Svang interview

01:45 - Svang are a harmonica quartet from Finland

02:01 - Jouko Kyhälä is the harmonetta player in the group

02:05 - Tapani Varis is the bass player, having replaced the original bass player two years ago

02:11 - First soloist is Eero Turkka

02:52 - The group founded in 2003 and have released ten albums since that time

03:23 - Have had good success throughout the twenty years they’ve been together

03:56 - The group formed when Jouko was a teacher of two of the other band members at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki

05:02 - Eero Grundström joined the group as the second soloist

05:07 - Jouko had recently bought a harmonetta and so used that in the group, instead of a chord harmonica

05:51 - Jouko thinks the chord harmonica is a cumbersome instrument, with the harmonetta much more versatile

06:35 - Eero Grundström plays chromatic and diatonic harmonicas in the band, liking the low diatonics

07:25 - The use of diatonic in a harmonica group

08:12 - Tapani Varis plays bass harmonica, writes some songs and is the newest member of the group having replaced previous bassist Pasi Leino

08:52 - Tapani plays a Suzuki bass harmonica, but didn’t play bass harmonica before joining the group, played bass guitar and wind instruments

09:10 - Transition from bass guitar to bass harmonica was not easy, with the two instruments quite different

10:26 - Use a lot of double stops when playing diatonics and like to make a different combinations of mixing different sounds

11:44 - The band members write the songs and contribute different styles

12:00 - 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

13:01 - The Sibelius Academy teaches different genres of music, not just Classical

13:48 - The place the Svang group has had in their musical careers

14:32 - Filip Jers is a dep for the band when either of the lead players can’t make a gig

15:01 - Anne is the band’s booking agent and plays a critical role

15:36 - The band usually learn from written scores and then apply them to memory

17:20 - Use chromatics in different keys and write music out as transposed instruments (so write in the key of C)

18:36 - Eero Turkka was taking an exam at the Sibelius Academy when Svang formed

18:54 - 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

19:20 - Harmonetta is an important part of the sound of the band

19:45 - Eero Turkka has lived in Bulgaria for the past twelve years, so they practise parts individually before meeting up before recording and tours

20:31 - Can’t practise remotely using software, as that doesn’t work

20:56 - The other three band members live in Finland, but not that close together, so they have ‘band camps’ where they play together

21:49 - The Finnish approach to music that Svang applies to their songs

22:16 - 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

22:35 - Have released ten albums covering lots of different genres

22:53 - Released an album of the music of Jean Sibelius

23:27 - Previously made an album of Chopin’s music

24:30 - 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

25:46 - Entertainment is part of the Svang act, including crazy hairstyles

26:30 - 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

27:08 - Audiences don’t know what to expect from a harmonica group, so they can look impressive with things that are relatively simple to play

27:56 - Sometimes they embellish a song, like the Harry Potter song Hedwig’s Theme

28:46 - First album, Svang, was released in 2005, and how the band has evolved over the years

30:13 - 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

31:36 - Haven’t played for tango dances but have had tango dancers perform with them

32:06 - In Trad We Trust album was released in 2020, winning "Best Album" from British Songlines magazine

32:48 - The numerous different types of folk music in Finland

33:37 - Compose a lot of their own songs, and learnt a lot from each other

34:32 - Latest album released in 2024, Svang Nuevo, celebrating their twenty years together

35:27 - 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

36:07 - 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

37:13 - Several of the bands albums are with German record label Galileo, with Svang mainly playing in Germany speaking countries when outside of Finland

37:38 - Concerts are usually the whole evening

38:04 - Have played a good number of gigs through the years, with 70 a year in the best years, but less since the Covid pandemic

38:34 - Appeared on the BBC’s Jools Holland Hootenanny New Year’s Eve show

39:05 - Played in many countries, including Japan, around Europe, Mexico and the US

39:28 - Have only appeared at one harmonica festival (Trossingen), enjoying the surprise of a harmonica band at non-harmonica events

40:06 - Music awards

41:21 - Ten minute question

42:12 - Use ear monitors which really help the band stay together

43:25 - Mics used by Svang are small hand-held ones which allow more freedom of movement and some hand effects

44:02 - Eero Turkka does use a mic on a stand when using the two-sided Comet harmonica

44:48 - Tapani uses a Suzuki bass harmonica with a Suzuki mic attached

45:40 - Bass mic can feedback easily, which is another reason to use in-ear monitors

46:25 - Bass harmonica played acoustically is quite quiet

47:50 - Use a PA for amplification and apply reverb effect on parts of the song

48:27 - Microphone is an integral part of the sound as they never play acoustically

49:39 - Don’t use amplifiers, partly because it’s easy when touring

50:00 - Overdriven sounds can be obtained using software, which is not so good but works well enough

50:14 - Mics they use are Audio Technica condenser, originally designed for violins or wind instruments

50:53 - For effects use software during gigs, such as overdrive, reverb and delay

51:46 - Sound is controlled via a combination of the sound engineer and the band

52:29 - Advice for people interested in forming a harmonica group

52:52 - Key to Svang’s success has been combining harmonica traditions with other music traditions

53:58 - Other harmonica groups in Europe and Asia

54:09 - 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

54:52 - There is the Swedish word ‘svang’ but that has a different meaning

55:03 - Future plans is to perform the songs from the new album

55:39 - The group plans to continue for the next 200 years (in different incarnations)