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Photo: Nico Martens

It seems a good place to build a house

- What did I say?
- That you don't love me.
- But I do.

In Estonia and Finland people believe that a man is not a man if he has not built a house. And once that house is ready, he starts to build a new one. It seems a good place to build a house talks about life, dreams and misunderstandings. Kaja Kann and Juha Valkeapää tell stories in Finnish, Estonian, English and German, accompanied with music, movement and pictures. A magical theatre experience for body and soul. Kann and Valkeapää claim that it's just a miracle to see how a house is born.

- What will a house become when nobody lives there?
- It will die.

The first three houses were built at Nordwind Festival, Kampnagel, Hamburg, in December, 2011.




MASKI
Art in Odd Places 2011 took place from 1st til 10th of October, on 14th St, Manhattan, NY. With Geert Vaes (BE), we participated in the festival with our piece MASKI. First we found ingredients for a mask on the street, then we holded them in front of our faces and went to 14th St. While walking we were voicing, singing, mumbling, nagging. The walks lasted from 45 minutes til one and half hours. On two days we were not only two of us; one day Eveline and the other both E. and Cecilia joined us. It would have been great to have more people there all the time! And on one day we didn't go to Manhattan at all, but walked in our neighbourhood, on 14th St in Brooklyn.

Check Geert's video clip



Photo: Elina Brotherus

Talk to me
25 monologues. Concept and direction Mart Kangro. Performers Kaja Kann, Mart Kangro, Taavi Kerikmäe, Vera Nevanlinna ja Juha Valkeapää.
The first performances in Zodiak, Helsinki, 19-28 August, 2011.
The second round of performances in Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Tallinn, August & September, 2011.




Year
Sound installation in Rikhardinkatu library, Helsinki, 1 January-30 June, 2011. Sound Juha Valkeapää, hood Kari Sivonen.
The installation got new sound and outfit every month. January's sounds dated from January 2010, February's sounds from February 2010 and so on.

Listen to the January
Listen to the March



JIRK in Sysmä

JIRK
"Intuitive Soundtranslation" - is the starting point for the collaborative project between me and German soundpoet Dirk HuelsTrunk. Loops & electrostatic charging, friction & fusion, bread & butter, rhythm & play, sauna & beer, meditation and nonsense as our tools we are trying to find a way through the strange borderland of our (nearly) incompatible languages.
Performances: Nokturno Club, Jyväskylä, 04/11; Frankfurter Lyriktage, 05/11

Watch videoclips:

Brot & Butter Poesie/Leipä - ja voirunoutta
KackaLento
Eins/Ypöyksin



Talkie-Walkie's mouth

Talkie-Walkie
Voice dances in Geert Vaes and Juha Valkeapää's co-operation.
Sidestep Festival, Cable Factory, Helsinki, 9th and 11th of February, 2011.

Watch the trailer
After the second show
Visit Geert's theatre


Photo: Jorma Airola


10 journeys to a place where nothing happens
Musician Taito Hoffrén and artist Juha Valkeapää started this journey to a place where nothing happens in 2005. It has been a long, dark and winding road, but we came out as winners from our first trip: the Baltic Circle journey went smoothly, although the Merc didn't start in the Sunday night, when we were supposed to go home. Presently, we are maintaining ourselves and getting ready for new challenges.
The first journey: Baltic Circle, Tehtaanpuisto, Helsinki, 17-21 November, 2010.
The second journey: Kajaani Poetry Week, Market Square, Kajaani, 8-9 July, 2011.
The third journey: Homo Novus, Esplanade Park, Riga, 7-8 September, 2011.
The fourth journey: Spielart, Gasteig, Munich, 18-23 November, 2011.
The fifth journey: in the front of brut im Künstlerhaus, Vienna, 19-21 January, 2012.

Read and watch more at the Ten journeys website!


Jorma Airola's photos from the journey


Photo: Mervi Junkkonen


Kallocain
Kallocain is an opera for two voices: JV voice, Girilal Baars voice and electronics, Kaja Kann director and lights.
Written by Girilal, Juha and Kaja, it is a live abstracted opera for the stage based around the novel Kallocain (1940) by the Swedish writer Karin Boye (1900-1941). The piece commisioned by and premiered at the Kalv Festival in August 2010.

