Antti Järvelä
October 11, 2025
Aaret is a Norwegian-Finnish duo that specializes in the music of the Kven minority of northern Norway. Aaret’s repertoire consists of both traditional Kven music as well as newly written songs and tunes with Kven language and thematics.
Gro Raattama (fiddle, vocals), is a Kven musician, dancer and storyteller. Gro has been working on different projects around Kven culture for the past decade. Jani Suvanto (guitar, cittern, nyckelharpa) is a multi-instrumentalist with more than 30 years of experience in Finnish, Nordic, and Irish traditional music.
Listen to the Village Anthems Podcast episode featuring Aaret
In this episode, we are joined by Aaret, Jani Suvanto and Gro Raattama, a Norwegian–Finnish ensemble whose artistic work is deeply rooted in the Kven language and cultural heritage.
Aaret’s music moves between tradition and contemporary expression. Through voice, string instruments and carefully shaped sonic spaces, they bring forward stories and histories that have long remained unheard or marginalized. Their work is not only about preservation, but about creating living connections between memory, identity and the present moment.
In this episode, we step into the world of the Kven people. Who are the Kvens, and how has their history been shaped by borders between Finland and Norway? What kind of language is Kven, and what is its current status today? We explore language loss and revitalization, the rebuilding of cultural identity, and the role music can play in remembrance, resistance and future-making.
We also dive into Aaret’s artistic process. How do two strong musical voices form a shared space without hierarchy?
This conversation reflects on how tradition and creativity can meet not as opposites, but as forces that sustain one another. Through their work, Aaret shows how music can become a space where cultural memory is not only preserved, but reimagined.
