Jazz Finland Live

Fela Kuti meets Snarky Puppy. Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble takes the sounds of Benin, the homeland of Voodoo, and combines them with soulful songwriting, jazzy improvisations and funky beats. It all began quite unexpectedly when in 2009 a Finnish guitarist, Janne Halonen, travelled to West Africa to study and work with local musicians. He became friends with a virtuoso singer/percussionist Noël Saïzonou and new music started coming to them. The name of the band refers to their hometowns, which are over 6000 km apart. Now, 9 years after that trip, the 8-piece group has performed over 100 shows in 9 countries and is now releasing their fourth album We Are Together  on 23th of March.

Noël Saïzonou - lead vocals & percussion
Janne Halonen - guitars & vocals
Sampo Riskilä - bass & vocals
Juha Räsänen - drums & vocals
Mikko Pettinen - trumpet & vocals
Joakim Berghäll - saxophone & vocals
Menard Mponda - percussion & vocals
Visa Oscar - keyboards