Wimme + Rinne – Ivgu CD

EAN  195497168606

Written by Tapani Rinne and Wimme Saari (1, 5, 6), Tapani Rinne, Wimme Saari and Kirilola (2, 3, 4, 7, 8)

Recorded in Hurissalo, Joensuu, Helsinki, Ivgubahta, Norway and Austin, TX

Arranged and produced by Tapani Rinne and Pauli Saastamoinen Mixed and mastered by Pauli Saastamoinen

Cover art: Wimme Saari Design: Ilkka Kärkkäinen Wimme + Rinne photo: Pentti Hokkanen

It’s already almost eight years since the release of Human by the duo of Sámi indigenous artist Wimme Saari and

musician Tapani Rinne. The album received great reviews both in Finland and internationally in a.o. Songlines

and RootsWorld, where it was selected for Music of the Month for July, 2017. Meanwhile, Wimme and Rinne have

been performing live around the World and Tapani Rinne has been busy with his band RinneRadio as well as his

solo and other projects.

The first sessions for the new album took place in early 2023 in Lásságámmi artist residence, that the late

multi-talented Sámi yoik artist and poet Nils-Aslak Valkeapää built up in Skibotn by the Arctic sea. The album’s

title Ivgu is the Sámi language name of the municipality in Norway, where this inspiring house is located.

”Making this album was also a journey of exploration into our inner subconsciousness. Is there something that we

have not recognized in ourselves or not allowed to be heard? We gave ourselves permission to play with new

sounds and immerse ourselves in hearing the crackle of the northern lights and the hiss of our ancestors”, Wimme

says.

”We started to create new music without any specific plans or advance expectations, trusting our intuition and

letting the music take us wherever it flows. The process was as inspiring and tingling as in 1995 with the first

Wimme album”, Tapani Rinne adds.

Around the time when Wimme and Tapani started working on the new album, Japanese singer Kirilola asked

Wimme to add some yoik vocals to her stage production White Tiger Moonlight in Tokyo. The former lead singer

and bass player of Japanese female trio eX-Girl had been a fan of Wimme for several years. Their collaboration

and the way their voices complemented each other sounded so good, that Kirilola was requested to add her

vocals to any of the new Wimme & Rinne tunes that she felt comfortable with. Kirilola ended up recording her

vocals for no less than five tunes at Casa de Mateo studio in Austin, Texas, where she was then based. Kirilola

brings new vocal flavors and beautiful melody parts to Wimme’s mature yoik. https://kirilola.jimdoweb.com/

Ivgu is a masterpiece. The music is very abstract and minimalistic, but it goes straight to the listener’s heart and

soul. The artists do not want to explain the songs (and in yoik there are no lyrics, just sounds and emotions), but

the titles (in Northern Sámi, Finnish, English and Japanese) give hints of the mental images that the music and

soundscapes may deepen.

As such, Ivgu is as radical and fresh as Wimme’s breakthrough debut thirty years ago.