Top 10 Albums of 2010

2010 has come and gone, and I got to hear a healthy amount of quality music. The bottom half of this year's top 10 list was pretty hard to sort out, as there were more worthy candidates than available spots. I can't promise that I wouldn't change the list if I wrote it up again tomorrow. Anyway, Happy New Year, and let's hope for more good stuff in 2011.

10. Red Priest, Johann, I'm Only Dancing: I learned much less about the music of J. S. Bach in the music courses I took in high school and college than I did from listening to this CD.

9. Vilma Timonen Quartet, Forward: And they do move forward, thanks to more vocals.

8. Simon Fagan, Outside Looking In: This one gets bonus points for overall consistency.

7. Vampire Weekend, Contra: Another band gets better the second time around.

6. Amadou & Mariam, Welcome to Mali: It's the kind of album that will annoy a purist. But purists tend to miss out on a lot of good music.

5. The National, High Violet: The last two songs, "England" and "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks," really pushed this album up the list.

4. Ozomatli, Fire Away: Some people will complain that they've gotten more commercial, but they've also gotten more musical and still have the same energy.

3. Richard Thompson, Dream Attic: From the 60s to the 10s. That makes six decades during which he's made essential music.

2. Johnny Clegg, Human: Like Richard Thompson, he's aged well, and deserves a much bigger following.

1. Jesca Hoop, Hunting My Dress: Definitely the most original recording I've heard in a while, and she backs up her originality with some quality songwriting.

Vilma Timonen Quartet, Forward (Kanteleen Ääniä, 2009)

Finland's Vilma Timonen Quartet combine jazz with traditional folk music centered around Finland's most distinct instrument, the kantele. The kantele is a string instrument which can be plucked or strummed, and sounds like a harp with a bit more reverberation. It comes in several different forms, and Vilma Timonen is particularly a master of the 10 and 15 string kanteles. The quartet's 2007 CD VTQ was almost exclusively instrumental, leaning towards darker and heavier styles of jazz. By contrast, their new album Forward features both songs and instrumentals, and the music is more accessible on the whole.

Having met Timonen and guitarist/trumpeter Topi Korhonen several years ago through the Maine Kantele Institute, I know how good a singer Timonen is, and I felt the first album suffered somewhat from the lack of vocals. Happily, Timonen employs her voice quite liberally on Forward. Two songs in particular, the aggressive "Kokko" and the dreamlike waltz "Marraskuura," are the best tracks on the album. Bassist Ape Antilla and drummer Mikko Hassinen provide a rock solid backbone underneath Timonen and Korhonen's interweaving strings. Stylistically speaking, Forward mixes some upbeat, groove-oriented tunes like "Getting Your Hopes Up" in with the kind of impressionistic pieces that characterized much of their debut.

Indeed, the good variety on this album makes it a significant step forward (no pun intended) for the band. They seem to have found the right combination of melody and muscle, with the vocals adding a beneficial extra dimension. Vilma Timonen Quartet are four very talented musicians, and with Forward they seem to be hitting their best stride.

Overall grade: A-

reviewed by Scott

Segments from a recent live performance of VTQ in Finland

Vilma Timonen Quartet, VTQ (Texicali, 2007)

I've had the distinct pleasure of meeting the Finnish kantele player Vilma Timonen during two different editions of the Maine Kantele Institute. I can personally vouch for her not only being a top notch musician and instructor, but a very likable person as well. Timonen, among many other projects, fronts a quartet consisting of herself on kantele, fellow MKI instructor Topi Korhonen on guitar, Ape Anttila on bass, and Mikko Hassinen on drums. On the CD VTQ, she and her group combine traditional Finnish kantele music with jazzy experimentation and impressionism. Other than some wordless vocalizing on a handful of tracks, the album is entirely instrumental.

VTQ actually reminds me a lot of another CD I've reviewed by somebody I know personally, namely Vjola: World on Four Strings by the New York violist Ljova. Both albums combine straightforward, traditional and folk-inspired pieces with original compositions of a much more challenging nature. Having only a very limited exposure to impressionism and the darker, harder-edged side of jazz, I found portions of both albums very hard to judge. That being said, there are tracks on both albums that are very easy to like. In the case of VTQ, the album is really strong at the beginning, with the first three tracks all being fun and lively. On the mellower side, the penultimate track "Lumi" features some really nice interplay between the kantele and guitar.

While the darker, edgier tracks on the album might not work for everybody, VTQ does reflect a very high degree of musicianship and creativity from Timonen and her quartet. People with broad, adventurous musical tastes should find more than enough to like about this album.

Overall grade: B+

reviewed by Scott

part of a live performance of "Carelian"

Maine Kantele Institute, Lisbon ME, August 3-9 2008

The Maine-based organization Kantele Laulu was started several years ago to promote Finnish music and culture in general, with a particular emphasis on the national instrument of Finland, the kantele. A harp-like instrument made in several different sizes and shapes, the kantele has existed for at least two thousand years and is featured prominently in the Finnish national epic poem the Kalevala. Part of Kantele Laulu's activities involve a performing group called The Maine Kanteles, who give concerts around Maine and in some nearby states. Founding member Sarah Cummings-Ridge, a schoolteacher of Finnish descent, wanted to expand the reach of the organization to people interested in Finnish music beyond the immediate vicinity. So in 2003, Kantele Laulu put on the first Maine Kantele Institute. Bringing in people from across the United Sates and Canada, this gathering combined instruction and performance on the kantele with a building workshop where people could build their own kantele with the help of a prominent Finnish luthier. While similarly structured workshops and camps exist in the United States for the music and dances of other Scandinavian countries, the MKI was the first American camp devoted specifically to instruction in the musical traditions of Finland. For the second MKI in 2004, group instruction in the Finnish pelimanni (group playing, traditionally involving several fiddlers and maybe one or two accompanists) tradition was added. The MKI first came to my attention that year; the pelimanni instruction made me curious enough to make the trip, and I wound up having a great time. A shortage of grant money put the Institute on hiatus for a few years, but happily the MKI returned last month, with four instructors and approximately 20 attendees.

