Tenhi pour la compilation "Folk Aesthetic"

1. Hi Tyko! Thank you for according me some of your time for this interview. You've just released the "Folk Aesthetic" compilation in August which contains rare recordings and unreleased material of the ten years of existence of Tenhi. How came the idea to concretise it? Did you think about it for a long time?

We had planned to do something special on our 10th year but the idea for this compilation came after the inquires for the odd and unreleased material. First we only planned to do two cd but as there was so much material we decided to “clear the table” and just put everything there... although even now there were some left over songs which will maybe be released on our 20th year celebration compilation.


2. The first CD contains all the songs of your first demo ("Kertomuksia") and your 2 MCDs ("Hallavedet" and "Airut:Ciwi"), very rare recordings to find today. Did you receive a lot of demand about a potential re-release of all these recordings from your listeners?

Yeah, the fans has especially asked about the demo. At one point we though of releasing it as a MCD but I think this was the proper decision. Both of the MCD "Hallavedet" and "Airut:Ciwi" were sold out so we though that it would be nice to put them on the compilation as well.


3. I discovered "Kertomuksia" thanks to this compilation and I was surprised to hear a very strange song for Tenhi called "Havuisissa Saleissa". Can you tell us more about it? Is it an older song than the others of this demo?

In fact think the songs on the demo are in chronological order, so the "Havuisissa Saleissa" was not the first one. The other tracks has been rerecorded for the "Kauan" and "Väre" albums and we had plan to record "Havuisissa Saleissa" again for "Maaäet" but we never did it for some reason. It differs from the other songs having more metal approach with distorted guitars but the overall feel fit perfectly to the demo.


4. What were your influences at the beginning of the band?

We all had metal background listening to bands from "classic" metal and rock bands to black metal. At the time I was very keen on folk music too. So I think it all came to bloom from these seeds. However as we all were into visual arts and had strong vision and expression in that field and as in music as well we never tried to copy any other bands. Quite ambitiously we set forward in search of our own style from the beginning.


5. The second CD contains a lot of alternatives versions of already released songs of your albums, from "Kauan" to "Maaäet" that makes a lot of possibilities. How was made the choice of the songs to reinterpret?

In fact those alternative versions are from the same recording session than those, which end up on the records. These song are the original versions of those songs. As we do the recording and mixing our selves we sometimes try out loads of different approaches and arrangements to the songs before they find the final form. Like the "Tuulenkaato", this version id the original composition with the guitar melody it was just in the mixing process we wanted to try different approach with the piano replacing the guitar. It was that piano version that ended up on the "Maaäet" and the original version is now released on this compilation.


6. The new songs of the second CD are absolutely amazing but have an atmosphere a bit different from the other albums of your discography. Is this the reason that made them unreleased before this compilation?

Yeah, there was just something that took them away from the album or that they just were never finished in time or on which we wanted to explore further. It is often very hard to say why some songs end up on the album while other song doesn't.


7. The third CD is a complete album called "Kaski" and it was highly anticipated for me (I think I'm not the only one). I don't know if I'm right but I found it very close to the "Airut:Ciwi" period, slow and contemplative images of nature. What does "Kaski" represent for you? Did it take a long time to work on these "old" songs never ended before?

Exactly, they are more like scenery painting than normal songs. One can say it took ten years to finish that album, as there are songs from even 1995. All the song were recorded separately and it was just now when we listened to the old material that we noticed they formed a beautiful wholeness, which we decided to call "Kaski". The "Kaski" (swidden) theme came as we though the imagery the songs raised in us.


8. We can't speak about "Folk Aesthetic" without evoke your fantastic work for the illustrations. All the drawings are also used in the "Kausienranta" clip (with some effects) and I found them very close to the atmosphere of this song. Did the graphical concept (flowers, skeletons, darkness...) come from this song in particular? Has it a particular signification for you?

Actually the graphics started to evolve from the song "Vasen" on the third CD on this compilation. The song was very visual experience and I did some graphics for it and for the other song on the third CD. At that point we had loads of stuff on the compilation... old photos, drawings etc from different sessions. But slowly the graphics for the third CD started to take over the whole compilation which now seems really as the right choice as they bind altogether. I made the video for "Kausienranta" as it was more easier song to place all the graphics onto.


9. Probably blinded by the Rugby World Cup, Germans must silently ignore how lucky they were to have 4 dates of Tenhi in their country (early September). According to your website, you haven't played live since 2003 ! So how spent these shows and how was the German welcome? Do you think you'll come to France one day?

The tour was extremely great! All the venues were almost sold out and the new acoustic line-up seemed to work were well for us. We could build the dynamics better than with drumset gigs. We will surely do loads of more shows now as the feeling is right. Before we had problems with sessions members and their schedules. We would be honoured to come to France if we could organize something there, so please if any of you have contact to some organizer of club, please give them a hint to take contact to us.


10. I saw that Ilkka was missing in the line-up for the these last shows. Why?

He has slowly given up the band. He hasn't been kick out but he has loads of other personal interest that he prefers. This has happened along the year and started even after the "Kauan" album, already the "Väre" and "Maaäet" album was almost composed alone by me and Ilmari.


11. Could you give us some news (or even a scoop) about the progress of the conclusion of the "Airut" saga, "Airut:Savoie"? Will it be released on the name of Harmaa? Will Ilkka participate to its creation?

I think it will be just normal album... and not "Airut" saga, anyway the "Airut" saga is just mostly in my and Ilmari's head and basically all music we make is just Tenhi, we can see it now. The music will be in the vain of "Tuulenkaato" and "Maa Syttyy"... at least that way it seems now but it might change a lot when we start to really work on the songs. Anyway it will be a bit more doom album with loads of choirs. I think Ilkka will not be part of this album.


12. I'm not a specialist of folk music but I really enjoy this kind of expression. Which bands could you recommend to our readers (and me)?

I really enjoyed the Dornenreich shows in Zwitschenweltean and Jochen being a real artist and great person, I will recommend it.


13. What do you do for a living apart from the band? Do you have any other musical projects?

I am a freelanced graphic artist and I also work as architect/urban designer. We will put all our energy on Tenhi so there aren't any other musical projects.


14. Thank you for the interview and I wish you the best for the future, hoping you'll come in France one day... The last words are yours!

Cheers, that's for this interview. As I said we would be more than happy to come to France, so please take contact to us if anyone can help us to arrange shows there. Stay untamed.