The story on this recording was written by renowned children’s book author Tittamari Marttinen and it is read on the CD by the famous Finnish actor Ismo Kallio (Available in Finnish only).
The beautiful illustrations were done by Keanne van de Kreeke, a Belgian artist living in Finland.
The story is a rather unusual princess story, where princess Ellinoora is trying to find her laughter which has gotten lost in the midst of quarrelling parents and accumulated wealth that doesn’t interest her.
Interesting is also the story of how this recording came about:
I was in a studio in Belgium mixing the Platypus Ensemble’s recording Life@Play.
We finished early, some studio time was left and I decided to record a couple of spontaneous improvisations as a gift to take home to my then 5-year old daughter.
My daughter liked the music, so I decided to give a copy of the tunes to Tittamari to see if she would like to write a story to the music. Tittamari got inspired by my improvisations and came up with this funny modern princess story.
Listening to the music now, fourteen years after recording it, I am still very pleased with its spontaneous, playful and happy atmosphere. Additional to my main instrument, the piano, I am playing all sorts of folk instruments like the ocarina, the kantele (table harp), mouth harp, melodica, adding several layers one by one. This was my first attempt at multi-instrument recording, which consequently led me to record my solo soundscapes ‘ONE’ (2011) and ‘UGETSU’ (2016).
Here are some samples from the Prinsessa-CD:
Kotilinna (Home castle)
Kotilinna
Kulkue (Parade)
Kulkue
Sid Hille