Is it world music, folk music or comedy? A little bit of this, a little bit of that – really special. Creative minds are at work in Gankino Circus, musicians who certainly know what they are doing. The four of them act as if they had never done anything else: perfectly set into scene and highly sophisticated while maintaining a close connection to their audience, all of which makes them one of Germany’s finest world music exports.
Gankino Circus have traveled from Finland to Kazakhstan – constantly voyaging, always in search of musical inspiration for their signature style. German Folk, Balkan Beats, Nordic Sounds and lots of humour are mingled in a fantastic concert event: „A Slightly Mad World Music Show“.
Mystical sounds, powerful folk songs and beautiful instrumental music are presented by Gankino Circus, who were awarded the RUTH world music prize in 2019, on the new album "Suomessa", which is released on 16 September, and show themselves from a truly Nordic side. Pulsating soundscapes full of magical guitars and enchanting Finnish vocals let the listener descend into the vastness of the North and reappear at roaring midsummer parties. The vibraphone shimmers over the album like an aurora borealis, this time expanding the Gankino Circus-typical band sound of accordion, clarinet, guitar and drums. With "Suomessa", Gankino Circus release a musical declaration of love to Finland. Besides the four Gankinos, many of their Finnish friends can be heard on it.
As the world's first cultural spectacle, they bring waders, Schuhplattler and filter coffee machine on stage, present peculiar customs like axe and grass blade throwing, know by now why Finns so rarely change their shirts, what it has to do with the mysterious wash bowls on stage and what magic powers are in the red canoe they brought with them. Of course, the focus is still on the music: Finnish polkas meet Franconian rock'n'roll, virtuoso world music from their own pen merges with unconventional interpretations of old Finnish folk songs or classical works such as the "Finlandia" by composer Jean Sibelius.
