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KITEE STEEL BAND Finland
Below you see the brave tuner, probably the most Northern Steel Pan Tuner.
You might think he is sinking a pan, but actually he is defending himself against the polar bears, the Finnish mosquitos and other nasty beasts.
Seriously: Simo is a very GOOOD Finnish Panmaker, Tuner, Leader, Arranger, Musician
Mail to Simo Tiainen
This is Simo, who has written the following
Kitee Steel Band
The town of Kitee is located in beautiful Eastern Finland, near the Russian border.
The winter here is snowy and cold so we are waiting for the spring that we can play
outdoors.
Our band started rehearsing once a week in autumn -97 at the evening
school of Kitee. The school, which is called Keski Karjalan Kansalaisopisto
(was that hard ehough?) arranges many kinds of activities such as courses on
foreign languages, music, arts, handicrafts and so on.
It's a fortune that all the members of the band have been playing other musical
instruments before we started playing pans. Most of them have played piano for years,
but there are also three fine drummers in the band!
We don't have any special style yet as we like to play whatever suits best
and feels good. So we have some reggae, some evergreens and even some CCR, which
was a famous band when I was a kid. Maybe you can ask your uncle more about that band.
He knows.
The majority of the band are about 15 years old and two of us are over 30 ,but the gap of generations has not bothered us so far. At least the fellows haven't kicked us out yet...
The members of Kitee Steel Band are:
Simo Tiainen - Drums, Percussion,
Leader, Arranger, Tuner
| The Players | |
|---|---|
| Juha Hurskainen | Lead Pan |
| Izmo Havukainen | Lead Pan |
| Tuula Ollikainen | Double Seconds |
| Markku Hurskainen | Double Guitar |
| Maija Helminen | Double Guitar |
| Leena Kopperi | Double Guitar |
| Jukka Melasaari | Six Bass |
| Jaakko Hyvärinen | Percussion |
| Simo Tiainen | Percussion |
So , now you have learned how to make a Finnish last name. Just cut the end of your name and then add those three magical letters, "nen", there! A piece of cake!
Perhaps more story is to come later. Feel free to contact me for more information.
Ja erityisesti iloisessa Itä-Suomessa asuvat pannuista kiinnostuneet,
ottakaapa yhteyttä jos haluatte kokeilla pannuja tai kuulla steelbandiä ihka elävänä.
Kerron ja näytän mielelläni lisää.
Contact:
Simo Tiainen
Lahdentie 2
82500 Kitee
FINLAND
Phone +358-(0)13-422259, cellular +358-(0)400 973272
e-mail Simo Tiainen
Kitee players.
Notice the Kitee style of playing Tenor Bass!
Simo has started with Pan also in
Petrozavodsk (Petroskoi), Russia last summer.
Petrozavodsk players
Write to Simo. You can write in Finnish, too. Simo knows Finnish. He is Finnish you know. Kirjoitelkaa nyt Simolle vaikka englanniksi, se on hianompaa!