“I became a drummer and a percussionist because I loved to dance: With the drum kit and percussions I felt that I was dancing again!!”
Pauliina’s educational background with the drum kit is Pop & Jazz Conservatory and all kinds of afro-american music. As her great interest she has studied flamenco percussion and especially cajón in Spain several times with maestros like Jorge Pérez (Esperanza Fernández) and Ramón Porrina (Camarón, Paco de Lucía), and worked with many flamenco dancers and musicians in Finland since 2005. She has also studied Finnish folk music and singing at the University of Applied Sciences in Kokkola, Finland. In addition she has studied afro-cuban percussion in Cuba, Havana. She also has a strong interest in teaching and she has a Master of Education -degree. She graduated 06/2018 as Master of Music of GLOMAS (Nordic Master of Global Music-programme (Royal Academy of Music School Aarhus (Denmark) and Sibelius Academy (Finland).
During the years she has worked as a freelance musician in a wide field of different bands and projects: from real big bands, Ostrobothnian Folk Orchestra (OFO, folk music- big band) to very small ensembles. She has also worked in different theatre and dance productions (flamenco, Finnish folk dance, circus and contemporary dance) and big theatre productions: Music from The Movies of Davis Lynch (Teaser), Janne ja Aino – balladi erään säveltäjän elämästä (a folk musical about Sibelius’ life: Teaser)
Because her background is strongly in movement and dance she finds her deepest interest in combining music and dance together. She loves to get her inspiration from the dancers and play and sing for them. She has also been priviliged to work with the amazing aerial acrobats: Ilona Jäntti, (Finland), Eleonora Dall Asta (Panama) and Ana María Suárez (Panama). Ilmatila/ Arborea
At the moment she works among others actively with Zäpämmät-duo:
“The dynamo and powerhouse of the band is the percussionist and drummer Pauliina Kauppila, especially the hard-to -play cajon sounds like a dream in her hands… and her work clearly inspires other players.” (Finnish leading Jazz-magazine)
Pauliina Kauppila's Website 