Rural ska roused the audience
Skanes continued the good ska music tradition of Ilosaarirock.
Joensuu-based Skanes climbed on Rentolava (The Chill Out Stage) in the early Saturday evening. The announced introduced Skanes, which performed before Buju Banton, as the rural version of ska music, and the members of the band did not forget to remind the audience of this in their speeches between the songs. The mellow “rural ska” soon roused the audience to dance. The audience would have also wanted more, but because of the Banton gig there were no time for an encore.
Skanes’s repertoire consists mostly of cover songs from The Skatalites to bands from other genres. The band is familiar with the traditions and the history of the Finnish popular music - therefore it is no surprise that the music of Skanes sounds a lot like some kind of fusion. The firm rhythm of the guitars was brilliantly accompanied by the improvising wind instruments: the co-operation between these two sections worked like a charm. The rhythm is like a stone base from which the wind instruments reach up for the sky. The singing of drummer Eccu Räsänen crowned the laid back entity.
Skanes left the audience undoubtedly in a good mood. However, the dancing shoes probably will not get too much rest because Skanes is followed by Buju BAnton and Fi-Reggae Allstars.
Text: Aaron Kallinen
Photos: Markus Korpi-Hallila
Translation: Hanna Laaksonen