Anttu Koistinen

Anttu Koistinen (b. 1993) is a Finnish electric kantele player. At the age of 8, he started to play the first electric Wing kantele INSTRUMENTS developed by his father, Hannu Koistinen, and soon found his own, unique way to play and perform on the instruments. His relaxed style of playing brought new freedom to kantele-playing, and the experimentation with new kind of sound effects and the development of new playing techniques increased his enthusiasm. 6 months after he had started playing he took part in the first live TV performance on TV 1 Lauantaivekkari program. Anttu has played at various kinds of events both in Finland and abroad. In 2005 Anttu performed together with Senni Eskelinen in the USA taking part at Grand Finn Fest in Marquette and at Finlandia Art & Music Festival in Poulsbo. He has also appeared many times on TV, and one of those was a performance with Trio Töykeät in 2005. In 2006 he was chosen the first Young Star at the major Finnish jazz festival, Pori Jazz. Other important performances include the opening ceremonies at “Suomi 90” at Finlandia Hall and at Anitškov Palace in St. Petersburg. In 2008 the KEHO band was formed which features Teemu Eerola on keyboards, Jesse Ojajärvi on drums, Rasmus Harinen on bass and Anttu Koistinen on electric kantele. In 2009 KEHO was invited to the USA to perform as the main band at Scandinavian Hjemkomst festival.

Recordings

Anttu Koistinen (2004) a three-song single CD “Pikkujättiläinen” [The Small Giant], Koistinen Kantele

Sound of Koli (2011), 3 pieces on electric 15 string kantele, Koistinen Kantele compilation album, other musicians: Ritva Koistinen and Olga Shishkina