Svang are a harmonica quartet from Finland
Jouko Kyhälä is the harmonetta player in the group
Tapani Varis is the bass player, having replaced the original bass player two years ago
First soloist is Eero Turkka
The group founded in 2003 and have released ten albums since that time
Have had good success throughout the twenty years they’ve been together
The group formed when Jouko was a teacher of two of the other band members at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki
Eero Grundström joined the group as the second soloist
Jouko had recently bought a harmonetta and so used that in the group, instead of a chord harmonica
Jouko thinks the chord harmonica is a cumbersome instrument, with the harmonetta much more versatile
Eero Grundström plays chromatic and diatonic harmonicas in the band, liking the low diatonics
The use of diatonic in a harmonica group
Tapani Varis plays bass harmonica, writes some songs and is the newest member of the group having replaced previous bassist Pasi Leino
Tapani plays a Suzuki bass harmonica, but didn’t play bass harmonica before joining the group, played bass guitar and wind instruments
Transition from bass guitar to bass harmonica was not easy, with the two instruments quite different
Use a lot of double stops when playing diatonics and like to make a different combinations of mixing different sounds
The band members write the songs and contribute different styles
Jouko has a Masters in Harmonica and then an Artistic Doctorate Study and a PhD from the Sibelius Academy and applied his learnings to Svang
The Sibelius Academy teaches different genres of music, not just Classical
The place the Svang group has had in their musical careers
Filip Jers is a dep for the band when either of the lead players can’t make a gig
Anne is the band’s booking agent and plays a critical role
The band usually learn from written scores and then apply them to memory
Use chromatics in different keys and write music out as transposed instruments (so write in the key of C)
Eero Turkka was taking an exam at the Sibelius Academy when Svang formed
Familiar with harmonica band tradition after Jouko introduced the band to the Harmonicats but that wasn’t the style of music the band wanted to play
Harmonetta is an important part of the sound of the band
Eero Turkka has lived in Bulgaria for the past twelve years, so they practise parts individually before meeting up before recording and tours
Can’t practise remotely using software, as that doesn’t work
The other three band members live in Finland, but not that close together, so they have ‘band camps’ where they play together
The Finnish approach to music that Svang applies to their songs
Play a lot of minor keys with Hohner producing the Echo double reed harmonica mainly for the Finnish market, which has minor one side and major the other
Have released ten albums covering lots of different genres
Released an album of the music of Jean Sibelius
Previously made an album of Chopin’s music
Audiences react well to Svang playing classical music, although Svang don’t necessarily try to play it in a ‘serious’ way, with Chopin inspired by folk music
Entertainment is part of the Svang act, including crazy hairstyles
They don’t put the type of ‘tricks’ into the act that some of the classic harmonica groups did, as they like to focus on the music
Audiences don’t know what to expect from a harmonica group, so they can look impressive with things that are relatively simple to play
Sometimes they embellish a song, like the Harry Potter song Hedwig’s Theme
First album, Svang, was released in 2005, and how the band has evolved over the years
Play lots of tango music, and released an album devoted to tango, which holds a special place in the hearts of the people of Finland
Haven’t played for tango dances but have had tango dancers perform with them
In Trad We Trust album was released in 2020, winning "Best Album" from British Songlines magazine
The numerous different types of folk music in Finland
Compose a lot of their own songs, and learnt a lot from each other
Latest album released in 2024, Svang Nuevo, celebrating their twenty years together
Svang Nuevo album title is down to the second incarnation of the band, with Tapani as new bass player appearing on an album for the first time
Have recorded with a classical orchestra, which they have called Svangfonia, which they will be doing again in Germany in 2024 with a concert in November
Several of the bands albums are with German record label Galileo, with Svang mainly playing in Germany speaking countries when outside of Finland
Concerts are usually the whole evening
Have played a good number of gigs through the years, with 70 a year in the best years, but less since the Covid pandemic
Appeared on the BBC’s Jools Holland Hootenanny New Year’s Eve show
Played in many countries, including Japan, around Europe, Mexico and the US
Have only appeared at one harmonica festival (Trossingen), enjoying the surprise of a harmonica band at non-harmonica events
Use ear monitors which really help the band stay together
Mics used by Svang are small hand-held ones which allow more freedom of movement and some hand effects
Eero Turkka does use a mic on a stand when using the two-sided Comet harmonica
Tapani uses a Suzuki bass harmonica with a Suzuki mic attached
Bass mic can feedback easily, which is another reason to use in-ear monitors
Bass harmonica played acoustically is quite quiet
Use a PA for amplification and apply reverb effect on parts of the song
Microphone is an integral part of the sound as they never play acoustically
Don’t use amplifiers, partly because it’s easy when touring
Overdriven sounds can be obtained using software, which is not so good but works well enough
Mics they use are Audio Technica condenser, originally designed for violins or wind instruments
For effects use software during gigs, such as overdrive, reverb and delay
Sound is controlled via a combination of the sound engineer and the band
Advice for people interested in forming a harmonica group
Key to Svang’s success has been combining harmonica traditions with other music traditions
Other harmonica groups in Europe and Asia
The name Svang comes from Jouko, who used it to describe music that didn’t swing while he was teaching the others at the Sibelius Academy
There is the Swedish word ‘svang’ but that has a different meaning
Future plans is to perform the songs from the new album
The group plans to continue for the next 200 years (in different incarnations)