St. Matthew's Episcopal Church

The primary difference between this edition of the MKI and the previous one was the change of location. It had gotten too expensive to hold it along the waterfront in South Portland, and this time around it was held further inland at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Lisbon Falls. Three of the four teachers remained the same. Vilma Timonen is a professional singer and kantele player. Topi Korhohen, who taught guitar and pelimanni class, has been a guest musician with the excellent Finnish/Norwegian folk band Frigg. Erkki Okkonen is an accomplished bassist, but is better known for his instrument-making skills. The new instructor was Anna-Karin Korhonen, who also taught kantele.

The first night performance (photo by Paul Taras)

The MKI convened on Sunday, August 3. The primary function of the first day was to arrive, greet everybody, and get acquainted with the location. I got to touch base with a number of people that I met four years ago, but there were plenty of new faces as well. Sunday evening featured a short performance put on by the four instructors. Most of the performance predictably revolved around the kantele, but Vilma is a really good singer as well, and Topi and Erkki are first-rate musicians. They had to compete with a thunderstorm outside however. Rain would be a frequently recurring theme throughout the week.

The classes started on Monday. Lessons ran in different rooms of the church from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday. In addition to kantele instruction at several different levels of difficulty, there were two pelimanni groups, a singing and dancing course, and plenty of private instruction. I took a beginner's kantele course with Anna-Karin; I figured that since I went through the trouble of building a kantele last time, I should also go through the trouble of actually learning how to play it. I also played guitar and bouzouki in the one of Topi's pelimanni sessions. Like last time we lacked any fiddlers, but we still managed well enough. We had one other guitarist, a kantele, an accordion, and two professional-caliber flute players. We had no fiddlers, who dominate typical Finnish pelimanni groups, but we still had a pretty good balance of instruments. I also got some one-on-one guitar lessons with Topi, and picked up a few new tunes and some new ways to play chords as well.

Instrument builders hard at work

Each attendee had gaps between courses, allowing time to practice, to explore, or for many of us, to go to the "building building" and work on their new instruments under Erkki's guidance. Many kanteles of different sizes were built, but two intrepid people instead built jouhikkos for themselves. (The jouhikko is a very old fiddle-like instrument peculiar to Finland and Karelia.) I didn't see the need to build another instrument this time around, so I mostly practiced in my spare time, and took walks when the weather actually allowed. I also got to her the singing group practice in the main part of the church. They always sounded really good.

Chris and Tooty in the kitchen (photo by Paul Taras)

Lunch, dinner, and snacks were provided by Chris Frazier and Tooty Wilson, two members of the Maine Kanteles. They spent most of the week in the church kitchen cooking and preparing food. We ate like kings all week, and all of us who were there are very grateful for their efforts. The culinary highlight came on Tuesday, when the Finns were treated to their first Thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey and all the trimmings. Lunch and dinner were communal affairs, and provided everybody with the best opportunities to socialize.

For the first three days of the week, dinner was followed by a discussion. The topics ranged from the history of the kantele and it's role in the Kalevala to the art of instrument building. Thursday night was much less serious, though. It's a custom in Finnish music camps to reserve a night for "Hupi Ilta" (literally "fun night"), which consists of a series of comedy sketches conceived and performed by both the students and the instructors, and the MKI has brought this custom over here. The evening was quite silly and entertaining. Highlights included a parody of the Olympics in which everybody participated, and the four instructors doing a hilarious song describing the week's activities.

From the Friday night concert (photo by Paul Taras)

On Friday night, the church hosted a concert open to the general public. The instructors headlined the show, but the Maine Kanteles played as well. In addition, some of the attendees played what they'd been working on all week. I got to go up with the pelimanni group, and we performed a waltz and a polska. The turnout was pretty good, and the whole show appeared to be well-received.


Topi and myself (photo by Paul Taras)

The musical activities ended on Saturday morning, with performance of everything learned during the week that people didn't get a chance to perform on Friday night. This was not a public show; rather, the attendees performed informally for each other. Along with one more pelimanni piece, I played a pair of guitar duets with Topi. One was a polska played by Frigg, and the other came from the Danish duo Haugaard and Høirup.


On Saturday night, we all drove down to Bailey Island on the Atlantic Coast. We visited the Land's End Gift Shop, and had dinner at Cook's Lobster House. The Maine coastline is quite beautiful, and the weather mercifully cooperated for the first time all week.It was a good place to do one last bit of socializing and say our goodbyes until next time. I'm not entirely certain when next time will be. It could be next year, it could be longer, depending on things like grant money and how frequently people are willing and able to make the trip. I will say that I've had a blast both times I've gone, and I certainly hope I can do this again.

Sarah Cummings-Ridge, Vilma Timonen, and Anna-Karin Korhonen