Syksyn kutsu

Call of Autumn. Above what I wrote today - something musically very simple. - Rarely these days you see hand-written sheet-music... Almost all composers notate with Sibelius or Finale. I still do it with my hands - or is this just some joke...? (Juha H.)

Turkki

One more photo from Alanya, Turkey. Now all pics are burned on DVD and it's time to move on. Tomorrow may fall the first snow... That's something else to photograph. (Juha H.)

Kolme kokematonta

Finally after almost three weeks of not recording anything I had some time to lay down a couple of tracks for my song Kolme kokematonta (= Three not yet experienced). Words are from Kanteletar. The poem is a story of three things a young woman has not yet experienced in her life - and she tells of six things she hasn't met yet: mother-in-law's bread not tasted, father-in-law's bridges not crossed, not born again, not a eaten raven's meat... And the whole is actually a story of proud independence of this young lady.

Juha H.

Veistoksia

Some sculptures from Alanya, Turkey. (Juha H.)

Kaval ja Peter F. Hamilton

Slowly so slowly I'm learning to play - to blow properly my Kaval-flute. Fingerings are not the problem or not so hard to learn but how to make the instrument sing beautifully. Time and persistence it'll take.

For a couple of days I've been reading The Temporal Void written by Peter F. Hamilton. Space opera in grande scale. Hard Science Fiction and Fantasy mixed in a weird way...

Juha H.

Ney ja Kaval

Earlier today Jopo sent with Messenger his photos from our journey to Alanya, Turkey. Above Jopo and I hold Ney-flutes in our hands. And the young guy shows us how to play Kaval-flute. (Juha H. ; photo: Riikka)

Kuvia ja musaa

Most of the day I played with different instruments - flute, alto sax, kaval-flute, guitar, domra, piano, recorder... Later Sini and I sent here photos taken during our trip to Alanya, Turkey.

Juha H.

Dream Theater

Right now Dream Theater is playing their music through my Living room's DVD-player. While in Turkey last week I had received their latest DVD - Chaos in Motion ... And now after a whole week of working with photos and other projects Sini and I had the time to watch and listen to the musical-DVD properly. And once again Dream Theater is a wonder - well, more than that... it is a miracle.

Juha H.

Turkin vuorilla

While trekking the Turkish mountains. - Now all the photos Sini and I took during our visit in Alanya are fixed... (Juha H.)

Muuri

Rampart - Kale Castle, Alanya. - All evening I've just fixed photos. Above one of them. Now there are only a couple of hundreds to go... (Juha H.)

Merimaisema

Alanya from the sea. All evening I've been checking and doing minor fixes to the photos that I took while in Turkey last week... And there's still lots to do. (Juha H.)

Kale-linnoitus ja Kaval-huilu

Above scene from the Kale castle to city of Alanya. - All evening I've been playing different musical instruments. And the most surprising has been Kaval-flute, which I bought from Turkey. Even its basics seem to be hard to learn . But it sounds so beautiful and fascinating. Lowest octave sings like a clarinet! Weeks for the basics and years for its mastering. (Juha H.)

Takaisin Turkista

Back from Alanya, Turkey. A week off in a nice and warm place. There was alot to see - an old and vast castle from the time of the Ottoman Empire, friendly people and good food...

Juha H.

Improvisages keikalla

Jori and I played a church concert with a female choir. Most of the music was religious but some of it was not, merely peaceful. I performed mostly with Jori and the VeryNaisQuintet (=Very Nice/Female Quintet). But I took part in some songs with the whole choir, too. Jori played his trusty Nord Stage 88 and conducted the singers. I played flute, recorders and Roland Handsonic. More than half of what I did was improvised. And that was good. - The concert as a whole was quite nice.

Tomorrow Sini and I'll travel to Alanya, Turkey. For a week - no blogging.

Juha H.

Johanna Iivananen ja Marian Petrescu

An Evening with Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson - performed by Johanna Iivanainen and Marian Petrescu Trio. That was the main course for this evening. Concert of older jazz wonderfully and extremely skilfully performed in Suolahtisali. Marian Petrescu is possibly the fastest jazz pianist living in Finnland. And today he played sometimes fiercely, sometimes softly. Very fine and high musicianship. Johanna Iivanainen is a very talented singer. I heard her last spring before today. Now she was even better. Maybe it was because of the musicians - Marian Petrescu, his fantastic bass playing brother Mihai Petrescu and her guitar playing husband Mikko Iivanainen.

During the 1990-ies I had the privilege and honour to play in the same band with Petrescu brothers. We did have some great time, some good gigs.

Here's an example of Marian Petrescu performing.

Juha H.

Musaa

Sini sang my song Missä armahani? (=Where's my loved one?). And nicely she did sing it. Thank you very much. The words are old Finnish poetry - an excerpt from Kanteletar. I mixed the song and bounced the whole to HardDisk.

Juha H.

Lokakuu

October, one of those brighter days. (Juha H.)

Viimeinen

One of the last ones. - All evening I once again recorded and mixed music. Tenor recorder is a bit hard to play and it sounds so gloomy. That was what I needed though... (Juha H.)

Syksyn tuulia

Sini and I walked quite alot today in the windy weather while colourful leaves kept on falling all around us. It's so good to trek in the coolness of Autumn.

J-V visited and recorded a fantastic guitar solo to my song Missä armahani? (= Where is my loved one?). The song itself is more or less Finnish Folk Music, sort of. But he could do it just fine.

During the evening I mixed my song Armahan kulku (= The way my Loved One Walks). Yesterday Sini sang it. Thank you very much.

Juha H.

Sumua aamulla

Cool, foggy and beautiful morning, Lake Keitele. (Juha H.)

Terve

Above what I wrote today. I really don't know if it's worth anything. It's way too early to tell. It's just some notes written on paper. Well, is it rock or is it some jazz...? ( Juha H.)

Kirjavaa

Soon all these colours are gone and there'll be only grey, brown and some green left... But let's cherish these last beautiful days. - When the snow later covers the ground the light'll return.(Juha H.)

Takapiha

View from my backyard. Autumn is sometimes beautiful and so it is this year. From now on the colours will slowly fade and in the end - cold winter... (Juha H.)