Music

The first idea for Ikivanha was born already in 2023. The song has lived many lives and existed in several forms: first as Heidi’s folk-song-inspired piece, which gradually began transforming into its current form together with Antti.

A version of the song was also submitted to UMK in 2024. At that time the chorus was completely different, the song was in English, and the story revolved more around the collective “soul of the world.” The traditional riff was not yet part of the song either; all sections were originally composed material.

When the Haitarimarinadi album started coming together, the song experienced its third transformation. Antti created the riff that began carrying the entire song. The old chorus was abandoned, Heidi created the vocal melody, and the new lyrics started flowing like a Kalevalaic incantation. The inspiration behind the lyrics came from Antti’s pure presence with his music in front of audiences and from the trance-like energy he creates at his concerts. Lauri Halavaara gathered the ideas together, created the final production, and the structure was further reshaped into a growing form where the beat only enters halfway through the song.

The song contains strong influences from the Kalevala, but now the pike’s jaw is not turned into a kantele, but into an accordion. Wisdom and strength are sought from the bear brothers, while remaining humble in one’s role of service: asking the force of the väki to protect those dancing in the night.

While creating Ikivanha, the idea also emerged that it would become the opening track of the album — a kind of initiation through which the listener is told that the album moves on the borderlands between the day-side and night-side of knowledge, slipping at times more deeply into either the dream world or the rational world. “An ancient soul doesn’t speak a modern language” — everything said on the album may contain meanings that the rational mind cannot fully grasp.

What follows is an album of songs in which the soul wanders and embraces life in human (or animal) forms in the modern world, trying to understand all its sides: feeling, failing, observing and discovering.

The idea for Takatukka was born in spring 2025. We started creating a song for UMK — getting into the competition had already been Antti’s dream for years. Heidi and Saara Törmä created lyric ideas and vocal melodies during remote sessions, and throughout the summer these ideas were shaped into the song and production together with Antti and Lauri Halavaara.

The original idea was to create a rhythmic hook built around a Finnish word that would also sound fun to foreign ears. The word takatukka (“mullet”) was found in a phone note and immediately sparked something in the writers. It awakened a strange, wild creative force that we spent the entire summer exploring. Around that word, we began building a story and an entire world, and the song gradually gained deeper meanings as well.

More than a dozen shorter remote sessions were held around the song, which also allowed it valuable resting time. Whenever we returned to it after letting it breathe for a while, it was incredibly fun to continue playing with it. Throughout the whole process the atmosphere among the writers remained playful, and making this song was probably the most fun we have ever had.

The song developed little by little: first the chorus was born, then the verses, and finally the C-section. The production was refined for a long time. The slowed-down tempo of the chorus also emerged naturally through the writing process; because the chorus and verses were written during different sessions and at different times, they accidentally ended up in different tempos. Producer Halavaara saw this not as a problem but as an opportunity to create something fun. The tempo change fit the song perfectly.

The song was made with care and dedication, but at the same time there was a constant “say yes to everything” attitude present. Every writer was encouraged to contribute freely, and the final result truly felt like the merging of everyone’s shared energy.

It was especially wonderful to get into UMK and witness how the song’s energy connected with people. We have received a lot of positive feedback especially from international listeners and Finnish families with children, and the dance videos from cheerleaders and toddlers alike have been incredibly heartwarming. Could there be anything more beautiful than seeing a song created with love and joy resonate with audiences as well?

Aerobikki was born in autumn 2025, after Takatukka had already been completed and we knew it had made it into UMK. Antti and Heidi had long been developing the concept “Mind aerobics,” based on the idea that the mind can be exercised just like the body. The mind also needs movement, and body and mind are deeply connected to each other. Stretching the mind through dreaming, for example, can make it more flexible and resilient. Sometimes the mind — and its tangled little thought-loaves — begin to open through physical movement.

Saara arrived in Kokkola for a songwriting camp, and together Heidi and Saara created the melody, harmony and lyrics. The same playful attitude remained present throughout the process, and in one day the song was almost finished. A mirror ball was spinning in the living room; sometimes we danced and sometimes we returned to shaping the lyrics.

