Label: Kaiku Recordings
Review by Cristina Gregori
Finland is the land of great voices, as examples we can take lots of singers (such as Tarja Turunen, Hanna Pakarinen, Jonsu, etc.) but now our focus is on Johanna Kurkela. After 5 albums and some collaborations with Club for five, Vesa-Matti Loiri and Sonata Arctica, just to name a few, she is back with the 6th brand new album “Joulun Lauluja” that means Christmas carols.
Johanna Kurkela sings in Finnish, her mother tongue, and this suggestive new album is a collection of the best Christmas Finnish songs. The first song “Maa on niin kaunis” really introduces us to Christmas, Johanna caresses the notes with her voice,this track makes you shiver. “Lyhty” means “Lantern” and in this track you can hear a sound a bit more modern. Maybe the most atmospheric is “Prinsessalle”, “For the Princess”, it’s so relaxing. The 5th track “Kolmen kuninkaan marssi” seems like a film’s soundtrack. One of the most popular guest in this album is Tuomas Holopainen that sees Kurkela on vocals and Holopainen on keyboards, I might say very successfully, in the song “Tonttu”. The most popish is surely “Karhuveljeni”, “My Brother Bear”, the guitar at the beginning is very nice. In the popular song “The Wexford Carol ” – translated in “Oi Joulunajan Ihmise” – we can listen Johanna and another Nightwish member duetting. We’re talking about, nontheless Mr. Marco Hietala and their vocal combination it’s simply pure perfection, if this song was beautiful before thanks to their performance it simply became a masterpiece. The album ends with one of the most classic Christmas songs, “Silent Night” that in finnish is “Jouluyö, juhlayö” . This is an album well researched, Kurkela is capable of giving the magical atmosphere to all the songs with her perfect voice. Although musically this is an excellent work, surely the Christmas becomes more beautiful with a soundtrack like this.
Rating – 85/100
Tracklist
- Maa on niin kaunis
- Lyhty
- Avaruus
- Prinsessalle
- Kolmen kuninkaan marssi
- Tonttu
- Heinillä härkien kaukalon
- Karhuveljeni
- Oi joulunajan ihmiset
- Kotiin
- Jouluyö, juhlayö