J.AholaMerry Christmas and a happy New Year!
I want to thank you all for this special year. I never expected that there’d be two totally different albums out, AHOLA – Stoneface and Ave Maria. It seems that you never know what’s going to happen next. I am grateful to all you people who have supported me along the way. I’m also humbled of the success of my Xmas album. I knew that we were doing something special, but that so many people found it, wow. Thank you.
A special thanks for the Xmas greets some of you sent me through J.Ahola Official Street Team. Very kind of you!
And now it’s time to take it easy for a while. I wish you all a very joyful Christmas and may the upcoming year bring all the good stuff to YOU.
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Haluan kiittää kaikkia tästä erityisestä vuodesta. Enpä olisi koskaan arvannut, että olisin samana vuonna kahdella albumilla – ja vieläpä täysin erilaisilla sellaisilla: AHOLA – Stoneface ja Ave Maria. Sitä vaan ei voi koskaan tietää mitä elämässä tulee eteen. Olen kiitollinen teille kaikille, jotka olette olleet tukemassa minua matkallani tuonne jonnekin. Nöyränä ihmettelen myös joululevyn saamaa suosiota. Toki tiesin, että olemme tekemässä jotain erityistä, mutta että niin moni ihminen löysi tuon albumin. Kiitos.
Erityiskiitos niille, jotka lähettivät J.Ahola Official Street Teamin kautta minulle joulutervehdyksen. Erittäin ystävällistä!
Ja nyt on aika ottaa rennosti tovi. Toivon teille kaikille nautinnollista joulua ja tuokoon tuleva vuosi kaikkea hyvää teille. Tarkemmin, juuri SINULLE.
Ave Maria -joulun klassikot sold gold!
Ave Maria has reached a gold status in Finland. J received it in a Puoli seitsemän live show @ TV1. A way to go!
Check out J’s interview tomorrow at TV1. It’s a live broadcast and J is going to do one song from his new Ave Maria -album. The show will be out at 18.30.
A film clip @ Iltalehti
Iltalehti asked J a few questions and published a video clip for you to check out. Click HERE to see it.
I was asked to choose 24 songs for you guys as an advent calendar. Two doors are already open. Have a look from HERE!
Ave Maria in YouTube
Ave Maria from J’s new Christmas album now available in Warner Music’s YouTube channel.
Ave Maria @ Ilta-Sanomat web
Ilta-Sanomat (Finland’s biggest tabloid) has noted J’s new album and offers a tasting from the new album. Click HERE to check it out!
Ave Maria – Joulun klassikot in Radio Nova
You can listen to the new album, Ave Maria – Joulun klassikot, in advance @ Radio Nova’s internet site. Click HERE!
Welcome to my renewed site!
As some of you may have found out from my Facebook-page or elsewhere, I’ve recorded a Christmas album called Ave Maria – Joulun klassikot (Christmas classics). The idea came from Warner Music and even though I was a bit suspicious of the idea at first, I came to like it very much because of the classy production there was going to be. The idea was to do a christmas album that would sound majestic and grand, but yet still delicate and dynamic. It was clear that there would be no sample-based orchestrations, but a real symphony orchestra playing most of the songs. Even though sampled sound and midi programming can do pretty convincing results, the real thing just sounds like a…REAL THING! We also recorded a big sounding organ at church to make the package even more tangible.
The album was recorded in several locations, but my parts were done at Neomusic Studio in Helsinki with Janne Huttunen sitting behind the desk. Miikka Huttunen handled the mixing and Svante Försback did the mastering. The track list is as follows:
1. Ave Maria 4:35 (The one and only!)
2. Sylvian joululaulu 4:03 (The song you might have heard me singing before on last Christmas, but this time the arrangement is fully made for my voice.)
3. En etsi valtaa loistoa 3:18 (A Christmas carol from Jean Sibelius with a very pious mood.)
4. Mielenrauhaa 3:57 (A new song from Kassu Halonen – the man behind Sydämeeni Joulun Teen.)
5. Varpunen jouluaamuna 3:27 (A song written on a touching poem by Zacharias Topelius – we Finns love this one and I think this version worked out great.)
6. Sydämeeni joulun teen 3:46 (Maybe the last Finnish Xmas carol that has reached a classic status among the classics – and we spiced it up just a little bit.)
7. Nessun Dorma 3:14 (This is not a Christmas carol, but it surely fits here very well – I like this one one of the best tracks here.)
8. Tonttu 4:51 (A nice story of a Xmas elf and a cool arrangement with a rich athmosphere.)
9. Jouluyö, juhlayö 3:44 (One of the most known Christmas carols with a nice vibe in it.)
10. Adagio 3:03 (This one isn’t a Xmas carol either, but it ends this album with a grand tone and a BIG organ sound!)
Raskasta Joulua will hit the road again in November. It’s getting bigger year by year and we’ll be playing in Tampere-talo this time, for example. For more venues, please visit Dragonwhite.com.
AHOLA is going to do few gigs as well on November. It’s been a pleasure to get new fans by playing live. I know that many of you have heard us the first time in live situation. It’s hard work to win you over gig by gig but very rewarding as well. So thank you for the support. Go check AHOLA’s homepage.
I also wanted to give a special thanks for J.Ahola Street Team and Ahola Dream Team for their support and spreading out the word. Thank you!
I’m going to do a special appearance at Musiikkitalo in Helsinki on Wednesday 21st of November in Joulu Mielelle -concert that will be aired in December by MTV3.
This site is not ready yet since there’s gonna be more stuff coming up. Please, do keep on checking the site out every now and then.
That’s it people. Thank you for visiting!
Take care,
J.
Here’s an unofficial vid of AHOLA’s cool rock’n’roll song. Have look and take a bite!
