~ extremecopyrightviolation tour 2008 ~
"Like Jimi Hendrix meets Bill Hicks"
- Vesa Rahkola
Armed only with a bottleneck slide, a resonator guitar, no turntables and a microphone, Alaska Kalanen stomps and shouts his story from street corners to stages worldwide. Described as an acoustic DJ, representing the best aspects of socially conscious hip hop seamlessly blended with the uncommon depth of delta blues, Kalanen’s soundscapes are fresh and uncompromisingly original. Snatched by the NYPD on multiple occasions for his opposition to the Iraq war, singing for freedom in Belarus on the underground circuit, and proudly associating with the struggle for justice in the Niger Delta, Kalanen rejects any attempt to label him an entertainer. Like the preaching blues players of the 1920’s, by way of Jimi Hendrix, Alaska uses music to relate his experiences to thinking people with a raw honesty, positivity and humor that has been appreciated by audiences from Estonia to Japan to Nigeria. Kalanen will sing, rap, beatbox, sweat, jump, laugh, stomp the floorboards, grunt, bleed from his fingers, sample mouth trumpet, and pummel breakbeats out of his guitar, to make music that kills apathy, not boredom.
Alaska Kalanen is also the voice and producer behind Helsinki's innovative hip hop & delta blues duo The Soul Hustlers, and he has toured extensively with Finland’s No.1 hip hop act Don Johnson Big Band. Many distinguished artists have teamed up to take the stage with Alaska, including DJ Hereill, Jaakko Pimperi / Jaakko & Jay, Petteri Sariola, Felix Zenger, DJ Neveready, Bullfrog Brown, Paleface, Jaska Prepula, Maxwell Eaton, Emma Salokoski, Pekka Kuusisto, Gabro, Maz, Staffro, Jo' Buddy, Wille Granö, Tõnis Kärson, and Pille Siht. Kalanen has been honored to perform at some of Finland’s most legendary venues (Tavastia, Nosturi, Bar Mary, YO-Talo, Liberte, Faces Ethnofest, Klubi, Turku Jazz, PuistoBlues..)
BOOKING: toni -at- nordicblues.fi
"a great singer-songwriter and guitarist... Original, haunting, blues-drenched songs."
- Green Bullet, London
"Truly intense stuff"
- Isabel record shop, Finland
"Great album. It's one of my short list CDs for long car trips."
- Robert Young Pelton, adventurer
"Alaska Kalanen demonstrates... great talent in the interpretation of the country blues...indispensable"
- Josep Palmada, Red Hot Blues, Spain
"[Alaska] smoothly set the right mood, and I believe yours truly was excited enough to give some shouts while the blues riffs were bouncing off the stage... It's great to be completely stunned every once in a while."
- Sue liveraportit
"Finland isn't big enough for this guy."
- Steve Gardner
"Fans of Robert Johnson... and similar artists should listen to this talented young man."
- Bobtje Blues
"At last, there's something good coming out of Hyvinkää..."
- Desibeli.net