Antti developed the accordion riffs for the song and Lauri produced it. The C-section was finalized when the production was already otherwise far along. As the finishing touch, Ulla Nisonen created a brilliant music video for the song — something to watch, experience and dance through on YouTube.

Kirsikankukka was born in April 2025. Heidi and Antti had a remote writing session with Jarkko Meretniemi, who had already been developing the melody and theme beforehand. The song immediately felt meaningful. We built the lyrics together, played around with dialect words, and naturally ended up talking a lot about life — as always happens when working with Jarkko. In Antti’s words: “One hour with Jarkko equals a year of therapy.”

Heidi and Antti’s living room has actually been the birthplace of almost all the songs on Haitarimarinadi, including this one. Only the older songs Pojanpojanpoika, Alavilla mailla and Laulu luonnolle were created elsewhere. Heidi and Antti’s home was intentionally built as a kind of temple where songs and music could emerge safely and in pure energy. It has been beautiful to notice that this truly became reality.

A few lyrical details of Kirsikankukka were still refined afterwards, and Antti developed the heavy instrumental C-section together with producer Halavaara. Whenever Lauri pushes everything to the maximum, the result is always astonishingly powerful — as it is here as well. The instrumental section felt monumental from the very first listen and still does.

The song has already received a great deal of feedback and has become part of important celebrations and crossroads in people’s lives. The lyrics have also been performed as spoken poetry.

One dream we send out into the universe: we would dearly love to witness Japan’s enchanting cherry blossom spring someday.

Antti about Pojanpojanpoika:

“In an unexplainable way, I feel that our ancestors live within us on some level of consciousness. In the song, my grandfather’s father sings about his great-grandson who plays the accordion. My grandfathers were also folk musicians: my father’s father played the accordion and his father played the violin. My mother’s father and his brothers also played the accordion. I myself started playing the accordion by accident. I was supposed to start guitar lessons, and when I was eight years old and visiting a music store to buy a guitar, I saw an accordion hanging on the wall. At that moment I suddenly felt that I wanted to play that instrument instead. Otherwise, how on earth would I ever have ended up with the accordion? At the time I did not even know what instrument it was. Later, through family research my father conducted, we discovered that my father’s father had also been a folk musician, just like his father before him. We even found a photograph of my grandfather playing accordion on the steps of the family house as a young boy.

I feel that my purpose as a musician and artist is to dig into my subconscious and seek connection with the knowledge of my ancestors. This song opens that pathway — a channel of communication with them.

In the song, the narrator is my father’s grandfather, who asks for mercy for his descendant at the gates of Tuonela.”

Alavilla mailla was born when Antti and Heidi contacted producer Lauri Halavaara for the first time after their collaborations on the album Rujo (2019). The productions for Elä and Hede&Emi had been successful and genuinely enjoyable collaborations, and we wanted to continue working together.

The song first began with a riff, which became the foundation for the entire piece. Lauri produced an atmospheric track that started inspiring both the lyrics and the vocal melody. At that point we did not yet know how much Antti would sing on the song. Heidi created the melody and lyrics by singing, recording and listening directly on top of the track.

Inspiration came partly from the book Pohjoisen alitajunnan maa by Leiwo & Leino, and partly from nature itself. Growing cut flowers involves practicing the act of letting go every autumn — allowing nature to freeze and flowers to die, even though it feels difficult every year. When nature freezes still, one begins to wonder poetically whether the human heart freezes as well, and how warmth can be preserved through the long winter. Do everyone’s hearts eventually freeze? Love must be found before it is too late.

The thought of being alone in the dark North without love for an entire winter felt chilling. We combined flowers and the sense of urgency in finding love before winter arrives. A Narnia-like atmosphere and Kalevalaic thinking were both present in the creation of the lyrics. The folk-inspired melody works deliciously together with EDM production, Antti’s voice, and the warmth brought by the accordion.

The song was submitted for UMK 2023. We received a phone call telling us that the song had been among the year’s strongest entries, although it had not quite reached the Top 7. Especially because it was our first attempt at UMK, it meant a great deal to us that we were encouraged to try again. It made us feel that the formula truly worked and that the dream of getting into the competition had become more real.

The song was later re-produced before being released as a single a year later, and it ultimately became the starting point for the creation of the new album.

