Hannu Lepola

Infobox musical artist

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Name = Hannu Lepola


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Background = solo_singer
Instrument = Voice
Voice_type = Tenor
Origin = flagicon|Finland Lappeenranta, Finland
Genre = Choral, a cappella, traditional folk, pop |
Label = Plastinka Records
Associated_acts = Rajaton
Years_active = 1990s – Present
URL = [http://www.rajaton.net] www.rajaton.net

Hannu Lepola

Hannu Lepola is a tenor vocalist in the a cappella choral ensemble Rajaton, from Finland. He joined the group in 1998, eventually touring the globe performing, after numerous other musical projects he was involved in. It eventually took over his interest from all the other groups.

Biography

Hannu grew up in Lappeenranta, a town next to the Russian-Finland border. In his youth, he sang in choirs, and studied various classical instruments. In his teen years, he says that he " discovered rock music, got myself a guitar, started to write songs of my own and played drums in bands." A huge inspiration for him, was Sting, and he had ambitions of becoming a rockstar.

He studied at the Pop & Jazz Conservatory in Finland, and met singer Essi Wuorela in 1998. She told him of the group she was part of, Rajaton, and they were looking for a tenor. He went to an audition and quickly realized "that this was the kind of music-making that I wanted to have a share in. The group seemed extremely purposeful and ambitious, and its members were (and still are, ever more and more) not only great singers, but also wonderful characters and good company."

Said about the group, in his online mini-autobiography:

"Little by little Rajaton has taken over my other musical projects, and I don't daydream about becoming a rock star anymore – at least not all the time... ;-) By lucky coincidences I now have something more than stardom: I'm able to make a living by making better music than I ever could even imagine to exist."

[ [http://www.rajaton.org/main.site?action=siteupdate/view&id=11 Rajaton - Hannu Lepola ] ]

Rajaton

Rajaton has since toured Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, The United States, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Sweden, Denmark and his native Finland, on several world tours. They have recorded 7 albums so far, a live Christmas DVD in 2003, television shows, radio broadcasts. Many performances and music videos are freely viewable on the internet, on YouTube.

Discography

Rajaton Albums from first, to most recent:

1. Nova (released August 14, 2000) -new settings to Finnish poems from folk poetry to contemporary poetry. "The first takes were recorded in June 1999, right after Rajaton won The International Contest for Vocal Ensembles in Tampere."

2. Boundless(released October 26, 2001) - Mostly English, Rajaton's second album

3. Sanat (released November 1, 2002) -New sacred music in Finnish, English, Latin, and Medieval Irish produced by choir director Pasi Hyökki and recorded live in Siuntio Church. "The album title is equivocal – the word ‘sanat’ means ‘words’ in Finnish and ‘heals’ in Latin."

4. Joulu (released October 24, 2003) -A double Christmas album all in Finnish."The album peaked at number two on the Finnish album charts and has already sold platinum."

5. Kevät (released April 20, 2005) -new Finnish Pop music. "The album peaked at number three in the Finnish album charts and sold gold within six weeks after its release."

6. Out of Bounds (released April 5, 2006)

7. Rajaton Sings ABBA (released November 1, 2006) -with the Lahti Symphony." The album went to number 1 in Finland, and went platinum in a month."

External links

* [http://www.rajaton.net Official Site ]
* [http://www.myspace.com/rajaton Myspace Site]
* [http://www.lastfm.com/music/rajaton Music at Lastfm.com]
* [http://www.a-cappella.com/category/502 A-Cappella.com]
* [http://www.tealsound.org/Rajaton.html Teal Sound Drum and Bugle Corps]