Tapio ”Mongo” Aaltonen (b. 1961) is arguably the leading percussionist in Finland’s pop and jazz scene. Both old and young bandleaders trust in Aaltonen, for whom the younger generations have not brought many challengers.

Aaltonen, who got his first lessons from the renowned drummer and music teacher Upi Sorvali, begun studying orchestral percussion at the Sibelius Academy in 1981. Soon, however, the young percussionist heard the call of Latin American rhythms and instruments. Aaltonen was introduced to the jazz-listening audience in the 80s as a member of Jukka Linkola’s Octet and through his live appearances with the UMO Jazz Orchestra and Big Bad Family. In addition, the pianist Heikki Sarmanto and the saxophonist Eero Koivistoinen, both veterans of Finnish jazz, had Aaltonen play on their records, while in the realm of rock and pop Aaltonen’s percussions have seasoned the albums of such giants as J. Karjalainen, Hector and Pave Maijanen. A session and a live musician, Aaltonen has also played on theatre stages and on television, without abandoning his background as an orchestral percussionist.

Aaltonen’s musical partnership with the drummer Anssi Nykänen begun early and together they have formed the rhythm section in numerous Finnish pop, rock and jazz groups. Aaltonen collaborated with Nykänen in the latter’s band, Anssi Nykänen Loop Treatment, in the mid-1990s and the pair’s strong rhythmical textures are also remembered from Jukka Linkola’s group EQ, in 1997. The 1990s are prominent in Aaltonen’s discography, including recordings with Pekka Luukka, Pekka Pylkkänen, Manuel Dunkel and Pekka Pohjola, to mention a few.

In the 21st century, even with the recent emergence of a new generation of percussion players, Aaltonen’s status has remained relatively unshaken. His stylistic repertoire ranges from the acoustic jazz of Eero Koivistoinen and Johanna Iivanainen’s album Suomalainen and funk-jazz of the group Groove Convention’s Butter to a lighter, world-music-influenced touch on Kari Heinilä’s flute release Mosaique.

transl. Annamari Innanen 20.10.2013