Residency artists and researchers Music MeNaiset Music group For almost twenty years, the MeNaiset ensemble has studied and performed Finnish and Finno-Ugric traditional song. The MeNaiset singers also create new music through both composition and improvisation. At the Saari Residence, the ensemble will be composing and practicing a new performance comprised of Finnish folk poetry and Finno-Ugric ritual songs. The performance will première at the Seurasaari Soi! folk music festival on August 9th, 2012 at the Shaman’s Haven of the Kalevala in Seurasaari. In 2013, the ensemble will be celebrating its 20th anniversary with a new concert tour, which will also be founded upon folk and ritual songs. The MeNaiset ensemble includes six singers all of whom also perform as soloist and most of whom also work as researchers and pedagogues. The ensemble has also released three albums. The MeNaiset is: Eila Hartikainen Maari Kallberg Anneli Kont-Rahtola Sirkka Kosonen Anna-Kaisa Liedes Outi Pulkkinen