Detailed information and promovideo at Kallocain website


Photo: Paul De Cloedt


No I Be Yonder
When inviting me to participate in No I Be Yonder, Geert Vaes described it as a beyond-leading ritual, using words like chance, dada, John Cage, Sun Ra. He talked about Wittgenstein's red cupola and three kind of people that lived under it; some of those didn't know that the cupola existed, some knew but didn't care and some who wanted to go beyond it. He had attached a drawing to his message. There were snow and rain clouds, sunset, mountains, sand, a rock, stones, a tree, a road, people and a big snake.
I said, yes.
The rehearsal process was heavy, our curvy road full of stones, but I like our performance, concert-like piece of theatre, where we cut up and play texts by Lewis Carroll, Oscar Wilde and Shakespeare. Geert directed, Eva Schram, Eveline Van Bauwel and Juha Valkepää perform. Theater Malpertuis paid the costs.
Performances 2009: Cement Festival (s'Hertogenbosch), theaterMalpertuis (Tielt), ccBE (Berchem) and Belgie (Hasselt).


Singer Kaja Kann and guitarist Juha Valkeapää having a gig at Hypekas, Kanuti Gildi Saal, 2 Feb, 2009. (Photo: Evert Palmets)


At Lokaal tonight Kann/Valkeapää
Kann/Valkeapää is dancer Kaja Kann's and vocal artist Juha Valkeapää's duo that performs at Lokaals all around the world.
Premiere at Uus tants 9 festival, baar Juuksur, Tallinn, 19 March, 2009. Next appearances: Juuksur 03-04/09; Kokoteatteri, Helsinki 04/09; Genialistide klubi, Tartu 05/09; Sulattofestivaali, Karkkila, 07/09; Manifesti Festival, Turku, 09/09; Sidestep Festival, Helsinki, 02/10.
Watch a clip from Juuksur gig and listen to some songs Kann/Valkeapää's Lokaal at Myspace


Don't gamble with love (Thanks Einride, image: Sándor Vály)


50 Lovely Ways to Die
I wrote and directed, together with Kaja Kann, a society theatre performance, 50 Lovely Ways to Die. There are 15 scenes in the performance, in each somebody dies because of love. The scenes are from everyday life, myths and old stories.
Recipe is simple. The organizer searches for 16 volunteers who don't have previous stage experience. Rehearsals take four days, and on the fifth there is performance. Besides the volunteers, there are four professionals there on stage.
Premiere at Baltoscandal, Rakvere, July 3, 2008. And the next performances took place at Baltic Circle, Helsinki, November, 2009. General rehearsal was held in Tartu, March 19, 2008.

Listen to Philemon and Baukis becoming oak and linden. (4.9 MB / mp3)


Brothers in Moscow

Houkka Bros.
Houkka Bros. team in 2008: Tero Nauha, Pietu Pietiäinen, Kristian Smeds and Juha Valkeapää. Houkka Bros. has made three performances, Wanderer, Children, birds and flowers and Radio Doomsday.




Radio Doomsday
Inspired by Martin Luther, a direct, three-hour radio show a la Houkka Bros. As guests priests, theology students, theatre critics, dancers and musicians. The premiere was a bit toothless, so if there is a possibility to fix it, there is something to fix, hah hah.
2008: Semifinal, Baltic Circle, Helsinki, May 14-16.


Children, birds and flowers
Children, birds and flowers is a do-it-yourselves living-room musical. It is made of 13 scenes and contains 16 songs. The duration is 1 h 30 mins, and there is no interval. The main character, Frank, is based on the Italian saint, Francis of Assisi. His personal history is handled quite freely. The style of the performance keeps changing: punk, naivism, sentimentalism, black humour etc.
Watch the photos at Korjaamo by Ville Hyvönen Houkka Brothers Live
2006: Baltoscandal, Rakvere, Estonia, June 28-July 2; Helsinki Festival, Sept 1-3; Lainsuojattomat Festival, Pori, Sept 7-8.; Budapest, Nov 2-3.
2007: Korjaamo, Helsinki, Oct 3-6; Meteor 2007, Bergen, Oct 12-13.
2008: Turku City Theatre, Oct 16; NET festival, Moscow, Nov 22-23.
2009: Homo Novus, Riga, Sept 1.


