TRAP hiphop -artist Wille Hyvönen, alias Ville Valoton, performs and produces music. Ville Valoton consists of three band members: ALEXALFONS/PINK-187 (Alex Rekola), Taylor Slow (Lassi Vainionpää) and AGAMWE (Lauri Solin). Ville Valoton’s Pinkki Tiili -album was released in February 2020. At that time Ville Valoton was London-based and they were granted TelepART Mobility Support in 2019 for their festival concert at Provinssirock festival in Seinäjoki, Finland.
Could you tell more about the concert? How did it go?
It was my first concert as a vocalist. I’ve been on the stage before as a drummer. It was also the first time the whole Ville Valoton crew was performing at a Finnish rock festival, so we did a lot of practice before the concert.
It was great to perform as a queer band on the stage of a big rock festival. We were a bit nervous about how the audience in the countryside would see us, but there were good vibes at the gig and people gathered to see us perform. The festival was also well organised.
What was TelepART funding’s role for the concert?
The TelepART funding was really important because it made the concert possible. In general, festivals do not pay much compensation to new artists. The grant made it possible for us to travel from London via Helsinki to Seinäjoki.
Our concert manager handled all the practical matters and the TelepART grant application well. The grant was very fast and convenient. From my own experience, usually you have to wait much longer before receiving a decision from art grants. If I remember correctly, we got the decision a day after applying.
How has the TelepART-funding enabled your career development?
The funding meant a validification that what we do is meaningful for Finnish culture. It is also great to get acknowledgement as a trans woman. In addition, it was amazing to be able to perform at Provinssi even though we are a newly established band.
Did you get any new opportunities as a result of the TelepART-concert?
Provinssirock looks good on our concert CV. I also believe that the concert had an impact on people. As a band we also became much closer and got new collaborations. This has meant we later have become known as if not the best rap group in Finland, at least the band that trains the most. We trained for several weeks 10 hours per day. We practiced songs for the stage and also produced new music for Provinssi. With that kind of passion, sweat, dedication, and time spent together between five artists, the result cannot be anything but gold. While we were well prepared for Provinssi, we were also thankful later during the summer and autumn that we had prepared a song list in the beginning of the summer.
Our album Pinkki tiili was entirely produced with the Provinssi team (apart from producers Kalifornia-Keke, Iljana and Breakup). All the songs that we performed at Provinssi are included on Pinkki Tiili. London-based artist Valoton Security (Leon Lewis) who performed with us at Provinssi is also featured on the album.
Learn more about TelepART here.
Listen to Pinkki Tiili album:
Photo: Siiri Raasakka
Text: Sara Nguyen
