Arto Järvelä (born in 1964 in

Hattula Hattula () is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Tavastia Proper region and until 2010 it was located in the province of Southern Finland. Hattula is almost completely surrounded by Hämeenlinna, only in the north it shares the border w ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

) is a Finnish

fiddler A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially syno ...

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 def ...

. Because of the many groups and projects he is involved in, he has been called "the busiest man in Finnish

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

". He is primarily a violinist, but among other instruments of his are

nyckelharpa ''Nyckelharpa'' (, roughly "keyed fiddle" in Swedish language, Swedish, , plural: ) is a "keyed" Bowed string instrument, bowed chordophone, primarily originating from Sweden in its modern form, but with its historical roots scattered across med ...

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

and

kantele A kantele () or kannel () is a traditional Finnish and Karelian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the southeast Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery along with the Estonian kannel, the Latvian kokles, t ...

. 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 Kaustinen () is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Central Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population about 4300 and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Halsua, ...

. As a ten-year-old, he started to play the

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

and

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

in a family band, together with his father. He got serious on the fiddle at about 13 years of age. He played the

harmonium The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

(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. Besides having learned to play the traditional route, Järvelä is also trained in the

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy (, ) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It also has an adult education centre in Järvenpää and a training centre in Seinäjoki ...

's department for folk music, where he nowadays also teaches. Among the groups where he is or has been a member are: * '' JPP'' * The trio ''Alakotila-Järvelä-Kennemark'', along with Timo Alakotila 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 The Pogues are an English Celtic punk band founded in King's Cross, London, in 1982, by Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy and Jem Finer. Originally named Pogue Mahone—an anglicisation of the Irish phrase ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my ...

* '' Pinnin Pojat'', Arto and

Kimmo Pohjonen Kimmo Pohjonen (born August 16, 1964) is a Finnish accordionist who is known for his avant-garde and experimental work with his custom-made electrified and modified instrument. He has released nine albums of his work and has toured Europe extens ...

. 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's band * '' Aldargaz'',

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"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 (mou ...

ist Maria Kalaniemis 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 JPP 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

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarvela, Arto 1964 births 20th-century Finnish folk musicians 21st-century Finnish folk musicians 21st-century Finnish male musicians 21st-century Finnish violinists Finnish composers Finnish fiddlers Finnish male composers Finnish mandolinists Living people Male violinists Mandolinists Nordic folk musicians Nyckelharpa players People from Hattula