“Arctic Utopias” Documentary Film – feat. Violinist, composer, ethnomusicologist TUOMAS ROUNAKARI as a composer – has earned the Sustainability Award Verso at Tampere Film Festival 2022!

Tuomas comments:
“Arctic Utopias is an unusual documentary film done without a main director. It seeks to answer how different people view the future of the arctic – is it a dystopia or an utopia.

Three directors sent their materials to Helsinki were it was edited together. The film knits together stories with a Greek immigrant living in Tromsø Norway, a Finnish snow-boarder and an indigenous director from Yakutsk Siberia pondering her identity in the hybrid of ethnogenes.”

Here is the statements from the Jury:
“ARCTIC UTOPIAS | Production team Finland, 2022 | Documentary
The winner of Sustainability Award Verso goes to a film for which environmental sustainability was already the new norm. To name a few actions, when making the film the crew had value-based discussions, mentors on different topics were welcomed to help, and the film makers were proactive to share information on sustainability to funders. One key part was the decision to do some things in a smaller manner, as it also meant natural resources were saved.
The greatest positive environmental impact is achieved in the areas that typically cause the most emissions: according to international examples, logistics accounts for about half of the emissions of a production. In the light of this alone, the jury landed on a movie filmed in three countries without flying a single flight. By open call the film utilized actively local professionals. The jury noted that the production structure was something that could be replicated elsewhere.”

From the producers:
“Arctic Utopias is an experimental documentary film project and our humble attempt to find out where the future of the Arctic is headed. Is it Utopic or Dystopic? Who tells the stories of the Arctic and why?
We aim to dive deeper into the different voices, perspectives, experiences, and developments regarding this often mystified and distant feeling region that has become extremely relevant in the context of global warming and biodiversity loss.”

More information at https://tamperefilmfestival.fi/en/ – https://www.facebook.com/tamperefilmfestival

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Just recently, violinist, composer, ethnomusicologist TUOMAS ROUNAKARI was forced to postpone the release of “Bear Awakener” album, due to the ongoing pandemic and its effects. But to shorten the wait, he revealed the first album teaser, some feelings from his studio days with Verde in January 2022.

Tuomas stated:
“Disappointed to announce that our release of the Bear Awakener album will be postponed. Not sure exactly for how many weeks, but hopefully it will be shipped everywhere during April. The reason is the obvious one – Covid-19 and its many effects from long queues in printing to unpredictable shipping times. It has hit our team members directly too, but all are well and in good shape by now.
The digital version including the digital booklet is already final. Releasing that before the physical copies simply feels wrong given the nature of this album. I hope to make up this delay with a few more videos around the topic during March.
And for starters! Verde did this little teaser from our studio session for you! We were too busy to actually film anything properly, but this does transfer some of our feelings.
Hear the sound of the violin with raw-gut-strings on two different songs!”

Enjoy the album teaser at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC1vrvbg9uE

“This is music that gods are listening to” said Pekko Käppi after having listened through the freshly finished mastered tracks.

“Bear Awakener” was recorded, mixed and mastered at the Verde Studio with the gear-wizard Mika Rintala. None of his modular synthesizers were used. All of the equipment used in recording was built by Mika – microphones, pre-amps, EQ and even the mixing console and electrostatic monitors. Bear Awakener has 11 tracks and 43min in total.

New release date will be announced soon.

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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.

Enjoy online concert from Kaustinen Folk Music Festival 2020. Shamanviolin at Pauanne is a full-length online concert produced by the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival 2020. The concert was filmed at the magical Pauanne where a community of folk musicians and folk healers used to live in the 1980’s. All buildings are fully hand made with many mythological decorations. This Shamanviolin concert ends with lament melodies in a burnt down sauna. The magic and unique beauty of this place is still strong. A perfect environment for my music.

Watch here and sign up to his newsletter at https://rounakari.com/watch-full-video-for-free/

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
Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCliVnARlDv2Y3ykBo_YFlRA
MANAGEMENT: https://www.facebook.com/SplitScreenManagement | http://www.splitscreenproduction.com