Pekko Käppi & K:H:H:L

A Nordic council music Prize nominee, a support act of Robert Plant, WOMEX opening act2018, ‘jouhikko’ (ancient Finnish-Karelian bowed lyre) shaman, a psychedelic folk rocker and a band leader Pekko Käppi is one of the most visionary Finnish neo-folk acts. Pekko’s blood stopping vocals accompanied with three fellow musicians’ robust but solid grooves form Pekko Käppi & K:H:H:L - Bones of the Dead Crazy Horses. The title tells that their music is dealing with death, witches, Finnish voodoo, even love and lust; their latest album “Oli kerran ryytimaassa...”, released in September 2025 by Svart Records, is the finestexample yet of the gloomy themes. The previous album CREDO was released in 2023 by Nordic Notes.

Pekko Käppi& K:H:H:L is:
Pekko Käppi – jouhikko, vocals
Tommi Laine – guitar, vocals
Nuutti Vapaavuori – bass, vocals
GilbertKuppusami – drums, vocals

Pekko Käppi & K:H:H:L has appeared at e.g. WOMAD Chile, FMM Sines, Tuska Festival in Helsinki, Eurosonic, Folkelarm, EtnoPort, Seoul Music Week and Dranouter Festival.

Pekko records and performs also as a solo artist.

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BACKGROUND INFO ON PEKKO KÄPPI

Pekko Käppi is a visionary Finnish folk music composer, singer and jouhikko player. His oeuvre revolutionised the standards of playing the ancient Finnish instrument jouhikko, a bowed lyre, by plugging it into an amplifier and various other ass-backwards places. He then incorporated elements from blues and rock and experimental archaic chaos. These melodic sticks and rhythmic stones send shivers down them bones and his singing just might hurt you.
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As a singer and a researcher he is well-versed in the Finnish runo-singing tradition among the older layers of Finnish folk songs. His debut album “Jos ken pahoin uneksii” was released in 2007 and nominated for the Finnish ethno-grammy award. The second full-lenght album “Vuonna ’86″ was released in February 2010 and received the Folk Music Album of the Year-award in Finland. Käppi has a strong ethnomusical approach in his work, but has worked with various artists across the differenet genres of music around the world. Käppi’s third album “Rammat Jumalat” (“Lame Gods”) was also praised highly by Finnish media.