Susan Aho (born 5 March 1974) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

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 ...

singer-songwriter and a member of the

Värttinä Värttinä (, meaning "spindle") is a Finnish folk music band that started as a project by Sari and Mari Kaasinen in 1983 in the village of Rääkkylä, in Karelia, the southeastern region of Finland. Many transformations have taken place in the ...

music group. In 2010, she represented

Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 Finland participated at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Työlki ellää" written by Timo Kiiskinen. The song was performed by the duo Kuunkuiskaajat. The Finnish broadcaster Yleisradio (Yle) organised the national final ''Euroviisu ...

as part of the duo

Kuunkuiskaajat Kuunkuiskaajat (/kuːn.kuˈi skaːjat/; "Moonwhisperers") is a Finnish female folk duo made up of Värttinä members Susan Aho and Johanna Virtanen, that represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Työlki ellää". Th ...

Biography

Susan Aho was born in

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...

, in

Southern Finland Southern Finland ( fi, Etelä-Suomen lääni, sv, Södra Finlands län) was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Finland and Russia. History O ...

, near the capital

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 ...

. Having played the

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 ...

since she was 13, Aho joined Värttinä in 1998, replacing Riitta Kossi, and was the accordionist and a vocalist on their album ''

Vihma ''Vihma'' is Värttinä's 7th album, released in 1998. It is primarily pop- and rock-influenced Finnish folk music. However, three tracks (6, 8 and 9) also include Tuvan throat singing. ''Vihma'' was initially released by Wicklow Entertainme ...

''. By the next album, ''

Ilmatar In the ''Kalevala'', the Finnish national epic, Ilmatar () was a virgin spirit and goddess of the air. Origins The name Ilmatar is derived from the Finnish word ''ilma'', meaning "air," and the female suffix ''-tar'', corresponding to English " ...

'' (2001) she confined herself to singing, having been replaced as accordionist by

Markku Lepistö Markku is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Markku Alén (born 1951), Finnish former rally and race car driver *Markku Aro (born 1950), Finnish singer who performed on Eurovision contest in 1971 *Markku Huhtamo (born 1946), Finn ...

. She studies at the

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy ( fi, Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia, sv, Sibelius-Akademin vid Konstuniversitetet) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It als ...

in Helsinki and is involved in a variety of other projects besides Värttinä. For example, she was vocalist and accordionist in the Greek group Odysseia, was a member of the folk band Metsänväki, and with the Finnish accordionist Minna Luoma played

Finnish gypsy songs The term gypsy style refers to the typical way Eastern European music is played in coffeehouses and restaurants, at parties, and sometimes on-stage, in European cities. Music played in this style and loosely called gypsy music differs from actual ...

in the group Rotunaiset. Since 1998 she has been a member of the Balkan-Finnish group Vaeltajat, with whom she also sings and plays accordion. Aho also works with the Nukketeatteri Sampo (Sampo Puppet Theatre, founded in 1977) in Helsinki; the interplay of traditional puppet theatre with music and poetry plays a big role in its work. She founded the duo Kuunkuiskaajat with

Johanna Virtanen Johanna is a feminine name, a variant form of Joanna that originated in Latin in the Middle Ages, including an -h- by analogy with the Latin masculine name Johannes. The original Greek form ''Iōanna'' lacks a medial /h/ because in Greek /h/ cou ...

in 2008. In 2010 they won the Finnish trials for that year's Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Työlki ellää", but did not qualify for the final. In 2011 Aho read the Finnish scoring for the 56th Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf.

Discography (with Värttinä)

*1998 ''

'' *2000 ''

'' (various re-releases 2001) *2001: '' 6.12.'' (live album) *2002: ''Live in Helsinki'' (= ''6.12.'' ), ''Double Life'' (2-CD compilation) *2003: ''

Iki IKI may refer to: * Internationales Kulturinstitut in Vienna * Iodine potassium-iodide, a chemical compound * Russian Space Research Institute originally known as IKI RAN * Iki Airport, IATA code Iki or iki may refer to: * Iki Island, a Japanese ...

'' *2005: ''

Snow Angel A snow angel is a design, made in fresh snow, by lying on one's back and moving one's arms up and down, and one's legs from side to side, to form the shape of an angel. Technique The creation of the snow angel is a simple process. The first s ...

'' (compilation, released only in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

); with Värttinä on Simon Ho: ''Simon Ho'' *2006: '' Miero''; with Värttinä on: Ho Orchestra: ''A normal Sunday'' (live CD); ''Archive Live'' (DVD) *2007: '' 25'' (compilation including songs from every Värttinä album) *2008: Kuunkuiskaajat – ''Kuunkuiskaajat'' *2012: ''Utu''

References

External links

Official homepage of Värttinä

Official homepage of Kuunkuiskaajat
1974 births Living people People from Espoo Finnish accordionists 21st-century Finnish women singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Finland 21st-century accordionists Women accordionists 21st-century Finnish singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2010 {{Finland-musician-stub