Onnellista uutta vuotta

Happy New Year. (Juha H.)

Black Ice

Finally I'm back again doing my music - vacation, sort of, is over. Today Sini sang some wordless vocal-lines and I recorded her doing it, mixed the whole and bounced to HardDisk. Thus my instrumental composition Musta jaa (= Black Ice) is ready and done... Well, actually I was never away from my music making - every day I play various instruments for some hours and almost every day scribble down some music on paper.

Juha H.

Frozen Leaf. (Juha H.)

Sunrise at 10.15 am. (Juha H.)

Ice. (Juha H.)

This is a particularly Finnish tradition, I believe. Veterans of WW2 doing the Watch at Christmas Eve at the Local Military Cemetary here in Suolahti. The veterans above are Sini's and my fathers. (Juha H.)

Joulu ja Oscar Peterson

Christmas is here - peaceful time of relaxation. Yesterday - jammin' with Sini and our three kids. So nice! Today - meeting relatives etc.

On sunday Oscar Peterson died. Sad news. Here is an old video Oscar swinging with his trio. Wonderful music!

Juha H.

Iloista joulua

Merry Christmas. (Juha H.)

Frosty day. (Juha H.)

Heijastuksia

The photo above is quite real - no manipulations. Sky's reflections on icy cover of Lake Keitele. (Juha H.)

PikkuPasunat

PasunaPelimannit played a gig in Aanekoski. Well, this time we didn't play any well and there were only five musicians... But fun we did have. This was my last gig before Christmas, I believe. And that's ok. Sometimes it's good to have a break - at least for some days. Any longer vacation is quite hard or impossible for me.

Juha H.

Bos Katsionis ja muuta musaa

I listened Bob Katsionis and his Imaginary Force CD. Melodic and progressive heavy metal. Katsionis is quite a masterful guitar and keyboard player. And he can play both quite masterfully - even at the same time! Nice acquintance.

And I found this. Air-guitar extravaganza.

Back home - all evening I just recorded percussion instruments. And played some flute and domra of course...

Juha H.

While walking on the icy cover of Lake Keitele. (Juha H.)

Keitele

Finally Lake Keitele is frozen over. The icy cover is approximately ten centimeters thick. Sini and I've been walking across - back and forth - for a couple of days. This is nice. But almost no snow. It seems quite likely that there'll be no white cover on ground - at least not before Christmas.

Juha H.

Joulua odotellessa

Music goes on. Jouko T visited and our next joint musical adventure began. He played guitar and I recorded him doing it. Now four tracks of acoustic guitar to four different songs are done. Later I'll add rest of the instruments. And even later MEP is going to sing the songs... And then there'll be even more songs.

Waiting for Christmas holidays.

Juha H.

PasunaPelimannit

Pasunapelimannit played a nice, nice gig today at WanhaAsema, Suolahti. Well, actually there were only half of the band. The venue was way too small for the whole orchestra. Musicians (from left to right): JH(flute), Eero Lahti (domra), Heikki Tourunen (double bass), Kyosti Jarvikallio (acoustic guitar), Reijo Suutala (violin and banjo) and Reijo Korhonen (accordion). Folk music and Christmas Carols for happily smiling audience. (Juha H. Photo: Sini)

Nigthwish, EL ja vapaata...

Last nigth Nightwish played a Great Gig in Jyvaskyla. There was a fire alarm - an interruption during the concert and almost all of the 6500 people of the audience walked, were ordered to go out into the night of Finnish winter, for some moments at least. Well, it was more or less a false alarm... The band was good and Annette sang well, really well. She is very much more Rock than Tarja Turunen - though it may be that Annette is not yet as good a singer... But the most important thing in vocal music is always who composes the songs. - So it was, the band played really well and the singer is a goodish Rock Lady. Thank you very much.

Today I was a part of Eeva-Liisa's concert in Suolahtisali. Some 200- 3o0 peaople in attendance. Nice party!

One more gig to go for this week.

Juha H.

Not really Nigthwish

It's Not Really winter here in Finland. Almost no snow at all. Almost no frost at all... - Anyways later this evening Sini and I are going to see and listen Nightwish in Jyvaskyla. Hope it'll be a good gig. (Juha H.)

Sunset sort of a thing. (Juha H.)

Hoikkaset keikalla

Ensemble Hoikkaset played a gig for local veterans of WWII. Some old-time music, some Christmas Carols and some song accompaniment... This is sort of a tradion. We've been doing it for some years. Music, good food and very thankful and appreciative audience.

And then in the evening - some domra playing.

Juha H.

Ice on ice. (Juha H.)

Harmaa ilta

This winter is so dark - no snow, no light. Merely rain and more or less night all the time.

Ensemble Hoikkaset played a gig. Christmas Carols and some really good food.

J-V visited with his brand new MesaBoogie amplifier.

Now I'm tired - after writing so many lines here...

Juha H.

Sunnuntai

After yesterday's partying with the Machine Men the beginning of the day was a bit slow. But yes fun we did have.

Sini sang a couple of songs into ProTools. And after that I mixed the music. Now one more musical project is done - except the mastering of the whole.

And then - Pirates of the Caribean: At World's end. Imaginary fun for the evening.

Juha H.

Machine Men as a sort of Folk Group...

Machine Men with their roadies visited - and lingered... with - us tonight. The pic above - all of them playing some sort of Folk Music... It must be true... (Juha H.)

Musaa mutta ei Cha-Cha

Now I've recorded two Pena T's songs. Only Sini's singing is missing. Hopefully tomorrow.

It's been raining for some days. All snow is gone. The icy cover of Lake Keitele still lingers - but how long... Winter's gone somehow. Without the snow everything is so dark and murky.

Juha H.

Suomi 90 vuotta

Today Finland is 90 years old. (Juha H.)

Pro Tools 7.4

Finally after a couple of weeks of pondering, wondering I decided to update my ProTools. Now I've got the Version 7.4. Before this evening I had watched some videos of Elastic Time. And that was a revelation - though I've very rarely worked the way it proposes and promises... For years I've done real playing of musical instruments - almost exclusively. Though this may seem stupid or something... But maybe, maybe some Future Day something may change...

Already I recorded some tracks of a Pena T song with the New Version of Pro Tools...

Juha H.

Toinen ilta

One more busy day. And evening again. Maija P. visited and we chanced the plan for our next gig tomorrow. It seems that we're going to do a LIVE-show without actually rehearsing it beforehand - once again... Well this time the whole is approximately ten minutes long.

Maybe some more domra playing and then sleep.

Juha H.

Kuvia, kuvia

All evening I worked with a picture sequence to be performed with some recitation of poetry. Maybe I'll play some recorder, too.

Earlier this evening Eeva-Liisa and Jouko T. visited. We rehearsed some songs to be performed later, later.

And now I'm very tired...

Juha H.

Lake Keitele is frozen over. Any day now the ice is thick enough to walk across... (Juha H.)

Oma musa jatkuu

Very early this morning J-V came here - Suolahti, Finland. And after some sleep he recorded a guitar solo with his Gibson Flying V. Thank you very much. Later today I did record my bass. Now everything is done - for this time, for this particular song. Later some more - and more - music... Tomorrow I'm going to mix this particular song. This is the plan, anyways.

Juha H.