Jari Mäenpää

Jari Mäenpää

Jari Mäenpää at Bloodstock Open Air in 2011.
Background information
Born (1977-12-23) 23 December 1977
Origin Helsinki, Finland
Genres Melodic death metal, folk metal, power metal,[1] Viking metal, melodic black metal
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter
Instruments Vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass
Years active 1997−present
Labels Spinefarm
Low Frequency
Nuclear Blast
Associated acts Wintersun, Cadacross, Ensiferum, Immemorial, ArthemesiA
Website www.wintersun.fi

Jari Mäenpää (born 23 December 1977, in Finland) is a Finnish guitarist, keyboardist, bassist, songwriter and vocalist. He is the founder of the band Wintersun in which he performs vocals, plays guitar and keyboards. He also played bass on Wintersun's first album before hiring a full-time line-up. Before forming Wintersun, Mäenpää was best known for his time in the folk metal band Ensiferum, which he joined in 1996 after leaving his prior band named Immemorial.[2] Wintersun was initially planned as a parallel project alongside Ensiferum, but in January, 2004 he was forced to leave Ensiferum due to clashes between their touring schedule and the studio recording time he had booked for Wintersun.

In 1997, Mäenpää had to put his musical career on hold to take part in Finland's compulsory military service. In an interview, Mäenpää admitted he disliked the time he spent in the military and suspects it's where he acquired tuberculosis.[3]

Jari was also a member of the band Arthemesia, and participated in Kimmo Miettinen's sideproject Lost Alone.

Writing style

“ I have a little bit of a mournful, melancholic, majestic or kinda "spacy" way of writing, when it comes to melodies. Although everything is not melancholic, but rather "heroic" like you said, but I don't know if it's the right word to describe it. It's difficult to find adjectives to describe the feeling of my own music - it's just me. When I wrote songs to Ensiferum (few songs like "Lai Lai Hei and "Token of Time"), I first needed to get into that "folk mood", before the music came out of me. Wintersun's music just comes out naturally. I don't mean to write certain things. It just happens, I guess. ”

Jari's style of guitar playing utilizes tremolo-picked melodies and phrases and the heavy use of extremely fast sweep-picking solos and breaks as heard on most of the songs. The speed of Wintersun's music is due in part to the use of blast beats and quick, spacey keyboard lines. This gives the guitar a charging, power metal feel for the most part.[4]

Notable instruments

Discography

Band Year of release Title Label
Immemorial No commercial release Ensiferum - Immemorial Split Demo
Ensiferum 1997 Demo 1
Ensiferum 1999 Demo 2
Ensiferum 1999 Hero in a Dream
ArthemesiA 2001 Devs - Iratvs Native North
Ensiferum 2001 Ensiferum Spinefarm
Cadacross 2002 Corona Borealis Low Frequency
Ensiferum 2004 Iron Spinefarm
Wintersun 2004 Wintersun Nuclear Blast
Ensiferum 2005 1997-1999 (compilation)
Wintersun 2012 Time I Nuclear Blast
Wintersun TBA Time II Nuclear Blast

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ http://www.metaleater.com/interviews-wintersun12292004.php

External links

New title Vocalist for Ensiferum
Guitarist for Ensiferum
1996–2004 		Succeeded by
Petri Lindroos
Keyboardist for ArthemesiA
1998–2001 		Succeeded by
Magistra Nocte
Guitarist for ArthemesiA
1998–2006 		Succeeded by
S.M. NekroC
Bassist for Wintersun
2004 		Succeeded by
Jukka Koskinen
Vocalist for Wintersun
Guitarist for Wintersun
Keyboardist for Wintersun
since 2004 		Incumbent


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