The town of Kitee is located in beautiful Eastern Finland, near the Russian
border. The winter here is snowy and cold so we are waiting for the spring that we can play out of doors.
Our band started rehearsing once a week in autumn -97 at the evening school of Kitee. The
school, called Keski Karjalan Kansalaisopisto (was that hard ehough?) arranges many kinds of activities such as courses on foreign
languages, music, arts, handicrafts etc...
First the band had five players and was led by panmaker and tuner Simo Tiainen.
The band played just for fun, but soon was called out to play at various local events.
Kitee Steel Band also performed in Laukaa Percussion Festival in 1999. Little by little the repertoire became broader - from calypso to classical music - and new talented players joined.
In the autumn 2000 an association was founded to support the playing
activities of the band, which now had ten players, some of them from neighbouring villages of Rääkkylä and Tohmajärvi.
The band was given a new name -Steely Wonder. Concerts and Pan workshops were held in nearby schools.
In November 2001 we organized a steel pan course: top player Chris Wabich from Los Angeles led us in Latin music. The course was sponsored by the Arts Council of North
Carelia.
Steely Wonder is fully acoustical band and sounds good in a variety of
situations. We need no amplification (usually) and don't worry if the electricity is cut
off.
contact:
simo.tiainen(at)gmail.com
+358 50-5566252
Steely Wonder elastic lineup:
Soprano Pans
 |
Hannele Hakulinen |
|
Jesse Ojajärvi |
|
Salla Kostamo |
|
Mikko Kenonen |
Double Seconds
|
Petra Luukkainen |
|
Tami Lauronen |
Double Guitars
|
Elisa Väistö |
|
Minttu Pirhonen |
Four Bass
|
Henry Hiltunen |
Six Bass
|
Tuula Tiainen |
Percussion
|
Esu Turunen |
|
Henri Hukka |
|
Simo Tiainen |
|
Kauko Leppanen |