Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble

In the organizer's words:

In 2009, Finnish guitarist Janne Halonen traveled to Benin, West Africa, to study the rhythms of voodoo. There he became friends with the master percussionist and singer Noël Saïzonou, and the idea of a band was born. In 2021, the Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble had already played in 17 countries and was preparing to release its fifth album.

When Janne traveled to Cotonou, Benin's most populous city, for the first time in 2009, he asked: "Who is The Man? Who should I meet?" Everyone pointed him in the direction of singer and percussionist Noël Saïzonou. "When we met for the first time, we greeted each other like old friends," Janne recalls. This was followed by several years of songwriting sessions together, during which Noël came to Finland several times. During this time, they got to know each other and developed their own sound.

For three years, Halonen and Saïzonou exchanged ideas and searched for the right musicians for their project. When Saïzonou visited Finland in 2011, he was joined by drummer Juha Räsänen and bassist Sampo Riskilä. This quartet formed the core of the Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble, which was reinforced with top local musicians both in Europe and Africa.

In 2012, Janne Halonen traveled back to Benin with his fellow musicians from Helsinki. A 4,000-mile flight, a flat tire and a clandestine boat trip eventually led Janne, Juha and Sampo to a recording studio in Cotonou. During a six-week stay, the group experienced incredible adventures in the homeland of voodoo, rehearsed daily and recorded their debut album Beaucoup de Piment ("A Lot of Chili"). The album was later completed and mixed in Finland. Its release on May 7, 2013 was followed by a 19-concert tour and enthusiastic press reviews.

Since then, the Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble has grown to eight members, released four albums, toured four continents and received numerous positive reviews. In 2020, Finnish broadcaster YLE produced a documentary/concert film about the band's performance at the Finnish "Ethnogala" awards ceremony, where they had been nominated for the "Band of the Year" and "Intersection" awards the previous year. In 2019, the ensemble organized a 20th anniversary concert of the World Village Festival in the center of Helsinki, where they accompanied several top Finnish artists on stage. Other highlights of their long journey include performances at the Sziget Festival in Hungary (2014), a showcase at WOMEX in Las Palmas (2018), the ACC World Music Festival in South Korea (2019) and a Benin tour in 2015.

The Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble impresses its audiences not only with intense atmospheres and rousing, virtuoso performances, but also with fresh and carefully composed songwriting. As composers, Saïzonou and Halonen are different enough to create a completely new blend, but both have the musical ability to complement each other. Inspired by the roots of Afrobeat, they use their jazz experience to enhance voodoo rhythms with a modern, urban twist.

Price information:

B.O. 28, discount 50%, U20 free