Antti Laulu luonnolle -kappaleesta:
”Mulle luonto on tärkeä ja merkitsee valtavasti. Oon kotoisin lakeuksilta, missä luonto on takapihalla. Rakastan sitä, kun saa olla yhtä luonnon kanssa eli vaikkapa hiihtää, ulkoilla, hengittää happea mehtässä pakkasessa. Rakastan hankia ja talvea. Rakastan olla yhtä vapaa kuin luonto, kun hiihtelen sukset jalassa meren jäällä.

This is a love song to the universe.

We have always been, and will always remain, part of nature. Love towards nature is the key to everything. Because what you truly love, you never want to hurt or damage. The lyrics for Laulu luonnolle were compiled from songs 167 (Lemmenlaulu, sung by Vihtori Vesalainen, Sippola 1956) and 168 (Lemmenlaulu, sung by Taavi Uutela, Iitti 1957) from Kymenlaakson laulukirja (edited by Erkki Ala-Könni, 1981). I composed new music for these lyrics and added some of my own verses while honoring the original love songs and cherishing the beauty of nature.”

Track 7 was also released on the album Nouse luonto – Songs of Nordic Biodiversity (Nordic Notes, 2025).

In spring, Heidi was asked by Folkkarit to write Finnish lyrics for a legendary melody. The song was, in fact, the same melody as Scooter’s How Much Is the Fish?, but the commissioners knew the song’s history much better: this old Breton folk song has been recorded and reinterpreted dozens of times over the years.

The song’s original title is Son ar chistr (“The Cider Song”), and its lyrics were written in 1929 by Jean Bernard and Jean-Marie Prima.

Heidi used the song’s original drinking-song concept as the starting point for the lyrics, but otherwise the text is entirely new.

“Alcohol culture is already starting to become something of a disappearing folk tradition in Finland, so the idea of writing these kinds of collective ‘memories’ felt amusing. Since Folkkarit were making a comeback at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival, I imagined the story taking place there.”

The repetitive structure of the song made it possible to create an explanatory storytelling style — almost as if the singer keeps inventing excuses for their own mischief while the story unfolds. The lyrics tell the kind of story everyone recognizes: if it hasn’t happened to you, it has at least happened to someone you know.

When it was time to demo the lyrics, Antti happened to be at home. The song suited him so naturally that he ended up featuring on the final version as well. The lyrics may also have absorbed some charming influences from his South Ostrobothnian dialect that were not yet present in Heidi’s original text. Finnish dialects are simply wonderful — especially in songs, where they bring authenticity, personality, humor and honesty.

By coincidence, Antti met Alan Stivell during the summer of 2025. Stivell had recorded the very version of the song in the 1970s through which the melody became internationally known. Perhaps some spark was passed on in that encounter.

The song entered Spotify’s Viral Chart in autumn 2025 and remained near the top for several weeks.

Aijaijai was born during a remote writing session between Jarkko Meretniemi, Heidi and Antti. Once again, Jarkko arrived with a beautiful melodic idea that eventually became the chorus of the song. During the session we talked about life, death, and how important it is to notice the beauty around us — in small details and in the people close to us.

Originally, the song began with the words “death whispers,” but something about it kept bothering us. We longed for a feeling that would embrace life instead. So we held another session, and from it emerged the line: “life whispers aaa, isn’t it wonderful,” which, in a way, captures everything essential about the world.

Jarkko’s original guitar track from the demo was also kept in the final version of the song. Producer Halavaara gave the track its wings. Even though the song has only been performed live a couple of times so far, it has already become an audience favorite at concerts.

Hiilloksella was born in autumn 2024 after returning home from folk dancing practice. We had been learning traditional Finnish dances at the folk dance group of the Kokkola Workers’ Institute. After the dancing session, Antti started playing schottisches on his new accordion while Heidi sat on the sofa listening. In our minds, we were already longing for summer and Kaustinen. The lyrics were written directly on top of Antti’s playing.

Both of us have gone through burnout — more than once — and the lyrics carry a sense of compassion and permission to rest: it does not matter if your mind feels dark or if you are exhausted. Then it is simply time to sleep, when the time for sleep has come.