Singers of
a cappella Finnish music
Enkelit are a small upper voice group based in the North of England who sing contemporary vocal music primarily from Finland, strongly influenced by folk traditions and characterised by beauty and melancholy.
The group was founded in 2003 by Richard Pomfret, who first encountered Finnish choral music while working with his youth choir, Pongos. The attraction of this haunting music led to two Pongos tours to Finland, and a number of personal visits to the Tampere Vocal Music Festival. There, in 2001, he heard the piece Enkelit performed by Fiori, an ensemble of seven singers for whom it was originally written. Inspired by this, Richard became determined to form a group in Britain to perform both this piece and the wealth of a cappella upper-voice choral music currently being written in Finland.
A visit of Fiori to York in 2003 provided an opportunity to recruit interested singers from the audience, and together with a handful of singers from the Newcastle area, the group Enkelit was born, performing their first concert in Penrith in 2004. The group has since performed at The Lyons Concert Hall, York, The Sage Gateshead and Square Chapel Arts centre in Halifax amongst others. In June 2005 they made a pilgrimage to their spiritual home of Tampere Music Festival to sing in the Chorus Review. They have also toured the Czech Republic, and also found time to record their first CD.
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Enkelit are a small, upper-voice choir formed in 2003 primarily to sing the beautiful a cappella music of Finland. The group take their name from the choral piece which inspired their creation; Enkelit (Finnish for 'angels') by Tellu Turkka. Their repertoire is very contemporary, mostly written in the last twenty years, reflecting the renaissance in Finnish choral music. Although the group primarily perform Finnish work, they include pieces from Estonia, Iceland and Sweden.
"To those who have never heard them sing before it is almost impossible to describe the unique nature of the sound which they create, to say that it is haunting or ethereal is like saying that the Mona Lisa is “a good painting” : it’s true but it’s a vast understatement!!"
Gill O'Donnell - Settle Craven Herald 2011
"...one’s breath was regularly taken away at the sheer virtuosity of the performances..."
Tricia Rees-Jones 2006
For full review please click on this cutting
"Whilst the audience might expect the alien twitterings of some little Arctic bird nesting in an obscure musical niche, they are in fact met with a very warm, attractive and somehow familiar sound, transporting them to the midwinter fireside of legendary Scandinavia. "
Daniel Bath
Square Chapel Centre for the Arts 2007
"...the music which was created was truly heavenly: there are times as a reviewer when you simply run out of superlatives! "
"They engaged with the audience and with each other and were clearly at ease which seemed to reflect the sensitivity of the conductor who maintained a quiet presence while being absolutely in control. A sense of drama came into the performance through the singers’ movement between pieces, achieving several reconfigurations which allowed the voices to mingle in unusual combinations. For the final piece, Goodnight, the choir moved out to surround the audience which gave their voices an ethereal quality of great beauty and atmosphere. Simple choreography at its best"
Gwendoline Goddard 2010
"It was a sheer joy to hear contemporary music of this quality performed with such panache..."
Enkelit's repertoire covers music from the folk traditions of Finland but the music they feel most at home with is the contemporary interpretations of this music by composers such as Tellu Turkka , who wrote the tracks beneath, Enkelit. The piece tells the story of a woman who lost her child, and of her struggles to come to terms with this and to face the demons of grief.
Much of the contemporary vocal music of Finland is strongly influenced by their folk tradition. A few of the folksongs are very exuberant, but most are characterised by their beauty and melancholy, apparent in all the folksong arrangements in our repetoire. Many of the contemporary compositions take their words from the epic poems 'Kalevala' and 'Kanteletar', a collection of traditional Finnish myths and poetry. These are alliterative and intensely metaphorical, often repeating phrases to strengthen their meaning. The surrounds are those of the old Finnish countryside and the language is saturated with references to nature and living creatures; the endless forests, lakes and long beautiful evenings of the far north. There are also settings of established poets, while some composers, notably Tellu Turkka, frequently write their own lyrics, as is the case in 'Enkelit'.
