Sata-Häme Soi, Ikaalinen 2009: All photos and text: © fo2:2re og © trekkspill.no |
Sata-Häme Soi - Accordion festival in Ikaalinen - Primus Ikaalinen 2009 - International Accordion Competition - 26. June 2009 |
For the 5th time this international accordion competition in entertainment music was arranged and the final was broadcasted live on Finnish national television TV2. There is something special about live broadcasting, you can feel the hair rising on your back when it is count down to start and the conductor is tapping to indicate the first notes with the orchestra. Eight musicians from eight different countries were invited as contestants. They were selected by the Festival organizers after sending in their recordings, and they must be born in the period 1972 - 1992. Finland was represented by the winner of the Golden Accordion. Each contestant must perform two melodies, where one of them could be in a folklorist style from their home country. Every contestant was accompanied by a 6 piece orchestra. The four contestants with the highest points after the first round qualified for the second round. The competition was very tight, and after the first round both Katariina Ahjoniemi and Irina Grigorjeva ended up with the same scores - a shared fourth place. They also had the same amounts of first, second and third places, so the eldest of the jury, Frank Marocco, made the final decision. A happy and relieved Katariina went along to the second round together with Grayson Masefield, Petar Maric and Matteo Marinelli.
The competition culminated in a musical duel after Grayson Masefield and Petar Maric in the second round one more time ended up with the same amount of points. They performed a rather intense version of 'Libertango' by Astor Piazzolla. The jury members quickly made their final decision, and they selected the 22 year old Masefield from New Zealand. New Zealand is where the Coupe Mondiale 2009 will be held in August. Masefield received the second prize in the Varieté category at the Klingenthal International Accordion Competition in Germany this spring. He has enjoyed major successes in the Coupe Mondiale in 2005-2008. The second place winner Maric is a 19-year-old musician who has studied classical music at the Belgrade conservatory. He won the first prize at the Klingenthal International Accordion Competition in Germany this year and received the best musician award at Spoleto Spring Festival in Italy in May 2009.
The first prize of Primus Ikaalinen is EUR 3000, the second prize EUR 2000, the third prize EUR 1000, and the fourth and fifth prizes EUR 500. The winner also received a bronze sculpture by a local artist, Sirpa Ristamäki. |
Here you can read more about the contestants
The winner of the Silver Accordion, Arttu Rajala (8 years old), opened the competition and the TV-show with "Säkkijärven polkka" | Hosts: Silja Sillanpää og Kimmo Mattila (presidet of the Finnish Accordion Association) |
Benoit Nortier, France | Irina Grigorjeva, Russia |
Grayson Masefield, New Zealand | Katariina Ahjoniemi, Finland |
Alexandr Kolovski, Macedonia | Matteo Marinelli, Italy |
Zoe Tiganouria, Greece | Petar Maric, Serbia |
After the contestants have finished their performance, they all joined into a Finnish medley where everyone got the chance to play solo while the jury members made their final decision. | Solo - Benoit Nortier |
Solo - Katariina Ahjoniemi | Solo - Grayson Masefield |
Solo - Grayson Masefield | Solo - Aleksandr Kolovski |
Solo - Zoe Tiganouria | Solo - Petar Maric |
Petar Maric and Grayson Masefield in a Libertango duel | The chairman of the jury Renzo Ruggieri (with white glasses) proclaims Grayson Masefield as the winner |
The winner of Primus Ikaalinen 2009: Grayson Masefield (right) | Sirpa Sippola (in the middle) is the Festival Director of the Sata-Häme Soi Festival |
The jury (from the left):
Renzo Ruggieri, Italy (Chairman) Frank Marocco, USA Kevin Friedrich, New Zealand Frederic Deschamps, France Jörgen Sundeqvist, Sweden Mika Väyrynen, Finland
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Results from the first round:
1. Grayson Masefield, New Zealand 60 p. 2. Petar Maric, Serbia 60 p. 3. Matteo Marinelli, Italy 58 p. 4. Katariina Ahjoniemi, Finland 55 p. 4. Irina Grigorjeva, Russia 55 p. 6. Zoe Tiganouria, Greece 52 p. 7. Benoit Nortier, France 51 p. 7. Aleksandr Kolovski, Macedonia 51 p.
Final results:
1. Grayson Masefield, New Zealand 2. Petar Maric, Serbia 3. Matteo Marinelli, Italy 4. Katariina Ahjoniemi, Finland 5. Irina Grigorjeva, Russia 6. Zoe Tiganouria, Greece 7. Benoit Nortier, France 7. Aleksandr Kolovski, Macedonia |