DRESSMEN of Kajaani (Photo: Pekka Homanen)


Wanderer
A wanderer's story. A naiv piece of table theatre, based on a classic Russian Orthodox book The Way of a Pilgrim. Together with Tero Nauha & Kristian Smeds.
2003: Kajaani Poetry Week, July 2-4; Telakka at Tampere, August 9; Helsinki Festival, Teatteri Jurkka, Sept 2-6.
2004: Baltoscandal Festival, Rakvere, Estonia, June 16-19.
2005: Telakka at Tampere, April 11; Von Krahli, Tallinn, May 12; Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels, May 14-17; Taju 05, Hyvinkää, July 2; Homo Novus, Riga, Latvia, Sept 22-24; NET festival, Moscow, Nov 16-17; Les soirees nomades, Fondation Cartier, Paris, Dec 8-9.
2006: Black Box Teater, Oslo, Feb 17-19; BIT, Bergen, Feb 22-24; New Drama Action, Vilnius, Lithuania, May 27-28; Budapest, Nov 2-3.
2009: Nordwind Festival, Berlin, Oct 2-3.
2011: Olavsfestdagene, Trondheim, July 29-30.


Portrait (Photo: Sándor Vály)


Male Spaces
"Now I know what daddy does in the daytime." Äijä is full of desire. Äijä is a pal and friend you can trust. Äijä has big lap. Äijä makes lot of noise. Äijä can make tiny sound. Äijä has power. Äijä is feeling. In every one of us there lives a little Äijä.
I directed the vocal piece Male Spaces for vocal group Äijä (Girilal Baars, Taito Hoffren, Pekko Käppi, Eero Turkka). It premiered at Muu gallery in December 2006. In autumn 2008 we toured a little: Pori in September, Helsinki, Tampere and Turku in November.





Val Afumo
Improvised music with or without films. Marcelo Aguirre, voice and percussions, Andreas Fulgosi, electric guitar, Peter Morrens, voice and turntables, JV, voice. Without films at Event#1 24u, Netwerk, Aalst, Belgium, March 25, 2005; with Mike Ballou films, same place, March 26, 2005. The excerpts below belong to a 50-minute piece.

Listen to the 2,5 minute beginning for M Ballou films (2.3 MB / mp3)

Listen to the 6 minute middle for M Ballou films (5.7 MB / mp3)

Listen to the 35 second end for M Ballou films (548 KB / mp3)





Memory Works
Exhibition of three artists, visual artists Nea Lindgren and Sándor Vály & JV. Vály's & JV's collaboration was called Pro Deo et Patria. It contained an installation with two videos, opening performance and final concert by SV & JV, and two solo concerts by JV, theme being our grandfathers. Galleria U, Helsinki, February 3- March 17, 2005.


Photo: Pekka Pitkänen


TAUKO/PAUSE
A Finnish-German-Italian living work by musician Andreas Fulgosi, dancer Pia Karaspuro, director Sibylla Klein, lighting designer Pekka Pitkänen and JV. Two weeks of work, three performances, October 26-28, 2004, at Hurjaruuth, Cable Factory, Helsinki.


DADAILY LIFE
Ten Nordic text and sound artists' - Lars Bokdahl and Hans Sydow (DK), Outi-Illuusia Parviainen and JV (FI), Kristin Björk and Thorkell Atlason (ICE), Ewa Jacobsson and Oysten Hauge (N), Hanna Hartman and Staffan Mossanmark (S) - net dialogue and workshop that finished with an installation concert at the Roskilde museum of modern art and in the Roskilde city on October 09, 2004. This workshop ended but hopefully the group continues working together.
And this is one of the masterpieces I made there:

Listen to a masterpiece (0.8 MB / mp3)

Picture: Peter Morrens


Whole
among others 5 was an interdisciplinary project curated by Jens Brand & An Seebach that took place at Dortmund Künstlerhaus in May-July, 2004. I worked there with Belgian Peter Morrens, building an installation; we built a wall, a door and a hole, thus creating a white room where you could look into An's atelje upstairs. At doorhole one could hear sounds of cutting the hole and making food at An's kitchen, imitated by me, plus some Foucault & Perec in Flamish read by Peter and imitated by me.

