WOMAD

Lepistö&Lehti

From Finland

The many sounds of accordion and bass
They might sound like a pair of Helsinki-based lawyers, but Lepistö&Lehti's profession is a far more noble, less slippery endeavour. Formerly members of Värttinä, that full-velocity, high-drama band of Finnish folkies, Markku Lepistö and Pekka Lehti have slimmed things right down. Indeed, at first glance, the notion of a vocal-less duo restricted to just accordion and upright bass might put the shivers up the less adventurous listener. But L&L's music isn't remotely stuffy - nor does it require a musicology qualification to decipher it. The common responses to it are emotional ones, whether their slow, cinematic wanderings prompt maudlin reflection or - far more frequently - their playfulness turns those frowns upside down. And the wide territory that just these two instruments cover is astonishing: one minute, they're recalling the concertina-squeezing folk traditions of Northumbria; the next, their circling basslines find them in the vanguard of Euro-jazz hipsters. One of the potential unlikely surprises of the festival? Guilty as charged.

(Biography written by Nige Tassell 2010)
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