Club Clandestino: Faarao Pirttikangas

Club Clandestino presents: Faarao Pirttikangas

Faarao Pirttikangas

A Finnish Tom Waits? Perkele blues? Swamp rock, accordion, melancholy and tango undertones. Faarao Pirttikanga’s music comes in many incarnations, depending on which of his groups happens to be joining him on stage (at Club Clandestino he is accompanied by the band Nubialaiset). However, his output is always dirty and raw. The drummer bangs on crooked cymbal while the trombone and saxophone squeeze out some sort of slippery ompah-ompah-meets-Mulatu Astatke riffs. The pharaoh’s square Bo Diddley style guitar swings along in a brutal shuffle while he spits out the lyrics in a Gollum-esque voice. And it doesn’t really matter that much whether the listener understands Finnish or not: The expression of the blues comes through nonetheless in songs that seem to life’s trials and misery, as if they were the old buddy’s.