Listen to a sample (0.8 MB / mp3)


KESKEN
Kesken is a duo formed by Jaakko Nousiainen and Juha Valkeapää. Since 1992 they have utilised vocal improvisation to explore the possibilities of the human voice. The duo has given a wide variety of live performances as well as constructed sound installations in Finland and in several European countries. Their main works include "kesken sound bus" for The Tampere International Theatre Festival (1995, -96), sound play "Skin Flaps" for The Finnish Radio Theatre (1995) and sound art for Ismo-Pekka Heikinheimo's experimental dance choreographies "ACT" (1996) and "Bubble Speaks"

kesken released their first record on 2.2.2000. The CD, named kesken document, sums up the duo's career so far and as an unedited live recording it presents the duo's work in a very straightforward manner. The duo has set out on a mission to open up all our ears to everyday soundscapes by using simple methods, by communicating without words, by diluding the border between the audience and the performers. We all have ears and mouth.


Imaani (Kuva: Cata Portin)


IKI-TURSO
Iki-Turso started as a rune-singing project in October 1998, and it still goes on, but more or less as voice theatre. Heikki Laitinen, Eila Hartikainen, Taito Hoffrén, Maari Kallberg, Ilona Korhonen, Anna-Kaisa Liedes, Outi Pulkkinen and Juha Valkeapää are better in vocal improvisation than in rune-singing.

From September till December 1999, Iki-Turso gave a series of rune-singing concerts at the Finland’s National Theatre. The series consisted of 14 different performances, with themes from Finnish folk poetry. Every performance night ended with a rune-singing club in a near-by café, where everybody could join the singing. Year 2000, the group has performed its vocal theatre with rune-singing at the Arts Berezillia Festival, Kiev, Ukraine, and in Kajaani, Finland.

At the end of Sep 2000, the island Suomenlinna, in front of Helsinki, filled with Iki-Turso happening and The Cry of the Iman.

In February and March, 2001, Iki-Turso leads Singing Guidances at the Museum of Cultures, Helsinki, and gives gigs here and there: Cathedral Sings in Turku, Kulttuurikimara in Kouvola & Kirkko soikoon in Helsinki.

In 2002 voice theatre work The Cry of the Iman at the Ateneum Hall in Helsinki and at Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre, Egypt. "Love each other people!" Cries and whispers, singing and tolling bells, war and peace. Some gigs: Kalevaladay & Lönnrot Happening in Sammatti, 15. night at SKS in Helsinki, hhrrrmmmm at Kuusankoski Children Theatre Happening, Time of Music in Viitasaari and Marina Takalo Happening in Kemi.


LEPORELLO
Leporello was part of the Helsinki-based Q Theatre’s festival called Baltic Circle, a co-operation between theatres around the Baltic Sea. Nine people gathered together three times, twice in Helsinki (Sept 99 & Jan 00) and once in Oldenburg, Germany (Nov 99): Danish Tine Madsen directed, Michael Olsen from Oldenburg visualized and the others acted as performers: Ilona Gosk from Poland, Regnars Vaivars from Latvia, Åza Thelandersson from Sweden and Germany, Sven Kuntu from Estonia, Uwe Bergeest from Germany, Juha Valkeapää from Finland, Marina Vyssotzkaja from Russia and Germany, Andrius Kurienus from Lithuania.

First time I really realized that the same words mean very different things. And the people can co-operate in a very different way, give themselves into the work in a very different way.


KALEVALA JA SAMMON RYÖSTÖ
A live soundscape with Taito Hoffrén for the Kalevala directed by Atro Kahiluoto. We were the forest, the trees and the birds and the wind. We walked around the audience with long tubes of cardboard on our lips and whispered to the audience’s ears words like wood, linden, birch, block. I had a little role as Paavo Haavikko, academic and writer, and Taito sang. The actors were Tommi Eronen, Tarja Heinula, Jukka Manninen, Petteri Pennilä, Mari Perankoski and Taisto Reimaluoto. Scenery was created by Katariina Kirjavainen.

The premiere was at the Q Theatre’s Puoli-Q stage in Nov 1997. In Summer 98 we toured Rakvere, Estonia; Nurmes & Tampere, Finland. December 99 the Sammon ryöstö visited Reykjavik, Iceland.


