erkki-kurenniemi

Unluckily Finnish music loses another diamond. Shortly after Mika Vainio, Erkki Kurenniemi ‘waved goodbye’ to us. At age of 75, one of the most intriguing visionaries in the history of music and art leaves earth for another dimension. He died in hospital in Helsinki on 1 May.

Erkki was an artist able to combine philosophy with electronic music, automation and robotics.

Being a unique and unusual character at the same time helped him shape his genius by building his own instruments (DIMI synthesizer series) , transferring his philosophy to cinema (for example the films “Electronics In The World Of Tomorrow”, “Sex Show 1 & 2”, “Talo” and many more) and even to education (founded “The University of Helsinki Electronic Music Studio” in 1962). We should always remember that he received the Finland Prize of the Ministry of Education and Culture in 2003.

Already in those years, very important was his theory of the advent of a quantum computer that would allow us to keep the memory of our life and to create our own Virtual avatar.

He shot 14 experimental films (in 16 mm format) in which he painted his philosophy about sex, nature, life and human nature, predicting a future where man would be one with the machines.

We recommend the vision of “The Future Is Not What It Used To Be” produced by Mika Taanila, a documentary about the wonderful synth world of Erkki.

Without his work and his experimentation, many modern musical genres would never have come to life. He has ‘built’ the foundations for IDM and Computer Music, in fact by influencing the likes of Autechre or Pan Sonic.

Now even the angels will have their own synthesizer.

Goodbye dear Mr. Kurenniemi…

Antonio Cristofaro