Most of the music that Enkelit perform is from Finland, but they occasionally visit other parts of Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, always maintaining the same atmosphere of longing, loneliness and love.
Osa 1
Osa 2
Osa 3
Osa 4
Osa 5
Osa 6
Enkelit's CD (price £10 plus postage and packing) can be purchased by contacting Kate Hudis nickandkateatbtinternet.com
For information about Enkelit and Finnish music contact:
Richard Pomfret richardatpomfret.me.uk
Mob 07813 816561
For CD sales contact:
Kate Hudis nickandkateatbtinternet.com
For Press Information contact:
Caroline Lewis caroline.lewisatzen.co.uk
Tel 01904 637445 (day)
Mob 07875 145460
Recruitment:
If you are interested in joining Enkelit, we rehearse on the first Sunday of the month in York. You will normally be invited to participate in a rehearsal. Should you wish to join there is a short audition. The ability to read music is essential and reasonable sight singing is a distinct advantage.
For more information contact any of the people on the contacts page.
We recently held a recruitment workshop which was both fun and very succesful!
ENKELIT'S NEXT EVENT
will be on Tuesday 14 Feb 2012 at
The National Centre for Early Music
Walmgate
York
as part of the Viking Festival
and supporting
The Martin Simpson Trio who sold out at their last appearance here!
Click below for more information
Enkelit have just returned from Finland where they took part in the Tampere Vocal Festival, achieving a very creditable 3 silver stars, having come 13th out of 49 choirs.
The trip was truly inspiring and we have made lots of contacts for future events. Watch this space!!
ENKELIT: SETTLE PARISH CHURCH :
As the concert ended I overheard the following comment: “It may have been a bit on the romantic side, but I think that last song was probably the most beautiful thing I have ever heard in this church…” I have to agree – the encore, the only piece sung in English throughout the concert, was absolutely superb and an excellent showpiece demonstrating the haunting quality of the group’s voices and making magnificent use of the acoustics of the church. The group are small upper-voice group based in the north of England who specialise in singing contemporary vocal music from Finland and the majority of the programme was in Finnish, with some Swedish and one Icelandic number. To those who have never heard them sing before it is almost impossible to describe the unique nature of the sound which they create, to say that it is haunting or ethereal is like saying that the Mona Lisa is “a good painting” : it’s true but it’s a vast understatement! Their style of music is heavily influenced by Finnish folk traditions and encapsulates a strange beauty and sense of melancholy. Nowhere is this more true than in “Jo meista evo tulen “ which possesses a timeless quality from its whispered opening, through its strong solo section, to its subtle fading close. The whole piece resonates with a deep sense of yearning. Throughout the music you are conscious of the intricate harmonies and the complex layering of musical motifs and yet you are also totally carried away by the phenomenal way in which the sounds blend to produce something totally unlike our own style of folk music. The themes of the pieces tend to be similar, many based on the folk traditions and often love songs but frequently there is an underlying sense of sadness caused by separation. “Mieli” – which translates as “longing” being a perfect example of this constant yearning. However, this is not to say the programme was pervaded by sadness as there were a wide range of pieces performed; the Icelandic “Eg vil loaf eina pa” ( I will only praise) was a beautiful hymn to the Virgin Mary with intricate rhythms and the two closing numbers of the first half, sung in Swedish Finnish, were far more spirited with a modern jazz feel. By far the most striking piece of the concert was the lengthy “Etsija” which though complex in format allowed the different voices of the elements in the story to shine through. There were also elements of humour to be found in the delivery of some of the folk songs which enlivened the performance. While music may be a universal language I am sure I was not alone in wishing at times for some further details of the stories behind the pieces as this could surely only enhance the understanding and appreciation of what was truly an amazing musical experience. The name Enkelit means angels, and the music which was created was truly heavenly: there are times as a reviewer when you simply run out of superlatives!
Gill O'Donnell - Settle Craven Herald - May 2011
Enkelit Copyright 2011
my business copyright 2000 no animals were harmed in the making
