MÄKKELÄ / Nightbird

MÄKKELÄ

Seit Jahren konsequent an jeder Erwartungshaltung vorbei, ist der Finne Mäkkelä, mit seinen poetisch dunklen Songs – nicht ganz zu unrecht immer wieder als „Folk Noir“ gelabelt – sicherlich einer der derzeit spannendsten Künstler der europäischen Songwriter-Szene. Schmerzhaft schönes Songmaterial, das die Folk-Tradition des Storytelling ins 21. Jahrhundert rettet, gepaart mit einer, so,selten zu sehenden Bühnenpräsenz und Intensität, haben den Performer zu einem der auffälligsten Live-Acts des Genres gemacht. Oder wie es die Nürnberger Nachrichten in einer Rezension des aktuellen Albums „Dog & Typewriter“ (9pm Rec/Broken Silence) beschreibt:Messerscharfe Songpoesie, so rau wie der Asphalt der Straße.Mäkkelä’s konsequent am Mainstream Vorbeischrammen, brachte ihm zwar über die Jahre einen Kulturpreis der Stadt Nürnberg, eine Nominierung für den Deutschen Folk Award und eine loyaleAnhängerschaft ein, für die breite Masse ist das aber nach wie vor einfach zu sperrig. Besserung eher nicht in Sicht. Emotionale Shows irgendwo zwischen Strummer, Cohen und Waits.

„Wildromantische Mixtur aus American Folk, Blues, Country und Punk Attitüde“ (Nürnberger Nachrichten, 01/2022)

„This album grows on you with each listen and is a definite musos album. With definite echoes ofTom Waits, Leonard Cohen and the booze lashed, cigarette stinking romanticism of ShaneMacGowan’s lyrics, Mäkkelä takes a less trodden path and invites you on his journey in search for a’Homeland‘.“(Fatea Magazine, UK)

Nightbird

They still exist. The moments when you hear a voice or a song that makes you stop stunned, completely enchanted. Music that can be completely confused in its almost unreal beauty, in its mixture of pure happiness and bitter-sweet pain. Admittedly, often this does not happen, but the probability that it is really caught by the Swedish-Finnish singer/songwriter Nightbird aka. Anna-Stina Jungerstam from Vaasa very high.Heartbreaking song material to which the young Finnish woman accompanies herself on the acoustic slide-guitar miniatures. Music that does not seem to be of this world and at no time makes the mistake of sinking into the usual self-pity. Deeply rooted in the tradition of Folk Blues, she succeeds in stylishly, blessed with a unique voice, inter-Nordic melancholy / longing and early Delta Blues to do her very own thing.On the 2024 tour with Mäkkelä, the young singer / guitarist will present her brand new, third album live in Germany!

“Nightbird is a singer-songwriter hailing from Vaasa, and in her music the folk and blues traditionis spun into a really captivating, personal and fresh world, a world where you have to gowandering… I myself hear something very universal in her music, which means that it can workanywhere. And I strongly recommend you to hear this live. She’s definitely got it: there’s nothingsuperficial about this.– Pekka Laine, radio host

“This is a singer-songwriter with class. I’ve heard only a few voices that can measure up to her. AndI’m not just saying this because. There’s something special about her. Everything from the way sheplays the guitar, to how she sings. It can be deep and melancholic, happy and dreamy. It’s as ifthough there lies a magical shimmer over the stage and Nightbird is like a mythical creature, a fairy,sitting on that stage.”– Kultursidan.nu