Jussi Reijonen

On Three Seconds | Kolme Toista, his epic new transcultural suite, Finnish guitarist, oud player and composer Jussi Reijonen returns with his most personal and ambitious work yet.

Featuring an all-star 9-piece ensemble of musicians from Jordan/Iraq, Palestine, Turkey, Japan and the United States (whose credits include performances/recordings with Herbie Hancock and Roy Haynes to Simon Shaheen, Snarky Puppy and Yo-Yo Ma), the album draws from the deep pool of influences and experiences of a childhood spent in the Middle East and East Africa as well as 13 years in the United States as an adult. The expansive new work goes above and beyond his critically acclaimed debut un (2013).

As Reijonen unpacks, unravels and transcends the interlaced cultural threads within his experience, he builds a sonic world of broad and beautiful proportions. The dynamic interplay of the Finnish, Jordanian, Tanzanian, Omani, Lebanese and American cultures in which he grew up and lived, the ever-present feeling of being welcomed yet never truly belonging, the longing to understand his own identity within this complex and wondrous multicultural and multilingual context, and the disorienting effect of their transient existence on his familial relationships are expressed, explored and stunningly resolved in Reijonen’s transcendent suite.

As the open spaces and silences of the Finnish Arctic converse with the maqamat of the Arab world, the rhythmic richness of Africa and India and the improvisatory spirit of American jazz over its 42-minute, 5-movement span, Three Seconds | Kolme Toista reveals an artist seeking a new musical syntax that challenges cultural binaries while promoting transcultural dialogue and conversation beyond mere identity politics.