Rajaton - beautiful a cappella music
I swore to myself I wouldn't post anything Christmas related until December but it's not my fault -- I was inspired today! isiscolo posted an audio file of the fabulous Helsinki Complaints Choir performance. One thing led to another and I remembered how much I love Lauluyhtye Rajaton (official page).
Rajaton is an a cappella group that performs both in Finnish and English. A few years ago they published a massively popular Christmas album that includes the best version of Jingle Bells ever. Their biggest international hit is Butterfly. (You can find it on youtube as well but the quality is much worse there)
The Christmas album has two CDs. It's a testament to the creativity of song titles everywhere that there are three different songs called Joululaulu (A Christmas Song) on the album. ;-) The first CD is more contemporary, jazzy and fun and has some of their own compositions. The second CD has some more traditional and spiritual songs and it was recorded in a church. I don't have the second CD with me now but here's the first one along with some of my favourites.
Here's the whole first CD: Rajaton Joulu.zip (37 MB)
My personal favourites from the first CD are:
Joululaulu (A Christmas Song) Pretty much what the title says. A pretty song with fun faux-horns on the backround.
Tonttu (The Elf) According to Finnish folklore there used to be protective elves (tonttu) around making sure that things ran smoothly on farms. As a reward they were given food, a living and the last turn in the sauna. This is a song of one elf that can't sleep on a winter night and goes wandering around the farm listening to the sounds of the night.
Ketun Joululaulu (A Fox's Christmas Song) The story of a fox that sees a star on the sky and travels to find out what it's all about. A beautiful, happy song. I get chills every time I listen to the latter part of the song.
Kulkuset (Jingle Bells) A great version of a Christmas song that usually irritates me to no end. Love the ending! A perfect example of the vocal acrobatics the band is capable of.
Varpunen Jouluaamuna (A Sparrow on a Christmas Morning) A very haunting and beautiful song composed for a poem that Zacharias Topelius wrote after the death of his one-year-old son Rafael. A little girl feeds a sparrow that's out in the cold. That sparrow is really the soul of his little brother that flew down from heaven.
If the links run out of steam comment and I'll reupload them. I want to spread the love!
ETA: I posted the second CD here. And just so I don't seem delusional, when I say Butterfly is their biggest international hit I mean some people in Canada like it a lot. *g*
Rajaton is an a cappella group that performs both in Finnish and English. A few years ago they published a massively popular Christmas album that includes the best version of Jingle Bells ever. Their biggest international hit is Butterfly. (You can find it on youtube as well but the quality is much worse there)
The Christmas album has two CDs. It's a testament to the creativity of song titles everywhere that there are three different songs called Joululaulu (A Christmas Song) on the album. ;-) The first CD is more contemporary, jazzy and fun and has some of their own compositions. The second CD has some more traditional and spiritual songs and it was recorded in a church. I don't have the second CD with me now but here's the first one along with some of my favourites.
Here's the whole first CD: Rajaton Joulu.zip (37 MB)
My personal favourites from the first CD are:
Joululaulu (A Christmas Song) Pretty much what the title says. A pretty song with fun faux-horns on the backround.
Tonttu (The Elf) According to Finnish folklore there used to be protective elves (tonttu) around making sure that things ran smoothly on farms. As a reward they were given food, a living and the last turn in the sauna. This is a song of one elf that can't sleep on a winter night and goes wandering around the farm listening to the sounds of the night.
Ketun Joululaulu (A Fox's Christmas Song) The story of a fox that sees a star on the sky and travels to find out what it's all about. A beautiful, happy song. I get chills every time I listen to the latter part of the song.
Kulkuset (Jingle Bells) A great version of a Christmas song that usually irritates me to no end. Love the ending! A perfect example of the vocal acrobatics the band is capable of.
Varpunen Jouluaamuna (A Sparrow on a Christmas Morning) A very haunting and beautiful song composed for a poem that Zacharias Topelius wrote after the death of his one-year-old son Rafael. A little girl feeds a sparrow that's out in the cold. That sparrow is really the soul of his little brother that flew down from heaven.
If the links run out of steam comment and I'll reupload them. I want to spread the love!
ETA: I posted the second CD here. And just so I don't seem delusional, when I say Butterfly is their biggest international hit I mean some people in Canada like it a lot. *g*