JPP

JPP at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival in 2015

JPP is a group of Finnish folk musicians, mainly fiddlers, hailing from Kaustinen. The name originally meant Järvelän Pikkupelimannit, the small fiddlers of Järvelä, but today the group only uses the abbreviation JPP. The group still uses the Kaustinen traditional settings with fiddles, harmonium and double bass, although their arrangements are more advanced than earlier generations of traditional musicians in the area used. The group's repertoire consists of traditional tunes as well as newly written items in the old style dance rhythms - polskas, waltzes, schottisches etc. - but also some Finnish style tangos, and you can hear some jazz and bluegrass influences as well. The main part of the group's own compositions and arrangements are made by the group members Arto Järvelä and Timo Alakotila.

The brothers Jouni and Arto Järvelä are the fourth generation of folk musicians (in Finnish pelimanni), and JPP did originally come by as a part of the group Järvelän Pelimannit that mainly consisted of the older musicians of the village Järvelä. JPP developed the tradition further by their arrangements and by, inspired by another of the local folk music groups, playing not only the local tunes but also those from other parts of the country. Most of the members have studied at the Sibelius-Akatemia university of music, mainly at the folk music department.

For many years the band consisted of Jouni and Arto Järvelä, their uncle Mauno Järvelä, Jarmo and Juha Varila on fiddle, Timo Alakotila on harmonium and Janne Virkkala on double bass. Later Jouni Järvelä and the Varila brothers were replaced by Matti Mäkelä och Tommi Pyykönen, first at tours and later also at recordings. Timo Myllykangas was the group's bass player for some time, now replaced by Antti Järvelä. The group does not make as many records today as they did in the 90s, but the group still tours both in Europe and to North America, mainly to folk music/world music festivals.

Besides JPP, the members have several other projects. Especially Arto Järvelä and Tima Alakotila are involved in many other groups, both pure folk music and fusions with other styles. Mauno Järvelä used to play in symphony orchestra, and is currently very active as a teacher in violin and pelimanni music. His method of teaching children to play violin, related to the Suzuki method, is widely nicknamed the sisuki method.

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