One of the things I most wanted to do in Helsinki is get to play for a little while with my friend Juha, whom I met at the Vendelstämman in 2007 when he was on his way home from ESI’s summer course week. His Karuna CD came out around the same time as Northlands and it is super-brilliant, almost entirely his own compositions.
Anni doesn’t currently have a key to the Academy (there’s a schmancy electronic locking system), but she seems to know pretty much everyone, so she borrowed us a rehearsal room and threw in a mini-tour of the school while she was at it.
Playing with Juha was so much fun that we did another round the next day — at his studio, which happens to be a few doors down from the apartment where Anni and Elisabet were staying.
