Singer-songwriter Jarkko Martikainen and UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra’s collaborative church tour A Little Christmas Reformation offers a slightly different approach to Christmas. The tour sees Martikainen and the big band present the soloist’s compositions and a few Christmas song favourites. They tell heart-wrenching stories about the life and holiday observation of less-fortunate people; about their loneliness, isolation, pain and lack of means – but also about hope. Coupled with Martikainen’s strong stage presence, we can expect an intimate atmosphere that will touch an audience of all ages and from all walks of life. During the tour UMO Helsinki will be conducted by Kirmo Lintinen.

– Traditional Christmas songs tend to be rather uniform thematically, revolving around such aspects as joy and gratitude. We won’t completely leave them out because there is such melodic grandeur and spiritual grace to so many of them. At the same time, we will count on the audience’s judgment. As each of us knows the realities of life there is no reason to avoid introducing them to the Christmas table either, muses the soloist.

Jarkko Martikainen has become known to the general audience as the song- and lyric-writing singer-guitarist of the Finnish rock group YUP. He embarked on a solo career in 2004, and today he performs both solo and with his group Luotetut miehet. Solo work has enabled Martikainen to take a more meditative approach to both music and lyrics. A true handyman of arts, he has worked as a producer, columnist, TV host and actor and published two books. His main goal, however, has always been to devote most of his time to the holy trinity of song-writing, recording and gigging. www.jarkkomartikainen.fi

Illustration: Jarkko Martikainen
Jarkko’s photo: Olli Häkkinen