Vigil has been known in the history of the Christian Church since its earliest times. The word is Latin and means to watch, to be vigilant. Christ, the Founder of the Church, rose from the dead early on the first day of the week. During the next forty days, he appeared to his disciples and apostles several times. He ascended to Heaven, but before that he had given the promise of his second coming. The expectation of this has been the central theme of the service called the Vigil from the beginning. We await the coming of the Lord, and therefore every night before Sunday is the time for the Vigil.

There have been and are more artists and bands called Kanvas around the world. Behind the suurat album is an impressive group of young jazz musicians led by Oulu-based artist Andrea Martín, who approach jazz from a newer angle that favours pop hooks. Orientat is the second full-length album of this particular canvas, coming just over a year after the debut album Väärität.

Joik – Gods, Spirits, and Shamans. A journey through mysterious mythological worlds, represented by works from Bo Holten, Jaakko Mäntyjärvi and Jan Sandström. In “Regn og Rusk og Rosenbusk” for solo voices and mixed choir, Bo Holten evokes the transience of earthly existence. Jan Sandström’s work is more tempestuous: his fall-wind joik references the ancient singing traditions of the Sami people; Jaakko Mäntyjärvi’s “Pseudo-Yoik,” on the other hand, takes an ironic look at these traditions. Mäntyjärvi also delves into the world of Finnish Kalevala poetry, in which the image of a young girl has long been considered the embodiment of the Finnish nation.

Ismo Alanko, who is currently preparing new music, will perform extensively throughout the country next year. The artist's light and extravagant tour, which has shaped the Finnish Soulscape with his music for four decades, starts at the Finlandia club in Lahti on Friday 27 February.

"Dan Antone" likely refers to Dane Anthony, the lead singer and trumpeter for the Dane Anthony Band, (known for Pop, Rock, Blues), or possibly Daniel Anthony (formerly secular R&B, now Gospel/Neo-Soul).

Toivo Kuula (1883–1918) is one of the many composers who died at a tragically young age – 34 in his case: he was hit by a bullet fired after a brawl at a victory celebration at the end of the Finnish Civil War. The immediacy of the music he wrote during his short life points to the immensity of the loss not only to Finnish culture but to music more generally – as this second album of two, presenting his entire output of songs for solo voice and piano, makes abundantly clear. The range of moods captured here is striking; the most passionate of these songs generate an operatic intensity in their short span, in a style that balances directness of expression and rich late-Romantic harmonies.

On my new album Kuulin kui Helizi fado, the saudade of Portuguese fado is combined with Finnish melancholy and longing from the Karelian runic songlands. My Karelian background has led me to look for common- alities between these cultural concepts and to find a musical form where they feed into each other.

Sámi poet-musician Niillas Holmberg and saxophonist-composer Pauli Lyytinen will release their long-awaited collaborative album Naarattu laulu on October 24, 2025 via Eclipse Music. The album will be available on streaming platforms, CD, and vinyl LP. The vinyl edition includes a 12-page poetry booklet featuring Holmberg’s poetry and photographs.

I dreamed of a faraway land-the album's music is inspired by six paintings from the history of Finnish visual art.

The Finnish pianist, composer, and piano teacher Ilmari Hannikainen (1892 - 1955) wrote over one hundred solo songs. As a child, he accompanied his mother, the singer Alfhild "Alli" Hannikainen (1967 - 1949), on the piano. His own songs bear dedications to her and to many other well-known Finnish singers of the time, some of whom he also performed with. As late as the 1950s, he recorded several songs for Finnish Radio, but unfortunately, only a few of the recordings have survived.

"The first time I heard the vibraphonist Severi Pyysalo, who appears on the album, was when he was 16 years old. I was sold by then, he has always been a role model for me.

Varjola, named as suomirock's black sheep, released his long-worked debut album ”100 ugly emotional states”today. The band's first album is a cross-section of Varjola's production from the last couple of years.

Einojuhani Rautavaara and Kalevi Aho, teacher and pupil, are both key figures in the Finnish music of their respective generations. Rautavaara’s musical language evolved from neoclassicism through dodecaphony and the stylistic freedom of the 1960s before he eventually allowed himself to choose his expressive idiom according to the individual requirements of his works. Towards the end of his career, his works took on a very consistent, softtoned character. For his part, Aho also began his career using a freely applied neoclassical style before gradually progressing to a more varied, at times modernist expressive and incisive approach.

Eero Koivistoinen Quartet's rare live album from 1978 reissued for the first time in nearly half a century via Svart Records. Eero Koivistoinen is one of the all-time greats in Finnish jazz and saxophone, arrived in the Finnish jazz scene in the mid-60s. Ever since, he has been one of the most distinguished and trusted jazz musicians in Finland. He is known for his versatility and creativeness, his tastes ranging from pithy jazz solos to large-scale orchestral works. In addition to the band leader and saxophonist Koivistoinen, the line-up of Eero Koivistoinen Quartet included the accomplished musicians Pekka Sarmanto (bass), Reiska Laine (drums) and Vladimir Shafranov (piano), and the same line-up remained active for the next two years. They released the legendary album Labyrinth on Love Records in June 1977, which is a definite cornerstone of Finnish Jazz.