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Selma Savolainen

vocalist and composer

About

About

Selma Savolainen is a vocalist and composer based in Helsinki, who effortlessly combines Finnish folk sounds with jazz and alt singer-songwriter styles. Recently awarded with the Rising Talent Prize at the Pori Jazz Festival, she has been praised by the Helsingin Sanomat as a singer who is taking Finnish vocal jazz to new heights.

 

Her debut solo record Horror Vacui is being released by the renowned Whirlwind Recordings on May 5, 2023. It features some of the most sought-after musicians on the Finnish jazz scene – Max Zenger on clarinets, Tomi Nikku on trumpet, Toomas Keski-Säntti on piano, Eero Tikkanen on double bass and Okko Saastamoinen on drums.

 

Horror Vacui is a set of songs composed and arranged specifically for this sextet, exploring the fear of emptiness, renunciation and sudden discoveries. "By creating space for every musician's voice, we hope to find a place where loneliness does not exist," Savolainen says.

 

Savolainen is an alumnus of the Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead program and the Banff International Workshop for Jazz and Creative Music. She was selected to participate in the Collaborative Creative Residency at the Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund by Composers Now, an organization led by Tania Leon. She has graduated from the Sibelius Academy and studied at the Conservatory of Paris.

 

Savolainen tours frequently with the bands Selma Juudit Alessandra, Signe, Mikko Sarvanne Garden and Mikko Innasen Uusi Kvintetti. Her virtuosic yet emotive singing has been heard in EFG London Jazz Festival, Apollo Theater, Getxo Jazz Festival and We Jazz Festival i.a.  Her compositions for Signe were nominated for the Teosto award in 2020 and she has worked as an artistic producer and arranger on the albums and concerts of the folk music duo Akkajee and Pykäri and Karina, the Finnish indie pop acts.

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”There is an astonishing boldness in her lyrics and in the way she performs, a new kind of female perspective, which reminds of Chris Kraus.”

- Katri Kallionpää HS/Jazzkeittiö, 25.1.2019

Music

Music

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Video

Video

Press Photos

Press Photos

Tour

Tour

24/05/2023   Imaginary Ladies                   @Cité International Des Arts, Paris

29/05/2023   Signe                              @JaZZanti, Helsinki

16/07/2023   Mikko Sarvanne Garden              @Mitäs Mitäs Mitäs, Urjala

28/07/2023   Selma Savolainen Horror Vacui      @Raahen Rantajatsit

29/07/2023   Selman ja Bunuelin Luxus-orkesteri @Raahen Rantajatsit

31/07/2023   Signe                              @Jazz-Espa, Helsinki

03/08/2023   Mikko Innasen uusi kvintetti       @Jazz-Espa, Helsinki

29/09/2023   Selma Savolainen Horror Vacui      @Porvoo Jazz Festival

p a s t

03/05/2023   in trio with Aki Rissanen &

             Steven Kamperman                      @Cité International Des Arts, Paris

18/04/2023   Crystal sound project                 @Conservatoire Maurice Ravel, Paris

31/03/2023   Signe feat. Mila Laine                @Flame Jazz, Turku

21/02/2023   Moon On Fire                          @JaZZanti — Oodi-library, Helsinki

18/02/2023   Moon On Fire                          @Jazz For Kids, Espoo

09/01/2023   Mikko Sarvanne Garden                 @Ääniwalli, Helsinki

08/01/2023   Mikko Sarvanne Garden                 @Kalevan Navetta, Seinäjoki

04/12/2022   Selma Savolainen & Jyväskylä Big Band @Siltasali, Jyväskylä

02/12/2022   Mikko Sarvanne Garden                 @EMMA, Espoo

04/11/2022   Selma Savolainen Horror Vacui         @Telakka, Tampere Jazz Happening 

27/10/2022   Tölöläb                               @Kalliosali, Helsinki

06/10/2022   Archipélagos                          @JAZZMI Milano, Italy

03/09/2022   Mikko Innasen Uusi Kvintetti          @Loviisan Sibeliuspäivät, Loviisa

12/08/2022   Signe                                 @Tuusulan taiteiden yö, Tuusula

