "Sanat" (Janne Lappalainen / Kähkönen) – 4:37
11. "Meri" (K. Reiman, S. Reiman, trad.) – 5:59

Personnel

Värttinä

• Susan Aho – vocals
• Mari Kaasinen – vocals
• Kirsi Kähkönen – vocals
• Riikka Väyrynen – vocals
• Janne Lappalainen – bouzouki, soprano saxophone, kaval
• Markku Lepistö – 5-row, 2-row and 1-row accordions, jouhikko
• Pekka Lehti – double bass
• Kari Reiman – fiddle
• Marko Timonen – Galician bass drum, tama, surdo, shekere, klong yaw, bucket, broom, bells, percussion
• Antto Varilo – 6 & 12 string guitars, cümbüş tanbur, 10-string kantele, vocals

Guests

• Hughes de Courson – kantele cluster, piano wires
• Gilles Chabenat – vielle à roue (1, 3, 9, 11)
• Ismo Alanko – spell in 6
• Nagy Lucina – lament in 11 (recorded 1959 in Hungary)

External links

• Värttinä with lyrics, English translations and samples