Stuffing their pockets with foot-stomping melodies, rhythmic curiosity and unusual tonality, Finnish-Swedish fiddle player Ville Syri and Helsinki-based Cornish Accordionist Tommie Black-Roff unite over a love for traditional Nordic melodies and dance. Stuffed Pockets, Ville & Tommie’s debut album, presents a whimsical, improvisatory approach to music steeped in cross-border dialogue and tradition. From Polska to Schottis and Hornpipes, Ville & Tommie weave well-known melodies with on-the-spot improvisation, taking the listener from the dancehall to peaceful strolls through a Scandinavian woodland, and beyond to the Cornish waves.
Ville & Tommie met whilst both studying at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Ville plays with the Swedish ensemble Lyric Orchestra and is releasing his solo album later this year, whilst Tommie is known for such bands as TEYR, Farandi and his new Finnish jazz-folk project Värivarjo. This debut explores the melodies of the Finnish diaspora present in Ville’s home of Gästrikland on the east coast of Sweden, as well as the dances of Tommie’s native Cornwall.
They tell us: Expect the unexpected. Bring your own mustard.
Dancing their way into spring with life and colour, Ville & Tommie’s first single is Tribute, for which we have the pleasure of sharing the accompanying video ahead of their debut album release this May on Penny Fiddle Records.
Tribute concerns being neither 100% Swedish nor Finnish, one label nor another, becoming instead what you experience. The video for Tribute was filmed at the Gasklockorna, a complex of converted old brick gas tanks in Ville’s hometown of Gävle, Northern Sweden and features a mix of traditional folk and free improvised dance. The tune, by Ville Syri, is also a tribute to the legendary Ostrobotnian fiddler Otto Hotakainen’s tune writing and playing.
They are touring the UK next month; see full details below.
Tour Dates
Ville & Tommie are on tour in Finland, Sweden and the UK this spring and summer with a series of concerts, dances, workshops and festival appearances.
5.5 – Arbis, Helsinki, FI
10.5 – Tampere, FI
12.5 – Åland, FI
15.5 – Musikhuset, Gävle, SE
18.5 – Sundsvall, Värstaborg, SE
19.5 – Hassela, SE
20.5 – Ersboda folkets hus, Umeå, SE
25.5 – Art House, Southampton, UK
26.5 – Venue TBA, Redruth, UK
27.5 – Solomon Browne, Mousehole, UK
2-4.6 – Fire in the Mountain, Aberystwyth, UK
6.6 – The Shakespeare, Sheffield, UK
14.8 – Malmö, SE
17.8 – Bomhus, SE
Their new single, ‘Tribute’, is out on Penny Fiddle Records on all major streaming platforms on Monday, 24th April 2023. The full album Stuffed Pockets follows on Thursday, 25th May 2023.
More details here: https://villeandtommie.com/