13/07/2026
TUOMAS ROUNAKARI's New Official Video for 'Bear Awakening – First Morning' Out Now, Celebrating Day of the Bear & Natural Point of Midsummer!
Renowned Finnish violinist, composer, and ethnomusicologist TUOMAS ROUNAKARI has released his new official video for 'Bear Awakening – First Morning' celebrating the Day of the Bear & Natural Point of Midsummer!
Tuomas shared:
"I am so pleased to inform about this premier of a new music video, today on July 13th, which was traditionally considered the day of the Bear, the natural point of a Midsummer. Solstices were celebrated separately. Here in the Nordic countries solstice is early, summer has only began, birds still nesting, many flowers not yet in bloom. But instead, July 13th is the midpoint of summer on the land based calendar. For us, that calendar used to follow the bear in pre-christian times.
The video production began when Antti Pentikäinen filmed my live performance of the Bear Awakening song First Morning at an ancient ritual ground. The concert took place at the Heinäveden Muinaisviikot Festival in Finland last July.
This video is finally something that catches the essence of my art and animist spirituality. I am so grateful for the work Antti Pentikäinen put together, in the most effortless of productions ever. This video wanted to manifest itself. The video includes also footage with a bear, filmed in Sweden in 2014 by a Björn Ola Lind and Torkel Lundgren, the same bear that appeard on the images of Bear Awakener album.
Love, Tuomas Rounakari"
Join now this unique moment, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFjt1i3jbGg
Video production, filming and editing by Antti Pentikäinen
Bear images: Björn Ola Lind and Torkel Lundberg (2014)
Sound recording: Patrick Tubin McGinley at Heinäveden Muinaisviikot, July 29th 2025
Field recording of birds: Jyrki Portin (2022)
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More information on Tuomas:
Tuomas Rounakari is a Finnish violinist, composer, and ethnomusicologist known for his trance-inducing solo performances that blend violin, vocals, stomping, and ankle bells into a visceral one-man ritual. A former member of Korpiklaani (2012–2022) and collaborator in Yasuharu Takanashi’s Far East Groove, Tuomas also plays the traditional Khanty bowed instrument Ning-juh.
His doctoral research (2024) focuses on altered states of consciousness through music—a phenomenon tied to sacred song traditions worldwide. This inquiry informs his performance style, which often crosses into trance and ceremony.
Tuomas draws inspiration from dialogues between humanity and nature, the visible and invisible, the ancient and the future. His debut solo album Shamanviolin was born from studying early 20th-century wax-cylinder recordings from Siberia. Performing these songs with the Indigenous communities from which they originated led to long-term collaborations with Khanty, Mansi, Sámi, and Greenlandic artists.
With over 30 albums to his name—including two solo records and four with Korpiklaani (over 34 million Spotify streams annually)—his work spans folk, metal, blues, free jazz, and avant-garde electroacoustic soundscapes.
His latest solo album, Bear Awakener (2022), is a sonic invocation, an awakening of the wild spirit within. Each track stirs ancient memory, calling forth the slumbering forces of nature, myth, and spirit.
The album centers on bear-related ceremonial songs from Khanty, Mansi, Carelian, and Finnish traditions. These songs carry the resonance of ancestors who lived in deep, reciprocal relationships with the land—cultures rooted in sustainability, self-sufficiency, and sacred balance. For Tuomas, they are living teachings, not just songs.
Rooted in ancestral songlines and shaped by trance, Bear Awakener invites listeners into deeper dialogue with the unseen, the more-than-human, and the mythic. It is a reawakening of spirit and a reconnection to something older than memory, yet urgently needed in our time.
Also watch
--Tuomas' performance video, a throwback to Tokyo 2017, from the materials of 'Live in Japan' documentary by Kimmo Kuusniemi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g718diJlW1s
--'Farewell of Kamas People' - https://youtu.be/oV16Qipd0MQ
--'Langetus' - https://youtu.be/HVsU7PTqqHY
More information at
TUOMAS ROUNAKARI: www.rounakari.com | www.facebook.com/shamanviolin | https://rounakari.bandcamp.com
MANAGEMENT: https://www.facebook.com/SplitScreenManagement | http://www.splitscreenproduction.com
