Auri is a Finnish band composed of vocalist and violinist

Johanna Kurkela Johanna Kurkela (born 25 April 1985) is a Finnish singer. Her first published work was a duet ''Tahdon tanssia kanssasi'' with Tomi Metsäketo in 2004. Kurkela released her first album ''Hetki hiljaa'' in 2005. She got a lot of publicity in the ...

, keyboardist and backing vocalist

Tuomas Holopainen Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen (born 25 December 1976) is a Finnish songwriter, record producer and musician, best known as one of the founders and the leader, keyboardist and songwriter of symphonic metal band Nightwish. He has stated that hi ...

, and guitarist, keyboardist and pipe player

Troy Donockley Troy Donockley (born 30 May 1964) is an English composer and multi-instrumentalist most known for his playing of Uilleann pipes. Having performed with many artists as a session player, he is most notable as a member of Finnish symphonic metal ba ...

. Holopainen and Donockley are also members of Finnish band

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neva ...

. Their self-titled first album, '' Auri'', was released on March 23, 2018. and was recorded at

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

Real World Studios Real World Studios is a residential recording studio complex founded by Peter Gabriel and situated in the village of Box, Wiltshire, England, near to the city of Bath. It is closely associated with the Real World Records record label, Real Wor ...

. Holopainen described Auri's style as "rabbit hole music and celestial metal" with "influences from

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

Celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celtic people of Northwestern Europe. It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and recorded music and the styles vary considerab ...

, nd

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

s". British rock magazine ''Prog'' describes the band as prog folk. The band's name is based on a female character from ''

The Kingkiller Chronicle ''The Kingkiller Chronicle'' is a fantasy trilogy by the American writer Patrick Rothfuss. The first two books, ''The Name of the Wind'' and ''The Wise Man's Fear'', were released in 2007 and 2011. The books released in the series have sold over ...

''.

History

Auri was formed by friends Tuomas Holopainen, Troy Donockley and Johanna Kurkela. According to an interview, the music concept for Auri dates back to 2011 when the trio realized they will have to do music together. However, their ongoing responsibilities with other projects prevented them from doing so, until 2017 when they finally had available free time to work on this project. The promotional photoshoot for the band and album inspired and forced them to complete the recording: The band's name is based on a female character from

Patrick Rothfuss Patrick James Rothfuss (born June 6, 1973) is an American author. He is best known for his duology ''The Kingkiller Chronicle'', which has won him several awards, including the 2007 Quill Award for his debut novel, ''The Name of the Wind''. Its ...

' ''

'': On 17 October 2020, it was announced that Auri had completed work on the second album. The second album, titled ''II – Those We Don't Speak Of'' was later released on 3 September 2021.

Members

– lead vocals *

– keyboards, piano, synthesizers *

– guitars,

Uilleann pipes The uilleann pipes ( or , ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Earlier known in English as "union pipes", their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the elbow"), from their ...

low whistle The low whistle, or concert whistle, is a variation of the traditional tin whistle/pennywhistle, distinguished by its lower pitch and larger size. It is most closely associated with the performances of British and Irish artists such as Tommy Make ...

, male vocals, backing vocals

Discography

Albums *'' Auri'' (2018) – No. 2

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

*''II – Those We Don't Speak Of'' (2021) – No. 2 Finland Singles *"Night 13" (2018) *"The Space Between" (2018) *"Pearl Diving" (2021) *"The Valley" (2021)

Music videos

*"Night 13" (2017)

References

External links

* {{Nightwish, state=collapsed Finnish musical groups Musical groups established in 2017 Nuclear Blast artists 2017 establishments in Finland