Messages from Tarja

Rehearsals have begun!
Posted on September 28, 2010

Rainy and chilly day in Warsaw, Poland.


After being under the sun and enjoying lovely springtime in Buenos Aires, the weather in Europe came as a shock to me. It’s really damn cold already!


Today was the first day of the rehearsals with the band. We went through almost all the new songs already, but few are still missing. I am sure tomorrow we “kill” them all.


The band sounds tight and it’s great fun to see the guys enjoying my music again.


We have a new bass player with us: Mr. Kevin Chown.


Always when there is a change in the line up, the overall sound changes and the atmosphere among us as well. I am sure you’ll like what you’ll hear. I see many smiling faces around, so I am happy. My guys and me are going to hit the road together again!!! Jippyy


So, now I leave you with good night wishes. Got to take some rest before tomorrow.

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ON THE ROAD
Posted on October 10, 2010

The journey with my new album has begun. It was really exciting to actually start with the shows after rehearsing the songs only for few days with the band.


There was really a lot of new material for everybody to learn, but all went very fine. Now we have prepared many different set lists, so we can do changes between the shows.


The reception of the audiences in Warsaw and Krakow was incredible. I felt really welcome again in Poland. It was nice to see and hear people singing my new songs already. That was pretty amazing.


I had never been able to visit the centre of Krakow before, so I was lucky to do it this time. It is a very beautiful city with lot of old architecture and history. Chopin’s music was played everywhere and the sun was with us for the first time after many rainy days.



After Poland we started our trip to Ukraine and everybody knew in advance that this journey would be a long one; it was. The jumpy road kept me awake the whole night and the lack of sleep and food didn’t make me very happy. I was really delighted to get a real bed after 20 hrs being in the bus. Next day we had a chance to see the older part of Kiev a little bit, but it was lot colder in Ukraine than I thought it would be! Even we Finns were freezing!



The show, even though announced with a very short notice, was wonderful. People were really excited about our concert and with the help of their love and care; I realized that my music has a special place in Ukraine.


After Kiev we headed to Ostrava and Prague, Czech Republic. It was really lovely to be back in Czech, even though my last visit was just few months ago in Masters of Rock Festival. A lot of people came to see my shows and everybody got a bit surprised about it.

For example in Prague, the house was completely full and it made me very, very happy. People were just stunning!

Sometimes they were a lot louder than the band itself!


I started to feel a bit sick though during my Ostrava performance, so now I have to fight furiously against the flu that is trying to hit me. Nothing too serious, but enough to be more tired than usual.


Now we are in lovely Paris. The sun was welcoming us here yesterday and I already had my tasty, French dinner last night.


Is hard to know what to expect tonight. When we booked the shows, What Lies Beneath was not out yet and we had big expectations for the release in France with Universal Music.


Today I visited their offices to ask them why they didn’t release my album at all.

This is what I found.




It seems that in France, Universal Music is opening a market instead of selling records.

Maybe they are good in that field.


We can hear complains about the record industry going down… We should check a bit more the reasons for this to happen.


In one hour, the sound check will begin.


With all my love, Tarja

Sunny greetings from BA!
Posted on October 19, 2010

It is so nice to be back at home. The sun is shining and I can go out for running every day!

The trees are green already and the city looks pretty. I enjoy my morning coffee every morning outside in my beautiful balcony. Oh, life is good.


I have decided the concert program for my Christmas concerts already and started to rehearse for them. After next European rock tour, I won’t have too much time to go through all (only 5 days) so I have to do it right now.


It feels good to get my mind into different mood again with classical music, even though it might feel odd to you to imagine me singing Xmas song at this time of the year. I am sure though that the Christmas concerts in Finland will be a success again with Kalevi, Erkki and Marzi. It’s been a pleasure to perform with them.


I am working hard to get this project outside of the Finnish borders my friends! I know that many of you are already coming to see my concerts in Finland, but my biggest wish is to get this tradition abroad in 2011.


Soon I will start checking all the material that was filmed and recorded in Lahti last Christmas for a DVD release next year.


I am truly excited though about the Alice Cooper tour that is starting in two weeks. I am sure I am going to learn many things from Mr. Cooper during this tour and it is an honour to be part of it. Few artists nowadays are putting a show on stage and he is one of them.


There are many German cities we will be travelling through, so I hope to see many of my German friends in the shows.


There is also going to be a signing session in Media Markt, Munich on the 6th of November at 12:00. Be there!


Few words about a new project I am starting to work with; as I told you earlier, I have many plans for side projects. I have been really lucky to meet and work with many talented people during my career and this won’t be an exception.


Though I have known these persons already for some years and even worked with them!

Now we are putting all our strength and knowledge together, creating something very beautiful. Some of you might be quite surprised about this, but it is something I have wanted to do already for many years.

I just haven’t had enough time, or possibilities. You’ll get to know more about it when the time is right



With all my love, Tarja