Ánnámáret's Bálvvosbáiki album is the Folk Music Album of the year 2024

Two albums won the 2024 Folk Album of the Year vote: Ánnámáret - Bálvvosbáiki and Polenta - Karkelo. Kansanmusiikki (Folk Music) Magazine and KamuKanta.fi organised a public and professional panel vote for Folk Music Album of the Year for the 16th time. The prize is awarded jointly by the Folk Music and Folk Dance Promotion Centre (KEK) and the Finnish Folk Music Association. This time, 722 votes were cast by the public.

The prizes were awarded at the Folklandia "Live Folk!" gala on 10 January 2025. The Ánnámáret Prize was received by the media artist Marja Viitahuhta, who is part of the composition. The Polenna Prize was awarded to musicians Olli Sippola and Veera Kuisma. The awards were presented by Sauli Heikkilä, editor-in-chief of the Folk Music Magazine.

Eläköön Folk! -gala prize winners, photo credits Ville Kurki. Fourth from the right is Ánnámáret working groups video artist Marja Viitahuhta holding the prize given to Ánnámáret working group.

On the album Bálvvosbáiki, Sámi artist Ánnámáret, Anna Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman with her working group, reconciles the ancient Sámi worldview with the present and asks, where are the places of worship of this time? The music combines the old traditional Sámi yoik and the Karelian/Estonian bower lyre jouhikko tradition into a completely new electronic soundscape.

Polenta's second album Karkelo consists entirely of new folk music composed by the band. Founded in 2019, Polenta's collaborative music features the tense knee-jerk of Scandinavian folk music. Although the band's music is fresh, experimental violin-playing, it has a Finnish rootsiness and the flowing power of live music.