Photo by Miikka Pirinen
About us
Sähkökitarakvartetti [Electric Guitar Quartet] are a contemporary music ensemble founded in 2017. These four musicians have thoroughly explored the potential of the instrument in areas as varied as jazz, rock, classical music, free improvisation, experimental music and sound art. The purpose of the group is to merge influences from multiple sources and to explore new, as yet undefined combinations and modes of expression.
By commissioning and performing works boldly crossing genre boundaries, the group seeks to shake up the established structures and aesthetics of the art music field. Four electric guitars is an unusual ensemble; there are only a handful of them in the world. Accordingly, Sähkökitarakvartetti have attracted considerable interest among composers and audiences. They have given concerts in Finland, Sweden, Iceland and Lithuania and premiered 21 works to date by composers such as Tytti Arola, Hafdís Bjarnadóttir, Sergio Castrillón, Clara De Asís, Sami Klemola, Meriheini Luoto and Lauri Supponen. In 2021, the group began a two-year project funded by the Kone Foundation, involving the recording of four studio albums.
Juhani Grönroos, gtr / Lauri Hyvärinen, gtr / Jukka Kääriäinen, gtr / Sigurður Rögnvaldsson, gtr
SÄHKÖKITARAKVARTETTI - III out April 14 2023 – Compositions by Kalima, Lyytinen, Bjarnadóttir, Castrillón & Grönroos.
Helsinki-based Sähkökitarakvartetti release their third album ‘III’, joining together five strong compositional voices from the fields of modern jazz, contemporary and improvised music. The album showcases a new side of the ensemble – fast-paced and full of twists and turns. Kalle Kalima’s “Ajan Haju'' forms an alien syntax out of an encyclopedia of scorching, distorted jazz and rock tones. Pauli Lyytinen’s “Särmiö” resonates with deep lyricism and hallucinatory looped soundscapes. Hafdís Bjarnadóttir’s ”Hyrnan IV”, based on an ancient Icelandic knitting pattern, weaves together a fabric of complex, mechanical rhythms. In Sergio Castrillón’s ”12 Miniatures” the ensemble is joined by the composer on cello, crafting together dense micro worlds of timbral polyphony. Juhani Grönroos’s conceptually quirky ”Orb” calls for extended and unhinged, explosive improvisations.
