Emmi Kujanpää
Helsinki-based folk singer, kantele player and composer specializing in Finno-Karelian and Balkan folk music.
Since 2010 Emmi Kujanpää has released several band albums as well as the internationally acclaimed solo album Nani (Nordic Notes / Sibelius Academy, 2020) in collaboration with the Bulgarian choir Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares Vocal Academy.
In her compositions and music videos, Kujanpää deals with the different aspects of femininity and transgenerationality. She tells stories about female goddesses and #metoo experiences through vocal ornamentation, traditional lamentations, and dissonance.
Kujanpää has been working extensively and internationally on Finno-Karelian and Balkan singing for more than ten years. She successfully combines traditions with different line-ups and crosses genre boundaries. She has featured on 15 albums, and has composed music for documentaries and fashion shows. In 2016, Danish Music Awards WORLD nominated Kujanpää's choral arrangement as one of the best world music songs of the year.