How intrinsically bound is this Finnish alterna-folk duo? Well, imagine if Simon and Garfunkel named themselves Simfunkel, or Hall and Oates recorded as Haltes. Viivi Maria Saarenkylä and Hildá Länsman fused both their names and distinctive musical talents. In their native country it’s seen as one-of-a-kind fusion. To audiences abroad, their sound comes across as so complementary one can be forgiven for assuming that there must be dozens of bands just like this.

Viivi is a champion accordionist who can make her instrument whistle, wail, set tempo or take a breathtakingly wild solo. Hildá, who hails from Finland’s far northern Sámi community, carries on the centuries-old Indigenous tradition of yoik; an intensely nature-based and evocative form of singing, heavy with improvisation and spirituality. The singer and the squeezeboxer met while beginning to study global music at university in Helsinki — one get-to-know-your-classmates jam session, and they were transfixed with each other’s music. To their surprise, accordion and yoik paired well together. Well enough, in fact, that the duo’s talents won a 2021 Music Moves Europe Award.

Their latest album, Vildaluodda (Wildprint), paints a landscape of frosty winds, barren Arctic plains and thick forests, with enough energy left over for a joyous dance number or two. Hildá’s voice can go from contemplative moans to sensuous melody to rapid-fire yelps that almost mimicking her instrumentalist partner’s explosive bursts of notes. It’s no wonder that Vildá has another meaning: it’s the Sámi word for “wild.”

instagram.com/vildaduo

The stated goal of this subversive Danish folk punk band is to prove that “there is no musical idea bad enough, no tune too fast, and no mashup too weird.” What’s not to love!? Sure, three mustachioed young men playing fiddle, guitar and drums with a mission to break down musical borders with dirty gritty folk music seem harmless. Tunes begin sounding traditional, polka-like or mazurka-esque. Then, without warning, all hell breaks loose, becoming a raucous ruckus, mish-mash of rap and punk and bluegrass with some traditional Nordic folk buried inside. Trio Svin (Pig Trio) began their musical search and destroy mission in 2011 while attending university in Sweden and released their debut album Ornernes Magt in 2014. Twice nominated as “talent of the year” at the Danish Folk Music Awards and with critical acclaim too, sort of – “they play like their lives are at stake.” And “a half hour of madness” and “Outrageous!? Terrible!? Amazing!?” Just think, someday you’ll be able to tell your grandkids about the time you saw a Danish folk band and had a head banging good time.

triosvin.dk