The Sounds – Evolution of Roots Music, Vol. 5

The Evolution of Roots Music series continues! Guitar band The Sounds transports you straight into the rock n’ roll atmosphere of the 1960s.

Founded in the autumn of 1961, guitar band The Sounds broke through with their album "Emma", in 1963, which went straight to the top of the top 8 radio show on both the domestic and foreign charts. "Emma" spent almost six months at the top of various charts and showed the way for several young future guitarists. The B-side single, "Mandschurian Beat", was the first export success of Finnish light music, selling more than a million copies in Japan and the Far East.

In 1965, the band went on hiatus, with its members focusing on their studies and building careers. That hiatus would last almost 46 years, until 2011, when the band resumed operations, in its nearly original line-up. In June of that year, the band performed for the first time after a long break at the Rautalanka Festival in Nastola. In 2013, a new album "Live At Arcada Studios" was released, fifty years after the band's first album. Today, the band continues to perform and record regularly.

Band members:
Peter Ekman, bass: founding member 1961
Esa Helasvuo, keyboards: involved since 1964
Jomme Kettunen, drums: involved since 2016
Ave Lönnfors, guitar and vocals: involved since 2019
Pete Kinnunen, lead guitar: involved since 2023

Malmitalo's Evolution of Roots Music series will continue in the autumn of 2024! Once a month, we get to see the best and brightest of the Finnish scene. Each concert deals with the genre of that era in the development of roots music. In the spring, the series tackled the roots music of the 1920s and 1950s, and in the autumn, we will proceed to the rautalanka, rock n' roll and beat music that emerged in the 1960s.

Duration: 1 h 40 min, incl. 20 min intermission