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The Squid's Ear Magazine

Ruokangas, Heikki

Live In New York

Ruokangas, Heikki : Live In New York (Right Brain Records)

Recorded live at the 2024 New York Forward Festival in NYC by guitarist Killick Hinds, Finnish guitarist Heikki Ruokangas presents an expressive solo acoustic performance that shifts fluidly between melody and noise, balancing introspective sensitivity with intense avant-garde bursts, weaving elements of contemporary jazz, Finnish musical heritage, and free improvisation into a raw and immediate sonic exploration.
 

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Heikki Ruokangas-acoustic guitar


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UPC: 755491328422

Label: Right Brain Records
Catalog ID: RBR077
Squidco Product Code: 35749

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2025
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at the New York Forward Festival, in NYC, on August 9th, 2024, by Killick Hinds.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

Heikki Ruokangas (b. 1987) is an innovative guitarist, composer and improviser from Finland. His music is a dialogue between melody and noise, shifting from soothing and sensitive moments to violent avant-garde expression, to distinct melodies and atonal motifs. Ruokangas draws his inspiration from avant-garde, contemporary, and traditional jazz as well as from his native Finnish musical heritage and traditions. He's performed in United States and throughout Europe and has released over 20 collaborative and solo recordings.

Following Ruokangas' solo guitar album Karu on the 577 Records label, this live recording at the 2024 New York Forward Festival, in NYC, recorded by fellow guitarist Killick Hinds, is striking in its immediacy while additional dimensions of complexity are revealed with every breath, creak and avant-garde notion of tradition.


Artist Biographies

"Heikki Ruokangas (b. 1987) is a jazz/avant-garde guitarist and composer from Oulu, Finland. His music is a dialogue between melody and noise, shifting from soothing and sensitive moments to violent avant-garde expression, to distinct melodies and atonal motifs. Ruokangas draws his inspiration from avant-garde, contemporary, and traditional jazz as well as from his native Finnish musical heritage and traditions. He's performed throughout Europe and, at the age of 34, has already released over 20 collaborative and solo recordings.

His current projects include a duet with drummer Simo Laihonen, a guitar and accordion duo with Anne-Mari Kanniainen, and his solo guitar project Heikki Ruokangas Monologues. Ruokangas is a member of an international improvisers collective, CI Community Project, that includes musicians from all over the world (New York, Berlin, Lisbon, Oulu etc.)."

-Heikki Ruokangas Website (https://www.heikkiruokangas.com/home#biography)
2/7/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Aalto II 5:06

2. On Suuri Sun Rantas Autius 3:12

3. A Shuffle Of Zombies 4:26

4. Stockholm 2:13

5. The Real Boy 3:57

6. Hailuoto IV 3:50

7. Psalm 4:31

8. Aalto I 2:47

9. Ghost Waltz 5:15

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Guitarists, &c.
Solo Artist Recordings
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
New in Improvised Music
Recent Releases and Best Sellers

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