Johanna Juhola Reaktori

I look forward to hearing more of Johanna Juhola Reaktori and I hope these extraordinarily talented musicians continue to synthesise their unique and potent sound. - Desmond Clarke, April 2013 / Making Tracks blog

Johanna Juhola Reaktori are certainly an original and joyful band to behold. Their spirit and uniqueness make them a must-see for any tango lover, or anyone who simply appreciates ingenious and skilled musicianship…
- Charmaine White, April 2013 / Making Tracks blog

With quirkiness and originality in both their music and stage presence, the captivating Johanna Juhola and her Reaktori are a treat for tango- and folk-lovers alike.
- Craig Macartney, April 2013 / Making Tracks blog

Johanna Juhola Reaktori who provided some much needed injection of joy and light-hearted humour through an incredible sonic and visual performance to the watching audience at Rich Mix, London last Tuesday night...
The combination of a folk/tango band with a rapper and augmented with electronic beats goes to show that the sky is the limit when it comes to creative inspiration for the band. - Andrew Chua, April 2013 / Making Tracks blog

The visual impact is immediate, thanks to boldly coloured costumes in turquoise, green and red that give the effect of a Pixar-designed team of Finnish superheroes whose special powers, it emerges, are musical brilliance, ease with strangers and witty imagination…
There's a contradiction between Juhola's relaxed body language and amused expression and the furious scrabble of her fingers across the accordion buttons, an essentially relaxed figure making a musical whirlwind that evokes folk tradition, hard bopping jazz, classical formalities and Jerry Lee Lewis, all at the same time.
- Tony Benjamin / The Bristol Post 15.4.2013

Johanna captivates and seduces the audience with her virtuoso accordion playing and charmingly humorous small talk…
Accordion playing at its hottest!
- Johannes Adolfsson / ltz.se 3.3.2013

Refreshing, different, magical, young, pearl of world music. - Hanne Orrenmaa, Ilkka 8.7.2011

Thanks to this naughty innovator, the tango’s lifespan has been extended by at least another century. - Ton Maas, Ode Magazine, Spring 2011 issue

You could compare the listening experiense to reading a Gabriel Garcia Marquez book. - Antti Karkiainen, Suomen Kuvalehti 4.2.2011

Accordionist, composer Johanna Juhola with her Reaktori band offers an outstanding set of tango nuevo on her new live album. An enviable lightness dominates in an imaginary tango world. This is tango! - Kaisa Pastila, Anna, Janyary 2011

Johanna Juhola is not only an extraordinarily talented and multifaceted accordion player and composer, one of Finland’s musical leading lights, she’s also become hyperactively prolific in her writing for and playing with a slew of duo and groupline-ups and the several albums a year they release between them.
- Andrew Cronshaw, fRoots 2010

To get an ensemble like this (Johanna Juhola Reaktori) to make the music is a real jackpot for any performance. Johanna Juhola is not only one of our leading accordion artists but a charismatic performer as well.
(review of Tango Roto show, music by Johanna Juhola Reaktori) - Tove Djupsjöbacka / Huvudstadsbladet 15.9.2009

The best part of this tango show is the orchestra. A tip for friends of Argentinean tango Nuevo: the band in the Tango Roto show is excellent. Johanna Juhola Reaktori performs the compositions of Johanna Juhola and Milla Viljamaa with phenomenal skill and wonderful passion.
(Tango Roto Show review, music by Johanna Juhola Reaktori) - Mika Saarelainen / Helsingin Sanomat 14.9.2009

Accordionist Johanna Juhola’s first solo album is wonderful. There is skilful playing, imaginative compositions and arrangements, humour, surprises, sensitivity, originality…. Johanna’s music is golden-rimmed and sunny. - Arja Kangasniemi / Trad (music magazine) 4/2006

Johanna Juhola follows her own path as a musician and composer and gives new features to accordion as an instrument. - Kimmo Mattila / Hanuri 2/2006

Juhola is, along with Kimmo Pohjonen and Maria Kalaniemi, one of the great innovators of accordion music. Disruptions are contrasted to beauty, storm to calm, childhood to aging and cheerfulness to pomposity. Unforgettable and impossibly beautiful. - Tero Salonen / Anna 15.6.2006

The music reminds me of Edward Scissorhands, amusement parks, Buenos Aires tango halls, dark conifer forests and Pippi Longstocking in a toy store. It is at times spirited, at times sad, and at times mystic. As a whole the album it is carefully crafted and intelligent. With enough skill rules can be broken imaginatively. Fantasy tango lives up to its title. When you wish to escape reality, Fantasy tango takes you on a rich mental and musical journey. Try it while waiting for a train or a flight. - Risto Haapsamo / Kaleva 25.2.2010

Fantasiatango (Fantasy tango) is the composition that Johanna Juhola performed in the Eurovision Song contest semi-finals while lifted up near the ceiling of the hall. The same Fantasiatango is now the title of Juhola’s second solo album, and it describes precisely what Juhola’s music is about: fantasy and tango. Echoes of Argentinean Tango Nuevo mix with somewhat naïve amusement park feel, evoking rich images. - Pirkko Kotirinta / Helsingin Sanomat 14.3.2010

Johanna Juhola is a graduate of the Sibelius Academy Folk Music Department, a creative accordionist whose second solo album Fantasiatango (Fantasy tango) is a gold strike. The title sums up the essential: this is tango-based, fresh and joyous fantasy music. The album is full of exuberant colors, clever tricks and gentle playfulness. - Markus Luukkonen / Etelä-Suomen Sanomat 27.2.2010