Anna-Kaisa Liedes

I became interested in folk music in my childhood, which I spent in Haukipudas, playing with the Kanteletytöt lead by the Oulu-based Ilona Porma and the vocal group Canterinat. I started my vocational music studies at the Sibelius Academy Department of Music Education in 1982, but the next year I moved to the Department of Folk Music. During my studies I played the kantele and sang in such groups as Niekku and Tallari, which is a professional folk music orchestra. I took my Master's degree in 1989, majoring in the kantele and voice. Now in 2003, I am close to completing my doctorate on the varieties of the human voice.

In addition to traditional folk singing, I have explored the expression of inner feelings through voice improvisation. I have performed my compositions born out of different vocal experiments with the MeNaiset vocal group, which specialises in Finno-Ugric music, and the voice theatre Iki-Turso. I have participated in other voice projects with the following artists: Heikki Laitinen, Maria Kalaniemi, Juha Valkeapää, Petri Korpela, Ari-Pekka Anttila, Leena Joutsenlahti, Timo Väänänen and Abdissa "Mamba" Assefa. The more traditional side of folk singing and my own compositions I nurture with the MeNaiset, LELO and UTUA groups.

In addition to my work as a musician and voice teacher at the Sibelius Academy Department of Folk Music, I have played in theatres and dance theatres and played film music, for example, for A Bride of the Seventh Heaven (2003) by Markku Lehmuskallio and Anastasia Lapsui.