We've listed some noteworty word music albums including new music from Piirpauke, Johanna Juhola, Saaga Ensemble and Arnold Chiwalala Band.

Piirpauke has released their new album Ilo (Rockadillo Records) on November. Piirpauke is formed by the founding member Sakari Kukko (horns, keyboards, etc) together with Ismail Sane (drums, vocals), Eerik Siikasaari (bass), Rami Eskelinen (drums) and Nicolas Rehn (guitar). Also the jazzy trumpet man Kalevi Louhivuori has joined the band on Ilo. Piirpauke has been around for almost 40 years, still going on strong and combining influences from music of any corner of the world to their own sound.

Also Johanna Juhola’s third solo album, Fantasiatango II, had its release date on November. On the album, Johanna performs with two of her bands, Johanna Juhola Reaktori and Johanna Juhola Trio. There are also plenty of guests, as producer Tuomas Norvio has done some programming, Pekka Kuusisto visited playing some tunes on Rhodes and Swedish rapper Promoe dropped by for some rhymes. The album is released on Johanna’s own record label.

While Johanna Juhola’s album has plenty of visitors, Ville Ojanen has chosen to create music by himself. The recent album Kekkonen (Seita Music) is produced by Ojanen, and he has written all the songs and played all the instruments. Ville Ojanen is a crossover violinist/composer originally coming from Kaustinen, Finland. Ville mixes the folk tradition and contemporary musical influences to create new sounds and ideas.

Recent debut albums include Arnold Chiwalala Band’s Wito (Global Music). The multi-talented Arnold Chiwalala has worked in the fields of dance and music, and has now composed songs based on Tanzanian music traditions, combined with the sound of kantele. The sextet includes Arnold Chiwalala (kantele, flute, drums/ngoma, vocals), Topi Korhonen (guitar, trumpet, vocals), Sami Kurppa (sax, keyboards), Libesse Sall (bass), Ricardo Padilla (percussion, vocals) and Menard Mponda (percussion/ngoma, vocals).

Forthcoming is the debut album of Saaga Ensemble. Saaga Ensemble is a brand new super group, whose sound is determined by unique instrumentation and personality. Their songs are enchantingly powerful, energetic and multilayered. The ensemble’s music is described as power folk and new country. Saaga Ensemble is formed by Soila Sariola (vocals), Vilma Timonen (kantele, vocals), Milla Viljamaa (harmonium, vocals), Tommi Asplund (violin), Roope Aarnio (guitar, vocals), Jaakko Kämäräinen (bass, vocals) and Jyri Sariola (drums, percussions). The album is due in early 2013.