Producer Charles Gil’s highly regarded and award-winning Vapaat äänet touring concept celebrates its 30th anniversary in autumn 2026 with several tours. Vapaat äänet brings jazz and experimental music to new venues around Finland, thereby doing valuable work to enliven the concert offering in our country. The first tour of the autumn, beginning on 5 September, features Joakim Berghäll and Adele Sauros’ Poems for Peace duo and the Norwegian-French T.I.M. trio.
This autumn, producer Charles Gil’s Vapaat äänet presents two ensembles on its tour at the beginning of September. Runoja rauhalle – Poems for Peace is an emotional, meditative manifesto for peace by two saxophonists, Joakim Berghäll and Adele Sauros. T.I.M., formed through Norwegian-French collaboration, in turn performs uniquely fascinating experimental folk-based music. The tour begins on 5 September in Salo, where T.I.M. performs as a duo. The other tour locations are Kotka, Helsinki, Seinäjoki, Kajaani, Äänekoski and Joensuu. This is already the 38th joint touring production by Vapaat äänet and the Finnish Jazz Federation, as part of their collaboration that began in 1996.
The compositions heard in Joakim Berghäll and Adele Sauros’ duo concert originate from a solo improvisation played by Berghäll in a single sitting, inspired by anti-war poems written in various conflict areas around the world. The melodic ideas of the compositions were written down as they were, without changing a single sound, remaining faithful to the impulses of the improvisation. Berghäll and Sauros recorded the result in the Kamppi Chapel, giving rise to the Runoja Rauhalle album, which, particularly in the present moment, serves as a beautiful and necessary reminder of humanity and community.
T.I.M. is a trio assembled by French pianist Sébastien Palis, featuring Norwegian musicians Karoline Wallace and Inger Hannisdal. The group’s fascinating minimalism, combining piano, human voice and electroacoustic elements, moves on the boundary between folk music and improvisation, alternating between light and shadow and blending acoustic expression with DIY electronics. The stories in the songs reflect diverse narrative styles, including the perspective of a child, multigenerational deep memories and old folk rhymes. The acclaimed Hungarian record label BMC will release T.I.M.’s debut album, Tall, Infinite, Microscopic, in September 2026. T.I.M. performs as a duo consisting of Sébastien Palis and Inger Hannisdal in Salo on 5 September and at a house concert in Rajamäki on 6 September, and as a trio at the other concerts on the tour.
Since 1996, Vapaat äänet has developed collaboration in jazz and improvised music between France, Finland, Scandinavia and the Baltic countries. Vapaat äänet organizes 4–5 tours of French, Finnish and international ensembles annually in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Charles Gil, the founder of the agency, is responsible for building the tours and for their practical arrangements. Charles Gil was awarded the rank of Knight of the French National Order of Merit in 2016 for his long-standing work in developing French-Finnish cultural exchange and jazz culture. In addition, Gil received the Varjo-Yrjö award from the Finnish Jazz Federation and Yle’s Jazzradio in 2004.
Joakim Berghäll & Adele Sauros Poems for Peace + T.I.M. on tour 5–12 September 2026
Sat 5 Sept at 7 pm Salo, Musine / SaloJazz Live / T.I.M. duo
Mon 7 Sept at 7 pm Kotka Jazz, Kairo / East Coast Jazz Club
Tue 8 Sept at 7 pm Helsinki, Malmitalo / Malmijazz
Wed 9 Sept at 7 pm Seinäjoki, Kalevan navetta / Jazzoikoon
Thu 10 Sept at 7 pm Kajaani, Kouta Hall
Fri 11 Sept at 7 pm Äänekoski, Painotalo
Sat 12 Sept at 6 pm Joensuu Conservatory / Jazzkerho 76
In addition, T.I.M. duo Sun 6 Sept at 4 pm Rajamäki, house concert
**Joakim Berghäll & Adele Sauros: Poems for Peace
Joakim Berghäll, baritone saxophone, cello, comp. / Adele Sauros, tenor and soprano saxophone
T.I.M. (FR/NO)
Karoline Wallace, vocals, tapes / Inger Hannisdal Hardanger, violin, vocals / Sébastien Palis, piano, synthesizer, comp.
Tour production: Vapaat äänet and the Finnish Jazz Federation
Tour supported by: AJC, Centre National de la Musique, Institut Français – Région Normandie
Partner for the Helsinki concert: French Institute in Finland
T.I.M. Photo: Remi Angeli