The Auvo Quartet

It was good to see a local (mixed) band come to the sage with a warm and very diverse take on folk/jazz music. The band, playing on home turf in a sense, seemed more at ease maybe due to the fact that many of those in the audience where family or friends. But this relaxed approach to the show only added what they had created and gave us a view of how the band functions.

The band is made up of: Tom Oakes - Wooden Flutes, Mouth Percussion, Julian Sutton - Melodeons, Roope Aarnio - Guitar, Backing vocals, Suvi Oskala - 5-string fiddle, Vocals. This mix of cultures aided the show with Suvi trying to explain the lyrics (sung in Finnish) which she had trouble trying to express but when Suvi sang there was a gentle urgency in her tone which flowed effortlessly with the rest of the band.

Auvo Quartet are something truly special which is down to their abilty to remain within the folk and jazz traditions but aided by their own style made this performance flow. Their understandings of the tradition to which they, at times, are only bound by for a second, is mesmerising. Listening to the music of Auvo is like nothing you have really heard before and though you might feel as though you know their music they switch and take you in another direction.

I think that because the band is so mixed and part of them are from Finland means the music takes on a bigger importance and it takes you on a journey, through fields, across seas. And though they create something rather new and fresh you still hear and feel the tradition, and respect, in every note.

The combination of styles and cultural differences have only made the Auvo Quartet a bigger and brighter band. Live they get closer to their audience and bring you in to them, letting you hear them and be part of their music. This is a skill that few bands are able to master yet this quartet did it with ease. - www.thenewcurrent.com