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biography / portrait

In the last few years Erja Lyytinen has taken the Finnish music scene by a storm. She is a young and talented singer/songwriter and an unparalleled guitarist who plays everything from dobro to slide guitar. "But the guitar - or any instrument for that matter - is there just to support the story that I'm always trying to tell with a song", she says. Erja was born to a musical family in Kuopio, a little town in the middle of Finland. At the age of 15 she was performing with her parents - singing and first playing the violin and later the electric guitar. "People always wonder how a girl picked up the guitar, but being from a musical family - my mother is a bassist and my father a guitarist - I don't think that's a far stretch", Erja laughs. Erja's second album Wildflower (Bluelight Records), which she also co-produced, was released in June 2003 at one of the biggest festivals in Finland, Puistoblues 2003. "It was great", Erja enthuses. "We got to open for Koko Taylor and Bonnie Raitt. They've both had a huge influence on me". Erja has been compared to Raitt and the Finnish Blues News -magazine even hailed her as the Bonnie Raitt of Finland. "I think the main reason why some people compare me to Bonnie is that we both are women and play slide guitar. But naturally, it was fantastic when I finally got the chance to meet her. She turned out to be a really nice person." Diversity is an integral part of her style. Drawing influences from all over the musical map - blues, jazz, pop and even country -, she defies easy categorizations. This is one of the reasons why Wildflower has been received very well by the fans and the critics. "A classic", as the Finnish Rytmi -magazine wrote. "I like to invoke different moods in my songs. I'm also very lucky to have a great backing band that also contributes to my songs". Erja's band is: Toni Kortepohja (hammond organ and piano) Davide Floreno (acoustic, electric and lapsteel guitar), Timo Tuppurainen (upright and fretless bass) and Chris-Tomas Konieczny (drums and percussion). (source: www.erjalyytinen.com)