Arto Järvelä (born in 1964 in Hattula, Finland) is a Finnish fiddler and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. Because of the many groups and projects he is involved in, he has been called "the busiest man in Finnish folk music". He is primarily a violinist, but among other instruments of his are nyckelharpa,

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

and kantele. Arto Järvelä is the fourth generation of the well known Järvelä fiddler family, whose musical roots belong in the rural area close to the small town Kaustinen. As a ten-year-old, he started to play the

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

and bass guitar in a family band, together with his father. He got serious on the fiddle at about 13 years of age. He played the harmonium (pump organ) in a band of youngsters called ''Järvelän pikkupelimannit'' (the small fiddlers from the Järvelä village) until he got good enough on the fiddle to join the group as a fiddler. This group eventually became the most well known Finnish fiddler folk music group, abbreviating its name into

JPP J.P.P. is a group of Finnish folk musicians from Kaustinen. The group still uses the Kaustinen traditional settings with fiddles, harmonium and double bass, although their arrangements are more advanced than those of earlier generations of tra ...

. Besides having learned to play the traditional route, Järvelä is also trained in the Sibelius Academy's department for folk music, where he nowadays also teaches. Among the groups where he is or has been a member are *''

'' *The trio ''Alakotila-Järvelä-Kennemark'', along with

Timo Alakotila Timo Alakotila is a Finnish composer, arranger, and musician born 15 July 1959. Career Timo Alakotila's range of music styles stretches from Finnish folk music of the '' pelimanni'' style over some jazz influences to more or less Finnis ...

from JPP and the Swedish fiddler Hans Kennemark *'' Koinurit'', a group playing polskas as fast as possible sometimes called Finland's answer to the Pogues *'' Pinnin Pojat'', Arto and Kimmo Pohjonen. The original setting, later expanded, was Kimmo on mouth harp and Arto on fiddle/nyckelharpa/mandolin *'' Helsinki Mandoliners'', a mandolin trio *'' Lumisudet'', the Finnish-Texan fiddler

Erik Hokkanen Erik Hokkanen (born February 23, 1963) is an American fiddler,Toschees, Nick. "Good-bye Kenny Rogers, Hello, Waggoneers." ''Texas Monthly'' 16.10 (October 1988): 114-119, 190-191. guitar player, and composer living in Austin, Texas. Erik is know ...

's band *'' Aldargaz'',

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

ist

Maria Kalaniemi Maria Kalaniemi (born 27 May 1964 in Espoo, Finland) is a Finnish accordionist. She was classically trained, gaining her MMus from the Sibelius Academy in 1992, but has become mostly known as a folk musician having played this music from childhood ...

s group *'' Niekku'', one of Maria Kalaniemi's earlier bands form while students at the Sibelius Academy *'' Salamakannel'', kantele with rock influences *'' Ampron Prunni'', harmonium och nyckelharpa *'' Tallari''

Solo discography

Only solo records mentioned here. Titles of

records can be found under the groups entry. *Polska Differente, 1994 *Arto Järvelä plays fiddle, 1999 *Far in!, 2004 *Arto Järvelä plays fiddle Vol.2: Cross-tuned 2012 *Arto Järvelä plays fiddle Vol.3: On the coast 2013

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarvela, Arto 1964 births Living people People from Hattula Nyckelharpa players Mandolinists Nordic folk musicians Finnish violinists Finnish composers Finnish male composers Finnish fiddlers Male violinists Finnish mandolinists 21st-century violinists 21st-century male musicians