Toni Perttula is a true musical blacksmith. His open-minded experimentation with diverse musical styles and genres has forged a path towards creating his own unique musical approach and identity. PERTTULA ´s lyrical accordion playing is accompanied by the primal, rhythmic beating of hammers and anvils found in a blacksmith's workshop, inviting the listener into a new world where sounds are melted and manipulated by a musical blacksmith into a whole new form. PERTTULA’s upcoming solo album Pajavasara / Forging hammer is auniquely handcrafted Finnish creation, containing strong folk music influences, dark soundscapes and primal rhythms. Like the process of a blacksmith, Perttula creates something timeless and extraordinary from his carefully selected source elements. Toni Perttula is the winner of 2nd edition of V-Accordion Festival in Italy 2008.

PAJAVASARA / FORGE HAMMER ALBUM:

Metal working is a way to change the innate nature of a raw material, manipulate its shape and make it behave in the desired way. Behind this album is a strong will for self-fulfillment, a will to melt music together and change its form. The theme of the album and the name "Forging hammer" are descriptive when I think of making the album itself. Many of the songs were not born naturally, and the "Forging Hammer" could be described as my spiritual tool as I shaped them. The birth of the album has been long and challenging. After all the journey I made with this record has been magnificient, and I could see in my mind the stunning scenery of music, although I recorded it in my living room. During that time, the songs slowly revealed themselves as human-minded creatures whose nature must have been understood before I could get along with them. I wish the listener at least as imaginative a journey on the record as it has been for me.

Heights of winter:

Heights of winter was born in an exceptionally cold and snowy winter in January, when the winter seemed to continue forever. The end result is a powerful and storytelling song.

Tail away:

Forge fades away. The end point of the journey, where you can remorse your amazing experiences.

Glow:

The glow exudes light, warmth and safety. This song is a place to rest on the record.

Dents:

There are dents in everything. Dents can be learned to tolerate, but to correct them, a blow in the opposite direction is needed, otherwise they will be left to bother.

Iron:

Iron revolutionized development as a strong, reliable and versatile metal. Iron describes the mood of the song: energy here and now! Iron is the song of the day when you can imagine being able to split rocks and be immortal.

Magnetar:

What, why, when? That's what the little human mind thinks, but there are no answers to everything. Magnetars are neutron stars, distant extreme appearances of space. The song tells about great unknown which mills around in our unreachable, and it doesn´t need our explanations for its existence.

Copper:

"Copper" is an ancient word that may have meant copper. I see this ancient alloy as an ancestor, a source for this record. "Copper" is a descriptive name for my first composition that ended up on the record.

North wind:

Cold, threatening, distant. There’s something mythic in this song, and it reminds me of troll paintings by Theodor Kittelsen from Norway.