Lepisto & Lehti (Finland)
Finnish master musicians Markku Lepistö and Pekka Lehti stunned and held a vast concert audience in awe at the 2004 Helsinki Festival when they introduced their unlikely and unprecedented union of double bass and accordion. It was especially surprising because the pair came from such diversely different musical backgrounds. Markku has been playing Ostrobothnian folk music on accordion since the age of five. He graduated at the Sibelius Academy Folk Music Department before joining the hugely successful Finnish folk music band Värttinä in 1998. His diversity extends to a folk-orientated solo recording career, and performing concerts with the klezmer group Doina Klezmer. Coming from the significantly different musical worlds of jazz, fusion and funk, Pekka enjoys the reputation as one of Finland’s top bass players, having worked with such leading bands Burn!, ZetaBoo, Dalindeo and The JPs. He also operates and produces albums for his own recording label, Aito. Despite this, traditional folk music and its extensions remain a very important part of Pekka’s musical life, which led to his unusual collaboration with Markku. The duo has since become performance favourites, presenting feisty new twists to material from both of their individual repertoires, and injecting pure traditional folk dances with vigour and youthful spirit.
Website: www.myspace.com/lepistolehti