Kimmo Pohjonen
Kimmo Pohjonen, born in 1963 and raised in a Finnish village, is one of the most distinguished avant-garde musicians of the present day. He has made it his life's work to free the traditional and prejudiced accordion from its slumber. He wants to exhaust all the technical possibilities of this instrument and raise playing and sound to a level never before attempted, heard or seen.
His joy of experimentation knows no bounds, both in music and in instrument technique. He takes his acoustic button accordion apart, installs microphones and electronic effect devices, wires each key and controls the whole thing with a foot pedal, similar in function to the pedal on a church organ. This enables him to play one and the same instrument acoustically and electronically at the same time. This is a groundbreaking revolution in instrument making, comparable only to the introduction of the electric guitar. But for him, technology is a means to an end: he is a passionate accordion virtuoso whose outstanding strength lies in improvisation.
Kimmo Pohjonen gives concerts all over the world and fills the great concert halls, both alone and in collaboration with many other musicians, such as the King Crimson and the Kronos Quartet quoted in the film.