Wainotar

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Interview : Petri and Mirka from Wäinötär

Where is the name of the band coming from?
It is a female transformation/version of Finnish Kalevala hero Wäinämöinen's name.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
Old Finnish folk, Clannad,Mike Oldfield,Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush , etc

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
You can do pretty much anything, it's very liberal here. The downside is that the music market is incredibly small for non-mainstream music.

How could you define your style of music?
Mixture of Finnish Folk,Pop and World music sprinkled with some mysticism.

During the years how has your musical style changed?
We've been playing in a lot of different projects and have developed our own style on the side. So we really have not changed so much over time, more that now we finally got the chance to express our own ideas.

How do explain these changes?
Of course musician is maturing over time and that usually leads to broadening ones views. That has happened to us also. Nowadays we like almost any well written and performed music, despite the genre.

What are topics you treat in your songs?
Finnish Folklore, Mysticism, witches and warlocks, you know .

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
I think that it is Kokko (the first song on the album) , there we had the opportunity to collaborate with the fantastic Estonian bass player Raul Vaigla and musically that was very open ended affair.

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
To be really honest, Mirka likes to do live and I (Petri) studio, so go figure .

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
Petri: The first demos where you have the composition almost ready and the words mostly nonsense, but you clearly start to see the potential in the song.
Mirka: when the song is almost complete, it has it's own unique character clearly visible (or audible if you prefer)

A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listening in your life the BEST song?
Petri: It varies over time, but lately I've been totally into early Tangerine Dream, maybe "Tangram" ?
Mirka: Kate Bush and Wuthering Heights, definitely.

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
Great medium for those who don't have massive PR-budgets (like us for example).
It is very democratic medium as well, I think.

What are your projects?
Second album of Wainotar is currently being composed, Petri is doing a prog-rock EP (due out in summer).

What "image" do you have of French music?
Very innovative stuff, very French. You also have very good arab influenced pop music (like Khaled).

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
Mylene Farmer is one of our favourites, any song of hers.
Petri: Or my big favourite "Air", any song from them will do as well

Interview by Vincent Lefrançois - 2006