He had actually wanted to play the electric guitar and had dreamed of becoming a rock 'n' roll star. However, when he walked into a music shop as a boy, he saw an accordion and knew it was meant to be. He was just as enthusiastic about the local accordion courses as he was about Kiss or AC/DC, and he now describes himself as an ‘accordion wild child’. During his studies, he immersed himself in Nordic traditions and composed new music for the diatonic accordion. He also mastered throat singing techniques influenced by Mongolian music. He creates a pulsating sound that sounds like an entire band from all this. With this unorthodox, hypnotic mix of dance, trance, tradition and techno, he even made it to the Finnish final for the ESC: his song ‘Takatukka’ is an anthem to the mullet hairstyle. He didn't win the contest with it, but he did win thousands of hearts.

Photo Arturo Alvarez