Antti Paalanen

Born in 1977 in Alavus, Finland, Antti Paalanen has, since the 1990s, developed a personal body of work around the diatonic accordion, at the intersection of Finnish traditional music, contemporary folk and strongly rhythmic writing. Trained at the Sibelius Academy, where he completed a doctorate in 2015 devoted to the rhythm of the bellows in compositional work, Paalanen plays one-, two- and three-row accordions and has built a language based on pulse, drones, repetition and the use of voice. His solo discography includes Äärelä (2007), Breathbox (2010), Meluta (2014) and Rujo (2019), four albums that trace the evolution of music that is tense, at times spare, at others rougher, yet always tied to the forms and textures of the Finnish repertoire. In parallel, he has participated in several groups and projects on the country’s folk scene, notably Kiharakolmio, Hehkumo, Hyperborea, Trepaanit, Turkka ja Paalanen and Laitakaupungin orkesteri, while also working for the theatre as a musician and composer. His career has taken him to stages in Finland and elsewhere in Europe, as well as to Japan, China, Russia and North America. In 2026 Antti Paalanen also took part in the Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu with the song "Takatukka".