RinneRadio

The band was formed in 1988 by saxophone player/reedsman and composer Tapani Rinne, who still leads the band and is the musical conductor. Rinne participated in the composer and drummer Edward Vesala's Sound & Fury workshops in Helsinki, and during these workshops the band started to form. RinneRadio's eponymous debut album was released in 1988 and it featured a stellar cast of Finland's current jazz elite, including Raoul Björkenheim, Iro Haarla and Seppo Tyni. The second album Dance and Visions was released in 1990 and the album featured the Sami yoik singer Wimme Saari for the first time in RinneRadio's history. Dance and Visions also introduced Jari Kokkonen as a new member of RinneRadio. He continued in the group until 2001. Dance and Visions established RinneRadio's trademark sound, which they are best known for, fusing electronic music from ambient techno to drum'n'bass and jazzy wind instruments. In 1992 RinneRadio released the album Joik, where another one of Rinne's long-time collaborators, Kimmo Kajasto, appeared for the first time. The same year, Tapani Rinne garnered the Finnish Georgie Award (Yrjö) for Jazz Musician of the Year, given by the Finnish Jazz Federation. RoK was the ultimate commercial breakthrough for RinneRadio. It peaked at number 22 in 1996 on the Official Finnish Album Chart and stayed on the chart for six weeks. According to Tapani Rinne, after "being in wrong places at the wrong time so many times earlier", the situation was now the opposite. The big audience was now ready for RinneRadio's music and suddenly they were considered trendsetters, although that was never their aim. The band found new passionate fans especially in the European club music scene, which was driven by the rising deejay culture. After this, two more smaller releases, EP's Osaka and Juju, were issued before RinneRadio started to work on a new album, G. The album was released in 1998 and was an important milestone because programmer Kimmo Kajasto had been replaced with DJ Ken-One (aka Jean Johansson) in the lineup. ==2000 – 2009==

Work with Jori Hulkkonen continued, as he was largely responsible for the production of the next RinneRadio album, Nao (2001), along with Veikka Erkola. DJ Ken-One was now replaced by percussionist Zarkus Poussa and later by Abdissa Assefa in live performances. as well as in the Dutch North Sea Jazz Festival. In 2006, they were invited to play at the 40th anniversary opening night of Midem in Cannes. The following year, the band celebrated their 20th anniversary by releasing a compilation album titled 20, which featured 20 tracks from throughout their career. The tracks were chosen by radio and club DJs who were asked to give a list of tracks of their personal RinneRadio dream album. The result was a double album with tracks categorized into Side and Side . In 2009, RinneRadio released again material in the form of the album Pole Stars. Musically, it represented an upgrade to their "ethno techno" with a strong Nordic twist. The album featured artists such as Sámi joik singers Ulla Pirttijärvi and Wimme Saari, Johanna Juhola on accordion and Eva Alkula playing Finnish zither. ==2010 – present day==

The next phase of RinneRadio started with Tuomas "Verneri Lumi" Norvio being replaced in the lineup with the Finnish drum'n'bass artist Konsta "DJ Muffler" Mikkonen soon after the release of Pole Stars album. The biggest evolution was the new raw and hard-edged flavour combined with the moody and floating RinneRadio sound. This is also present on their next StaRRk (2012) album, which has been stylistically described as more rugged, sharper and darker than their earlier productions. The official lineup (including Tapani Rinne and Juuso Hannukainen) stayed the same for several years until 2020, when DJ Muffler was replaced in the line-up by Helsinki-based electronic music artist Aleksi Myllykoski, who had been filling in for him more and more often on live occasions. the second collaboration album with Wimme Saari titled Human in 2017 as well as collaboration albums Under The Ground (2015) and Inside The Temple (2012) with Teho Majamäki. The London-based label published their latest two singles "Yasmin" in 2017 and "Zarkukselle" in 2018. They then started working on material for their next album, originally scheduled to be released by Rockadillo Records in winter 2020–2021. The album would eventually release as Balladium in 2023. According to their website: "In 2020, the dynamic trio is known for their invigorating performances of rich and eclectic sound ranging from fervent rumble to wild and transcendent meditative ambiance. Avoiding formats and predictability they do not have a fixed set for their live show. Instead they customize it according to the event and venue, which can nowadays be anything from a church concert to a live club, concert arena or a rave festival organized in the middle of forest." ==Discography==

Albums • RinneRadio (1988) • Dance And Visions (1990) • Joik (1992) • Unik (1994) • RoK (1996) • (1997) • G (1998) • B (1999) • Nao (2001) • Lumix (2003) • Pan (2004) • + (2006) • On (2007) • Pole Stars (2009) • StaRRk (2012) • Balladium (2023) • 4/4 (2025) EPs • Dior In Nera (1993) • (1994) • Aromaa Alt (1995) • Osaka (1998) • Juju (1998) • (OST) (2016) Singles • "Santa Claus" (1991) • "Affluenza" (2000) • "Kuvala" (2002) • "Yasmin" (2017) • "Zarkukselle" (2018) • "Talk" (RinneRadio Remix) (2019) (remix for the song originally performed by Construction) Compilation albums • RinneRadio and Wimme: File Under ‒ Finnish Ambient Techno Chant (1997) • 20 (2008) ==References==