Kimmo Pohjonen

Kimmo Pohjonen (born August 16, 1964) is a Finnish accordionist who is known for his avant-garde and experimental work with his custom-made electrified and modified instrument. He has released nine albums of his work and has toured Europe extensively, as well as performances in Japan and some in North America. He records and performs both solo and in collaboration with musicians and other artists, including the Kronos Quartet, and percussionist Pat Mastelotto and guitarist Trey Gunn of King Crimson. Pohjonen still lives in Finland when not on the road. He has performed with one of his daughters, Saana, who plays the drums.

Early life Pohjonen began playing the accordion at age eight with the family's dance band. He grew up playing Finnish folk music and has called his father his first accordion hero, but says he did not really appreciate what the instrument could do until much later. After becoming interested in the accordion playing of Texas and Cajun Louisiana and of musicians such as Flaco Jimenez and Queen Ida, along with the music of bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla, he went to Buenos Aires to learn Piazzolla's tango nuevo. After graduation he recorded folk music with Järvelä and part of a duo called Pinnin Pojat (the Pinni Boys) and began to write folk music. The duo released four CDs including Gogo 4. As part of the short-lived group Ottopasuuna, with Kari Reiman from Värttinä, he released two albums. Since the early 2000s he has focused on solo touring.

Other collaboration include that with artist Maria Liulia, creating a multimedia show called Animator. Mastelotto says of performing live with Pohjonen "Dangerous, Intense. His energy and testosterone levels are high. We go into a trance on stage. Our performances are built around very dynamic musical arrangements and it seems to me at times like I am riding on a horse on an ocean wave – I let the bridle go and let this massive energy set the path over the shifting terrain." One production featured the participation of Finnish wrestlers, who performed moves with Pohjonen in the middle. A number of the moves and actions are based on stories the wrestlers themselves told the musician. The idea for the show began when Pohjonen found out that in the first half of the 20th century in Finland, it was customary to have an accordion player to perform as a dramatic backdrop to the matches. He then began a process of forming a relationship with wrestlers, including appearing at practice bouts uninvited to play his accordion. For the Earth Machine Music tour he incorporated sounds from farms including banging an oil tank with a hammer, bleating sheep and other animal sounds. The idea was to bring sounds from farms to people in the cities. The tour was to four farms in England, where he recorded the sounds he could make at each one, then mixed with accordion composition in the studio. Final performances were at each of these same four farms. The Kalmuk project is named after a southern Russian tribe, and inspire by a painting by artist Martti Innanen, which shows elements of shamanism.