Sharing Inspiration

For several days all Shanghai had been expecting the first typhoon of the year. But it was the first performance ever in Shanghai of the Finnish jazz piano virtuoso Iiro Rantala, guitarist Marzi Nyman and beatboxer Felix Zenger which arrived first and took the audience like a typhoon. The atmosphere in the gloomy JZ-Club in the French quarter of Shanghai was hilarious even though it was Monday. Long live the Finnish creative madness!

An hour before the beginning of the show we got first row places in the empty jazz club. But soon the two floors of the club were crowded mostly with local young adults but also with many Finns living in Shanghai.

The audience got immediatly very excited and seemed to enjoy the performance a lot. But it was the trio itself who enjoyed the most and performed with lots of humour. The beatboxer Felix Zenger was incredible. Closing my eyes I could imagine a large orchestra even though it was just Felix who was producing sounds of bass, strings and drums with his mouth.

Two seconds from tender to heavy sounds

The strength of the trio’s repertoire was its extraordinary versatility. The two sets lasting over two hours included influence of Finnish tango, traditional jazz and even disco. The piece Viking 69 is a good example of the joy and strength of the trio’s music. From very tender sounds it can accelerate close to Jimi Hendrix kind of music. Like a typhoon, the trio’s performance had both an eye of a storm and a serene point in the middle of the furious power. Rantala told that the piece Aino is dedicated to the wife of the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. In addition to being an excellent jazzpianist Rantala is a good cultural ambassador and a very fluent speaker.

Mikko Puustinen, the former cultural counselor in the embassy of Finland in Beijing, today the Deputy Commissioner General of Finland at Expo 2010 organisation, was very pleased with the experience. He said that the music matches very well the Expo theme Better city, better life. Urban culture must be many-sided and offer something to many people at the same time. Finland must differentiate and the creative madness of Iiro Rantala New Trio is certainly something different.

After the concert Iiro Rantala, proud of his trio, told that Felix can produce over 600 different sounds. As for Marzi Nyman, he confirmed that the performance was an excellent experience for the artists as well. The organiser of the occasion seemed very pleased too and is interested in other Finnish virtuosos as well. There will certainly be a follow-up.

Eili Andersson

Links: www.iirorantala.com

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