Live since 1994
I begun playing gigs in the autumn 1994 and this became reoccuring the next year. During 2024-2025 I’m thus celebrating 30 years as a touring musician – on the road of course. In addition to Finland, I’ve toured from Colombia to Japan and China to Cambodia. Not forgetting Europe, of course.
I’ve never tried to count the amount of live gigs played, but they must be in the hundreds. In 2024 I’m mounting the stage in total 51 times.
I perform by myself as a troubadour or playing piano, in different duet setups, and of course with my band The Incredible Schamoon Orchestran..
Creating a genre of my own – “roskelma”
I’ve always found categorizing somewhat irritating. As art and culture in Finland seems to be inevitably categorized – it’s some kind of national level curse – I’ve been forced to mold myself in some group as well. Irritated by this phenomenon I came up with my own “genre” – roskelma – which is a merge of the words “rock” (bowing to my early years’ career in mainly rock music) and “iskelmä” or schlager music in Finnish. The wor “roskelma” itself is a word play, since it resembles the Finnish word “roska” – or garbage. As a genre this is very convenient, since being the presumably only “roskelma singer” in the world, it is up to me what types of music fall into this genre. Obviously, I should definitely be seen as the ultimate authority for the genre, therefore my decisions’ questioning just isn’t done (*grin*).
From small town pizzerias to stadium concerts – and always back when necessary
As a live musician I’ve seen my fair share of live venues. All of them usually have their own charm and no gig is too unimportant for me. Of course there are definite highlights, such as playing the Helsinki Olympic Stadium, the former Hartwall (Helsinki) Arena, Helsinki’s most legendary club Tavastia or the Culture Hall (where Jimi Hendrix gave his only performance in Finland) or at the old Helsinki Ice Hall (home for most major international acts from Metallica to Rush). On the other hand, equally important moments have been experienced in less glamourous venues.
If I get to pick – which I fortunately often do – I definitely like the best bits of both ends. Sweaty gigs in the corneres of local pubs that make up the only “venue” in the area and at the other end more mellow-toned stylish concert hall performances.
Composer, writer and producer
In addition to two of my own albums, I’ve also produced other artists’ and band’s releases. In addition, I’ve functioned as Artist & Repertoire Manager, working for instance from the legendary analog Studio-JJ in Tampere alongside audio wizards Juuso Nordlund and Ilkka Liettyä. As a composer and writer I begun my career already in my teen years. Apparently some pieces written have stood the face of time, since some originals still are a part of my live set, some 30 years later. I’ve written texts mostly in English and Finnish, but also in Swedish and French. I even once wrote a song in Italian.
You can get acquainted with my music through my media page.
Live is always live – book a professional for your event!
I nowadays play the majority of my gigs as a trubadour or the other part of a duet. Of course there are the occasional artist visits with various groups as well. Obviously, I most like to play with my own band and do so whenever it is an option. The Incredible Schamoon Orchestra consists alongside myself by drummer Pitkä Parkkinen, bass player Imre Szabó, keyboardist Tapio Niemelä and guitarists Jari Tuomainen and Ilkka Liettyä.
You can of course book me (or us!) to your private event to perform. Roughly a quarter of the gigs I play on an annual basis are corporate or private functions. I enjoy the reputation of a trustworthy, high quality maintaining and crowd-friendly artitst. I also cherish this reputation with care, making sure that the customer usually gets a little more than he/she/they bargained for. This keeps the good word spreading in the future too. Considering that my calendar hasn’t been empty yet, although I haven’t released any new material in 10 years, speaks for itself – I guess I’ve managed to keep up the good reputation adequately so far.
My performances are sold and invoiced through my own company. This helps to keep the price tag at a reasonable level, still ensuring that both myself and the people performing with me are imbursed in a sustainable way for work in a craft profession.
Asking does of course not cost anything. And to this day not a single gig has been left unbooked due to what the customer has seen as too high an asking price.
You can see my booking situation conveniently in the Tour calendar.
Book me for a gig
Kristian Meurman Productions
Finska Skärgårdskompaniet Oy Ab
Tel. 0440 811 020
info@kristianmeurman.fi