In our series of post-Nordic Delight catch-ups with some of this writer’s favourite performers from the festival, here’s the second summary for the delights of our Nordic Vibe readers. This time, I managed to have a quick chat with Jessika Rapo of Finnish band Burning Hearts, whose packed show at Thor’s Hammer (in dB’s) was also in the top lists of both Janine and Martijn. The band have had a busy week, with two shows in London before Nordic Delight and two shows in Italy since. This was Burning Hearts’ first performance in Netherlands, and it sounds like the band might be up for a return trip!

———————

Jessika Rapo – post-show/one-sentence-sum-up:

“Nordic Delight had a very friendly atmosphere and the organisers were very helpful, so we felt immediately at home.”

Were you happy with the response to your gig?

We didn’t really know what to expect, so we were extremely surprised to see that so many people showed up! Made me happy to see so many smiling faces in the audience and I noticed that even some people sang along. Nordic Delight had a very friendly atmosphere and I hope the festival turns into a tradition and gets to grow!

This was the second Nordic-focused show for you in a matter of days (the band also played the Ja Ja Ja February club night in London). How was it for you to play a festival with an all-Nordic line-up?

Both events seems to have been a great success, there is obviously a lot of interest towards the Nordic cultural scene. I don’t think we really felt that the shows were that Nordic, since both gigs were abroad for us!

Did I hear a song during your set that’s not on your recent album Extinctions? Are you working on new stuff?

What you heard was a song from our first album, Aboa Sleeping. At the two gigs in Rome and Madrid, the audience got to hear a new song. But yes, we are working on new stuff, and as soon as we get home we’ll return to the studio. Hopefully you’ll hear something new later this spring!

Do you have a favourite extinct animal from your album cover? (which as we mentioned here was recently up for an Emma Awards – any update on that?)

Haha, I got that question once before, I’ll answer it the same way as then: I wouldn’t like to be an animal, but a birch tree. It has such a pretty scientific name, Betula pendula.

When it comes to the Emmas, they almost always go to bands that have big labels behind them. Even if we didn’t get any statue, it was fun to be nominated!

And, finally, do you have any Finnish cafe tips that we can add to our ‘Fika Fredag’ tips? (there was one Helsinki tip recently, see here)

We actually live in Turku, so I’ll have to recommend the well hidden cafe Qwensel in the city centre. There is some information about the cafe here (in English) or on the website.

Kiitos! 🙂

© Dennis Stempher

———————

The first (pictorial) perspective from Nordic Delight of Daniel Norgren can be found here, and still to come (hopefully) is an item written from the perspective of an instrument that adorned, not one, but two festival stages. Intrigued?!

Don’t forget, if you have any other Nordic Delight stories that you’d like to share, you can do so at our Facebook page here or tweet-us-up at: @nordicvibes.

 More photos from Nordic Delight can be found on Dennis Stempher Photography page here.