ToF
A live soundscape with little dance for the ToF, a choreography by Ismo-Pekka Heikinheimo. ToF handled gay men’s every day life. Five performers - Jari Fyhr, Harri Heikkinen, Jaakko Nousiainen, Juha Valkeapää, Antti Vikstedt - performed it five times at Stoa, Helsinki, Aug 1998. Scenography by Simon Le Roux, light design by Tomi Humalisto.


DANCE MOTIVES
Improvisations together with dancer-choreographer Katarina McAlester at the Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki, Feb-Apr, 2001.


Trombi
Q Theatre at Suomenlinna, Helsinki, June 20-August 18, 2001. Joy and play for all ages. Music, comique and virtuosity with aesthetics of new circus. Holiday for the brain of reason. Directed by Minna Vainikainen.


Huttunen ja Valkeapää: Exercise
Kantele player Riitta Huttunen and I did 11 different sound performances at Koetila in Helsinki in May 1-11, 2002. We commissioned works from eight artists, had guest performers and rebuilt the space every day.


matka maahan - expedition (Photo: Pekka Pitkänen)

matka maahan - expedition
matka maahan - expedition is improvisational living installation. Until so far it has been built four times: in Vieremä and Freiburg in 2002 and in Helsinki and Bremen in 2003. Constructers: costume designer Iris Bramsemann, musician Riitta Huttunen, dancer Pia Karaspuro, director Sibylla Klein, actor Julia Klein, architect Dirk Kottmann, lighting designer Pekka Pitkänen, musician Susanne Schrenk and vocal performer Juha Valkeapää.


Dream of telescope and horse
Sound installation based on Kristiina Wallin's poems. The Lönnström Art Museum, Rauma, Finland, June 10-September 24, 2006; stereo version at Rikhardinkatu library, Helsinki. Nov-Dec, 2006; radio version at Ääniversumi, YLE 1, Finnish Broadcasting Company, February 5, 2007. Humble bee made the basic sound of the installation.

Humble bee (9.1 MB / mp3)


Ena at Helsinki railway station (Photo: Pekka Pitkänen)

Ena
A piece about a woman & her plastic bags. Directed by Sibylla Klein, danced by Pia Karaspuro, voiced by JV. Five performances in Helsinki in 2006: Forum Box, Feb 3-4; Railway station & Kaisaniemi metro station, Oct 6; Esplande Park, Oct 7.


It's Onni here, hi
Onni means luck and happiness, and it's also a man's name in Finnish. I composed soundscape for the Myrskyryhmä piece; choreography was made by Pia Karaspuro. Myrskyryhmä is two dancers: Elli Isokoski and Pauliina Tyni. They take dance to places where you don't see it, to homes for elderly people and other such institutions. It's Onni here, hi started touring in Helsinki, in October, 2005.

Listen to a sample (1.3 MB / mp3)


Princess
Radio play. Text Kristiina Wallin, direction Hanna Kirjavainen, sound composition JV, sound design Raija Munck-Lagus, actors Minna Kivelä, Tuula Nyman, Janne Kinnunen, Jarkko Tiainen and Petteri Pennilä. Radio Theatre, Finnish Broadcasting Company, YLE 1, September 26, 2004.

Mamma meedio
Written and directed by Annu Valonen and Karla Loppi, Mamma meedio describes the world and newborn's life from baby's point of view. I made the performance's live soundscape and also performed it in the first performances. Premiere at Puoli-Q, Helsinki, January 12, 2004; touring at Hippalot04, Hämeenlinna, August 5, 2004.

Kiven napa
Kiven napa ("stone's navel or pole", Kivennapa is a small village in Southern Carelia, Russia) is a Valtimonteatteri production written and directed by Hanna Kirjavainen. The premiere was on 261103 at Alppisali, Helsinki. The founding principle for the sound design was "we do everything ourselves, alive & unplugged". The play's world is in pieces, smashed. I wanted the instruments to be un-instruments, everyday objects, characters' important things. My idea was that the instruments would make an organic part of the scenery, and the actors would make a band, that would be under continuous transformation during the performance. We searched for the band spirit and the listening mood with couple of impro sessions that were meant only for playing together. But just playing together and playing when acting are two different things. In the performance situation the excitement covers the listening very easily. Happily, the performance bubbled with joy.


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