Mirja Mäkelä & Berger-Knutsson-Spering

Mirja Mäkelä: vocals
Jonas Knutsson (SE): Saxophones
Christian Spering (SE): double bass
Bengt Berger (SE): drums

Mirja Mäkelä & Berger-Knutsson-Spering will be together again, when in February 2024 the band will tour Finland and also give a concert in Sweden!

Mirja Mäkelä & BKS is a combination of experienced, skilled and expressive jazz musicians. The program contains compositions by all members of the band. There is plenty of room for improvisation and spontaneous solutions in the interpretations. The texts are in Finnish, Swedish and English, and they are written by both well-known poets and Mäkelä. The upcoming tour will feature new, specially composed repertoire, and the best pieces from previous collaborations will also be included.

Mirja Mäkelä and Berger-Knutsson-Spering met for the first time in 2000 at the Moroccan Jazz Festival. With the cooperation that started at that time, they have performed numerous times in Finland and Sweden in 2001-2008. The joint album “Arco Íris” was born in 2003 for Texicalli Records. Mäkelä has also guested on Berger-Knutsson-Spering’s Christmas album “Alternativ Jul” in 2008. After a break of more than ten years, the musicians have now decided to continue this inspiring collaboration, which was also awarded with a scholarship from the Finnish-Swedish Cultural Fund in 2007.

Mirja Mäkelä´s home page

Photo: Esa Taponen

The concert is supported by City of Helsinki, Svenska Kulturfonden, The Finnish Music Foundation and The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike).