Steely Wonder

Music:

Member Since: 7/28/2007
Band Website: steelywonder.fi
Band Members: The town of Kitee is located in beautiful Eastern Finland, near the Russian border. The winter here is snowy and cold so we are waiting for the spring that we can play out of doors. Our band started rehearsing once a week in autumn -97 at the evening school of Kitee. The school, called Keski Karjalan Kansalaisopisto (was that hard ehough?) arranges many kinds of activities such as courses on foreign languages, music, arts, handicrafts etc... First the band had five players and was led by panmaker and tuner Simo Tiainen. The band played just for fun, but soon was called out to play at various local events. Kitee Steel Band also performed in Laukaa Percussion Festival in 1999. Little by little the repertoire became broader - from calypso to classical music - and new talented players joined.In the autumn 2000 an association was founded to support the playing activities of the band, which now had ten players, some of them from neighbouring villages of Rääkkylä and Tohmajärvi. The band was given a new name -Steely Wonder. Concerts and Pan workshops were held in nearby schools.In November 2001 we organized a steel pan course: top player Chris Wabich from Los Angeles led us in Latin music. The course was sponsored by the Arts Council of North Carelia.Steely Wonder is fully acoustical band and sounds good in a variety of situations. We need no amplification (usually) and don't worry if the electricity is cut off.Players you hear on our new cd Kitee - Brazil : Hannele Hakulinen, Mira Kostamo, Jesse Ojajarvi, Petra Luukkainen, Niina Havukainen, Tiia Turunen Minttu Pirhonen, Elisa Väistö, Tuula Tiainen, Maija Joensuu, Esa-Pekka Turunen, Henri Hukka, Kauko Leppänen, Simo Tiainen. Kaj-Henrik Kanervo. Steelpans made and tuned by Simo Tiainen
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Sounds Like: a Finnish steelband...:D
Record Label: www.pilfink.com
Type of Label: Major