An archive discovery from December 1969: Wigwam and Eero Koivistoinen present with chanteuse Seija Simola two rock numbers in a psychedelic setting for a "Luola" ("Cave") section of a YLE TV show called Tunti ("Hour"). Wigwam provided in 1970 the music for a TV drama called Grottan, though they are not featured in the play itself.
Wigwam is presented here by the original members Ronnie Österberg (drums), Mats Huldén (bass) and Vladimir "Nikke" Nikamo (guitar); with additional members Tuomo Tanska (keyboards) and Eero Koivistoinen (saxophone), the latter having been in the line-up of Blues Section with Jim Pembroke and Österberg. Pembroke and Jukka Gustavson who both joined Wigwam in 1969 are not involved. Seija Simola was heard on Koivistoinen's seminal Valtakunta album of 1968.
The songs played by Wigwam here are originally from the repertoire of Denmark's Savage Rose; with Finnish translations provided by Juha "Watt" Vainio, though only one of the translations is heard. Other topics of this Tunti episode were the "pop report" and "today's politics" (something that would never happen in a contemporary pop music TV show). Also a Czech short film was seen. This Wigwam performance is the only known remaining videotape of the band, pre-1974. (Info provided by Jukka Lindfors/YLE Elävä Arkisto).
Finnish bassist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Pekka Pohjola has died at the age of 56. Pohjola came first into prominence as a bass player for Finnish progressive rock/"deep pop" band Wigwam, where he played from 1970 to 1974. After that he concentrated on his solo career, even though his solo debut Pihkasilmä Kaarnakorva came out already in 1972 when he was still in Wigwam. Pohjola also played with Mike Oldfield, The Group and Made In Sweden.
For the main bass line in his song 'Midnight in a Perfect World' on the 1996 Entroducing... LP, American trip-hop artist DJ Shadow sampled Pekka Pohjola's 'Sekoilu seestyy' ("The Madness Subsides"; off Pohjola's 1974 album Harakka Bialoipokku, which was published in England as B the Magpie).
A treat for electronic ambient fans is provided by a long-awaited CD re-release of Esa Kotilainen's Tangerine Dream/Klaus Schulze-style solo album Ajatuslapsi ("A Thought Child") from 1977, which is now out on Love/Siboney, a company specializing in CD re-releases of the legendary Finnish label Love Records, which went bankrupt in 1979, leaving behind a large legacy in Finnnish rock, jazz, folk and also political music.
The album was originally released as an edition of 500 copies, Kotilainen playing all instruments there. Alongside Tangerine Dream, Lobsang Rampa's controversial book The Third Eye is mentioned as its inspiration, Kotilainen visualising such tracks as 'Avartuva näkemys' as a journey of Tibetan monks in a cave of stalactites.
Esa Kotilainen (b. 1946) is known as a keyboard wizard and synth veteran, who provided his contributions to Wigwam's most popular album Nuclear Nightclub (1975), also as a member of the band's latest incarnation, which is still in business. Furthermore, Kotilainen has provided his services as a session musician for such as Tasavallan Presidentti, Jukka Tolonen, Hector, J. Karjalainen, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää and many more. He has also been a member of Neum.
Esa Kotilainen's career in electronic music started in 1974 when he expensively imported from Germany a MiniMoog, an instrument rarely seen in Finland those days. During this era Kotilainen was playing gigs on a ferry called Finnhansa, which sailed between Helsinki and Travemünde, and paid for the instrument 6.100 Finnish marks: the price of a small car those days. The first gig with Kotilainen's Minimoog was creating sound effects for the soundtrack of Spede Pasanen's film comedy Viu-hah-hah-taja (1974), and the first music recording was obviously for the solo album Robson of Frank Robson.
Kotilainen's new career as a synth wiz got him loads of offers for background music in commercials after which his career was guaranteed in progressive bands like Wigwam, who were after electronic sounds generally favoured by the prog genre. Kotilainen is also said to have in his collection a Mellotron (an analogue predecessor of samplers, using pre-recorded tape loops played with a keyboard), perhaps the only one in this country.
Ajatuslapsi CD features as bonus tracks two versions of 'Matkaaja' ("The Traveller"), a 1978 commissioned work from Kotilainen for the Finnish National Ballet. The CD booklet also includes English liner notes by Pekka Laine, where Esa Kotilainen shares his insights on the album's origins.
1. Unisalissa ("In a dream room") 2. Avartuva näkemys ("The mind broadens") 3. Ilmassa ("In the air")
CD bonus tracks:
4. Matkaaja (1978) ("The traveller") 5. Matkaaja (1978) Kaiutettu versio (= A version with echo, 2008)
Album credits:
Esa Kotilainen plays on the album: Mini-Moog, ARP-2600, Vox StringThing, Fender Rhodes, Kouvola Casotto, kantele, Hammond B3, Leslie 251 & 145, Binson Echo, MXR 90 Phase, MXR 100 Phase, Maestro Phase Shifter, Foxx Wah Wah pedal, Indian bells, Farfisa organ, Polymoog.
Recorded by Jukka Teittinen at Alppi-studio, mixed at Finnlevy Studios, Helsinki, summer 1976. Cover by Kari Sipilä.
CD bonus tracks recorded at Esa Kotilainen home studio. CD remastering by Pauli Saastamoinen at Finnvox Studios, April 2008. CD layout by Japa Mattila. CD liner notes by Pekka Laine.
'Semi-Circle Solitude' is probably my all-time favourite track from Blues Section, a late-60s Finnish rhythm & blues/psychedelic band fronted by a great British ex-pat singer-songwriter, Jim Pembroke (later of Wigwam, another band worth checking out and don't let the "progessive rock" tag put you off, because there's some memorable songwriting here, too). The film excerpts for 'Semi-Circle Solitude' and 'Cherry Cup-Cake Twist' are from Jaakko Pakkasvirta's documentary film Eläköön nuoruus ("Viva Youth", 1968). 'Hey Hey Hey' was used in Mikko Niskanen's 1967 film Lapualaismorsian, in a sequence depicting how students in Helsinki celebrate Mayday.
YouTube also has Blues Section's 'Kuka kertoisi minulle?' ("Who would tell me?"; as vocalist Pepe Willberg, formerly of The Jormas), from Timo Bergholm's drama film Punahilkka ("Little Red Riding Hood"), another movie from 1968. Furthermore, there's a clip of 'End of a Poem', from their 1996 comeback gig.
And as bonus, more Jim Pembroke songwriting, 'Simple Human Kindness' from Wigwam's "deep pop" album Nuclear Nightclub (1975); this studio live is from 1976: