Finland's Sillanpaa Family Band'o

Saturday, July 5 @ 8PM - Lost Dog Lounge

Admission: $5 or free to 2008 Passport Holders

Crossing Borders LIVE, WVBR's multicultural radio concert series, is pleased to present on Saturday, July 5th, the first performance in the Finger Lakes of the 2008 tour of Finland's Sillanpaa Family Band'o, a yearly favorite at the Grassroots Festival and across the US. The family group features Seppo, Jemina and Selina Sillanpaa and they arrive with the release a fresh Cd that features the songwriting of Jemina and Selina, titled Huu.

Jemina and Selina Sillanpaa have been studying music since they were still in kindergarten, formally and at home and festivals. Selina is currently studying musical theatre at Lahti University of Applied Sciences; Jemina is studying acting at the Theatre Academy in Helsinki, while also acting in TV and in two 2006 movies. Father Seppo has been playing folk and country music since he was a teenager. His first professional group was called Vanha Isanta and during that time he also worked as a studio musician and as a visiting musician for other bands such as Cumulus and Pihasoittajat. The first Seppo Sillanpaa solo recordings came out some ten years later after a period of finishing studies of musicology, teaching music and several radio jobs. Two CDs led to the formation of a new string band that played large folk festivals in Finland in the beginning of the 90s, including backing up Peter Rowan.

The next two Sillanpaa albums featured children's music and Seppo's own daughters Jemina and Selina as singers. A new six-piece group played music for children in 1994-95 and also made 10 TV shows for the national channel 2. In 1995 Seppo began playing folk music with the girls as a trio and gave some of the first concerts in USA during a radio survey trip to Ithaca New York. The next two U.S. concert tours were in the summer of 1997 and 1999, during which they recorded a new bilingual album called Moon Madness. Previous connections with Ithaca, New York include appearances on Bound for Glory and video recording sessions.

Over the next 8 years, the family toured extensively on the US west coast and festivals in Finland, changed its name to Band'o, recorded several more Cds including Away, re-invented the band sound and line-up, and ultimately arrived at the solid sound of Huu, featuring all original songs by Jemina and Selina. For more information, go to http://www.sillanpaa.info or http://www.myspace.com/sillanpaas.