Funky Elephant is an annual springtime

music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

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 ...

. It's dedicated to a vast variety of styles within black rhythm music. Genres represented include

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

, Hip hop,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

, afrobeat etc. Funky Elephant has been organized since 1994.

Location

The festival is held at

Tavastia Club The Tavastia Club ( fi, Tavastia-klubi) is a popular rock music club in Helsinki, Finland. The house is owned by Hämäläis-Osakunta, one of the student nations at the University of Helsinki, but since 1991 the club has been operated by a privat ...

and its smaller sub-club downstairs, Semifinal. The clubs are located in the very center of Helsinki.

Performers

The festival has had such performers as * Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings *

Roy Ayers Roy Ayers (born September 10, 1940) is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer, vibraphone player, and music producer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Pol ...

Joe Bataan Joe Bataan (also spelled Bataán) (born Bataan Nitollano; November 15, 1942) is a Latin soul musician from New York. Early life Joe Bataan was born Bataan Nitollano and grew up in the 103rd Street and Lexington Avenue part of East Harlem in New ...

* Pucho & the Latin Soul Brothers * Tony Allen *

DJ Vadim Vadim Alexandrovich Peare (russian: Вадим Александрович Пир, Vadim Aleksandrovich Pir ...

& One Self Overall, the festival has had over 100 live performances and over 70 DJs.

Organiser and other events

The organizer is Funky Amigos, which is a non-profit association. Its aim is to enhance the status of modern rhythm music scene and its artists in Finland. In wider prospect, Funky Amigos also wants to encourage multi-culturality and tolerance. Other Funky Amigos' events include * The Funk Awards, a gala event to give recognition to those Finns who have kept the scene showcased domestically. Held annually since 2000. * The Baby Elephant Tour, a chance for the lesser-known, up and coming Finnish artists to tour clubs around Finland.

External links

* Jazz festivals in Finland Festivals in Helsinki Music festivals established in 1994 Spring (season) events in Finland {{music-festival-stub