Bio

Emmi Kujanpää ( b. 1980) is a Helsinki-based artist – folk singer, kantele player and composer specializing in Finno-Ugric and Balkan  folk music. 

Since 2010 Emmi Kujanpää has released several band albums as well as the internationally acclaimed solo album Nani (Nordic Notes / Sibelius Academy, 2020) in collaboration with the Bulgarian choir Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares Vocal Academy. 

In her compositions and music videos Kujanpää deals with the different aspects of femininity and transgenerationality. She tells stories about female goddesses and #metoo experiences through vocal ornamentation, traditional lamentations, and dissonance. 

Besides her solo project Kujanpää is a member of Celenka, a Finnish folk music trio. Celenka was given the prestigious Finnish EMMA Award in music in May 2022 for the band's second album Villoi varsa (Nordic Notes, 2021). 

Both of Kujanpää’s latest albums – Nani and Celenka’s Villoi varsa – were listed in the appreciated World Music Chart Europe for several months. Finnish media such as Helsingin Sanomat and YLE named both the albums as the greatest in world music.

Kujanpää has been working extensively and internationally on Finno-Karelian and Balkan singing for more than ten years. She successfully combines traditions with different line-ups and crosses genre boundaries. In 2009 Emmi Kujanpää founded the Finno-Bulgarian vocal ensemble Finno-Balkan Voices (active 2010-2016), whose album was internationally acclaimed. Emmi Kujanpää has featured on 15 albums, and she has composed music for documentaries and fashion shows. In 2016, Danish Music Awards WORLD nominated Kujanpää’s choral arrangement as one of the best world music songs of the year.

Since 2010 Emmi Kujanpää has collaborated with the following musicians, artist and institutions: Dora Hristova & Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares Vocal Academy (BG), Astrid Swan, Eero Grundström, Jarkko Niemelä, Devina Boughton, Vaya (BG) & Mamo (FI) Quartets, Vilma Metteri, Emma Mattila, Antti Kujanpää, Venla Helenius, Satu Erra, Saija Teirikangas, Jyrki Haapala, Julie Krøier, Liisa Isotalo, Anne-Mari Kivimäki, Vokalselskabet Glas choir (DK), Perperúna choir (DE), Sedjanka choir (DK), Salmiakki kantele group (JPN), Slavonic Tractor choir, Madlen Strange (DE), Fenja Abraham (FR), Mihail Dinchev (SE), Sauli Heikkilä, Marja Heinonen, Ritva Kattelus, Meri-Sofia Lakopoulos, Damaskinos Olkinuora, Teija Niku, Thaïs Morell (BR), Riitta Rainio & Julia Shpinitskaya, Juha Kujanpää, Tärähtäneet ämmät, Ville MJ Hyvönen, Folk Dance Group Frunza (FI), as well as the Finnish Embassy in Sofia, the Bulgarian Embassy in Finland and the Finnish Center in Berlin. 

Emmi Kujanpää is an appreciated folk music pedagogue.  She has worked as a kantele and folk singing teacher in Finland and other European countries for over 20 years. From 2010 Kujanpää has conducted Kukuvitsa, a folk choir from Helsinki. 

During her master’s degree Emmi Kujanpää studied at Sibelius Academy (folk music), University of Helsinki (musicology) and at the Plovdiv Academy of Music in Bulgaria (folk music, Erasmus studies). In her current PhD research she explores embodiment, affects and gender in Eastern European folk singing.