Tuulikki Bartosik & Timo Alakotila
Heath Street Baptist Chuch, Hampstead
Thursday 26th September
Doors 7:30pm, Live Music 8:00pm
Tuulikki Bartosik – spontaneous, unorthodox musical adventures on free-bass accordion and voice
The words innovative and fresh are rarely used to describe accordion music. However, Estonian musician and composer Tuulikki Bartosik defies expectations.
From crafting introspective solos to expanding notions of traditional music through international collaborations, her inspiration is rooted in her Võrumaa origins in Estonia, growing with the people and places she encounters elsewhere to create spontaneous, unorthodox musical adventures.
Tuulikki Bartosik & Timo Alakotila tour in the UK for the first time as a duo, Tuulikki being previously known for her concerts with Hannah James and Timo with Karen Tweed. The dynamic and versatile duo will play Bartosik’s music from the album Storied Sounds with some occasional traditional tunes from Scandinavia and Estonia.
“Storied Sounds from Tuulikki Bartosik – fascinating melange of music and sound. (…) Whether these tacks evoke memories or prompt imaginings doesn’t really matter, what matters is the ability of this album to take you places … back to a past or forward into a future and that’s certainly achieved.” Tim Carroll, FolkWords
“One of the joys of this record [Storied Sounds] is that it demonstrates that musical traditions are effectively pointless if they do not evolve or are never brought to new audiences. In the same way that the idea of home could not exist without the possibility of travel, tradition means nothing without evolution. Storied Sounds encapsulates this concept with breathtaking simplicity and vibrancy.” Thomas Blake, folkradio.co.uk
Tuulikki earned nominations for Estonian Folk Music Awards Best Musician and Best Album categories in 2014, 2015 and 2016. She also received an honorary award for promoting South-Estonian traditions in 2016, followed by a 2017 Live and Shine grant from Estonian Culture Capital. Tuulikki accompanied Estonian President, Kersti Kaljulaid, on her state visit to Finland in 2017 for Finland’s centennial celebration.