During 2018 the Student Union is celebrating the Year of Art. To celebrate, we give voice to several creative individuals or groups acting in the Aalto community. During May, the women’s choir KYN has the floor.
Kuva: Maarit Kytöharju
KYN (abbreviated for Kauppakorkeakoulun Ylioppilaskunnan Naislaulajat, the Business School Student Union women singers) is a world-class choir composed of women. Helsingin Sanomat has accoladed it as” one of the brightest stars in the sky that is the Finnish choir sky”, a” trailblazer of jazz music” and” the most surprising composition of the musical year”. For 2017, KYN has won both a Grand Prix victory and a special award for amazing stage performance in Berlin, ranking as 6th best women’s choir in the world, and being chosen as Choir of the Year.
KYN is ambitious and bold, breaking boundaries and constantly developing choir music. It has created a unique and distinctive program and a whole new genre of choir music; ethnic jazz. It combines traditional melodious themes and texts of Finland with jazz rhythm and harmony.
To its members, KYN is also a family.
In addition to AYY members, women of different ages and fields of expertise sing in KYN, brought together by their love for choir music.
When KYN was chosen Choir of the Year in 2017, the grounds for the choice stated that KYN was a group of singers devoted to female choir music. It is true! Choir is life for us. Us KYN women devote ourselves into the choir for a long time, take a professional, passionate outlook on our hobby and strive to develop as singers. And of course, we aim to develop the choir further. (If you feel the same way, you might be a future KYN woman in the making).
We create music because not doing it would be incomprehensible to us. Creating music in a choir is inspired by the fact that a choir is an instrument played by its leader, where every single singer is a key or a string of the instrument. As a vocalist in a choir you get to be a part in the machine, a piece of the instrument. The feeling created by 40 women breathing, feeling and dreaming together is hard to experience anywhere else.
Another inspiring touch is the connection the singers have with the audience. Each time we sing we wish to convey an amazing experience. We’ve noticed that it is possible to truly touch a person and tell a story through choir music, even across language barriers and cultural borders. When KYN sung in Finnish during the competition in Italy, the judges declared that” they understood nothing, but understood everything”.
There are several reasons why making music in KYN inspires. To me, one of them is creating it with some of the best musicians in Finland. During my own choir career, I’ve had the privilege of performing with such professionals as Soile Isokoski, Johanna Försti and Jukka Perko.
At its very best choir music can speak to its audience, touching and affecting in several ways, crossing both thought and sense. Through it you can experience, see and understand things with more depth and detail. Art can momentarily open your experiences and understanding of all that our human life entails, in all situations in everyday life.
” Choir music is an art form, given voice by many individuals. It is powerful, alive, developing and forever renewing itself; it does not stop. A piece is new every time it is performed”, our artistic leader Kaija Viitasalo says.
Check out the video below and come to KYN concerts to experience our art!
Susanna Kantelinen
KYN Producer
P.S. Upcoming concerts:
- Sunday 3rd of June at 18:00, VocalEspoo festival opening concert, Espoo culture center, Tapiola hall
- Wednesday 6th of June at 19:00, Juurilla – ” KYN & Juurakko”, Espoo culture center, Tapiola hall