09/08/2022   Selma Savolainen Horror Vacui         @Kesän nuoret taiteilijat, Helsinki

05/08/2022   Selma ja Eero                         @Kuusiluoto, Helsinki

23/07/2022   Selma Savolainen Horror Vacui         @Korpo Sea Jazz

23/07/2022   Portside Jazz                         @Korpo Sea Jazz

22/07/2022   Selma ja Eero                         @Korpo Sea Jazz

21/07/2022   Signe                                 @Runosaari, Naantali

20/07/2022   Signe                                 @Kirkkopuiston terassi, Turku

14/07/2022   Selma Savolainen Horror Vacui         @Poriljonki, Pori Jazz

01/07/2022   Archipélagos                          @Bermeo Jazz Festival, Spain

29/06/2022   Archipélagos                          @Getxo Jazz Festival, Spain

04/06/2022   Selma Juudit Alessandra               @Hard Rock House, Helsinki

28/05/2022   Crystal sound project                 @Sofia Live Club, Bulgaria

26/04/2022   Signe                                 @Kivi, Tampere

21/04/2022   Signe                                 @Vaba Lava, Tallinn

18/02/2022   Signe                                 @Taiteilijakoti Erkkola POSTPONED 

07/12/2021   Horror Vacui                          @Ravintola Laulumiehet, Helsinki

03/12/2021   Selma Juudit Alessandra               @WeeGee, Espoo

02/12/2021   Selma Juudit Alessandra               @Ravintola Poppari, Jyväskylä

01/12/2021   Selma Juudit Alessandra               @Kulttuurikellari, Savonlinna

30/11/2021   Selma Juudit Alessandra               @Hygge Bro, Kuopio

29/11/2021   Selma Juudit Alessandra               @Kiteesali, Kitee

19/11/2021   Signe (a l b u m  r e l e a s e)      @Vapaan Taiteen Tila, Helsinki

11/11/2021   Selma Juudit Alessandra               @Raahesali, Raahe

10/11/2021   Selma Juudit Alessandra               @Voimala 1889, Oulu

09/11/2021   Selma Juudit Alessandra               @Kerubin sali, Joensuu

08/11/2021   Selma Juudit Alessandra               @Kulttuuritalo Marita, Outokumpu

28/08/2021   Signe                                 @Viapori Jazz, Helsinki CANCELLED

22/08/2021   Signe                                 @Helsingin Juhlaviikot: Wonderfeel CANCELLED

05/08/2021   Signe                                 @Elojazz, Oulu

31/07/2021   Elifantree with friends               @Raahen rantajatsit, Raahe

31/07/2021   Eero Tikkanen & Selma Savolainen      @Raahen rantajatsit, Raahe

30/07/2021   Signe                                 @Raahen rantajatsit, Raahe

05/02/2021   Mikko Innanen F60.8 +                 @Musica Nova Helsinki 2021, HiH, livestream

             Selma Savolainen&Juha Rautio

30/10/2020   Selma Juudit Alessandra               @Telakka, Tampere Jazz Happening, Tampere

21/10/2020   Signe                                 @Louhisali, VocalEspoo, Espoo

13/10/2020   MINE                                  @Malmitalo, Helsinki

09/10/2020   Selma Juudit Alessandra               @Bar Ö, Turku

26/09/2020   Signe                                 @Porvoo Jazz Festival, Helsinki

19/09/2020   Sointi Jazz Orchestra 'Kapina'        @Kapsäkki, Helsinki

04/02/2020   Signe                                 @Glivelab, Tampere

03/02/2020   Selma Savolainen & Arttu Takalo duo   @Koko Jazz Club, Helsinki

30/01/2020   Signe + Selma Juudit Alessandra       @Sibafest, Helsinki

28/01/2020   Garden                                @Sibafest, Helsinki

26/01/2020   Selma Juudit Alessandra               @Tenho, Helsinki

17/01/2020   Lesley Mok Quartet                    @Scholes Street Studio, Brooklyn

Contact
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Bookings and other inquiries

selmajasavolainen(a)gmail.com

+358-40 160 28 98

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