Renowned Finnish violinist, composer, and ethnomusicologist TUOMAS ROUNAKARI—fresh from the successful European Beginning the Quest tour with YASUHARU TAKANASHI’s Far East Groove—has issued the following tour recap:

“Beginning the Quest tour with Yasuharu Takanashi’s Far East Groove ended in jubilant way at the Milano Legend Club. The colorful audience was enthusiastically singing along throughout the set to these songs that define many anime series, especially Naruto and Fairy Tail.
This was the most joyous tour of my life so far! In Milano we just could not get enough, and played 4 encores, while the audience joined to sing along even louder, hearing Naruto main theme once again!
This band has an incredibly uplifting energy and eventhough the tour was too short, a strong bond was formed between us.
This was truly just a beginning! Great plans are ahead of us and we can’t wait to reunite for more!!”

Photo credits: Kazuki Takanashi & Vicente Zurita

The “Far East Groove – Beginning the Quest Tour” featured music from beloved anime series like Naruto and Fairy Tail, as well as other surprises, performed by an all-star lineup of musicians.

Far East Groove Tour Lineup:

🎹 Yasuharu Takanashi – Keyboards
🎸 Nozomu Wakai – Guitar
🎻 Tuomas Rounakari – Fiddle
🎸 Jesper Anastasiadis – Bass
🥁 Tino Jäntti – Drums

Tour Dates & Venues:

June 24 – Helsinki (FI) – On The Rocks
June 26 – Cartagena (ES) – Rock Imperium Festival
June 28 – Milano (IT) – Legend Club

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On January 26th 2024, at the Sibeliustalo in Finland, TUOMAS ROUNAKARI and YASUHARU TAKANASHI came together for a groundbreaking concert, ‘Epic East Meets Northern Beasts’. This sold-out event captivated audiences with its breathtaking performances, and the footage is now available for your viewing pleasure.

In case you missed it, dive into this mesmerizing musical journey, with video courtesy of Yasuharu Takanashi: https://www.facebook.com/100005974353144/videos/1142301077141918

The concert featured the lineup of skilled artists:

• Yasuharu Takanashi – Keyboards and others
• Tuomas Rounakari (Korpiklaani) – Violin
• Toni Porthén (ex-Värttinä) – Drums
• Jesper Anastasiadis (Turisas) – Bass
• Ossi Maristo (Battle Beast tour member) – Guitar
• Iivo Kaipainen (Arion) – Guitar

TUOMAS ROUNAKARI released his acclaimed solo album “Bear Awakener” on April 14th 2022! Still available at https://rounakari.bandcamp.com + https://www.recordshopx.com/artist/rounakari_tuomas/bear_awakener/

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TUOMAS ROUNAKARI is an internationally acclaimed violinist, composer and ethnomusicologist from Finland. He is a one-man-band blending violin, vocals and stomping with ankle-bells. In his performance he enters various trance-states. In this album he will also be playing a traditional Khanty instrument called Ning-juh.

Tuomas is inspired by different forms of dialogue; man and nature, the seen and the unseen world, ancient and future. His first solo album Shamanviolin was a result of ethnomusicological studies of the earliest 20th century wax-cylinder recordings from Siberia. These studies have also led to many collaborations with indigenous artists. He is one of the few artists who have actually returned their art to native communities for evaluation and development.

Tuomas Rounakari solo performance has been selected to: World Cultures Festival in Hong Kong (2019), Arctic Arts Summit (2019), Nordiskt Ljus Festival in Sweden (2022), Festspillene Helgeland in Norway (2021), Nuuk Nordik Festival in Greenland, Kaustinen Folk Music Festival in Finland (2018, 2013, 2012), Helsingin Juhlaviikot and many others. He has also played the solo performance in several theaters such as Finnish National Theater in Helsinki, Merlin Szinhas Teater in Budapest, AlfredVeDvore in Prague, Ashurst Hall in Flagstaff USA among others.

Also watch
-Tuomas’ performance video, a throwback to Tokyo 2017, from the materials of ‘Live in Japan’ documentary by Kimmo Kuusniemi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g718diJlW1s
-‘Farewell of Kamas People’ – https://youtu.be/oV16Qipd0MQ
-‘Langetus’ – https://youtu.be/HVsU7PTqqHY

More information at
TUOMAS ROUNAKARI: http://www.rounakari.com | http://www.facebook.com/shamanviolin | https://rounakari.bandcamp.com
MANAGEMENT: https://www.facebook.com/SplitScreenManagement | http://www.splitscreenproduction.com