Back for the third time, Tuomas Rounakari, musician, composer, ethnomusicologist, and PhD student, joins me on Imperfect Action to discuss befriending uncertainty. The first time we discussed joy and inspiration, the second time it was grieving and the parts of modern life blocking connection to ourselves. This time it’s uncertainty.
Both philosophical and practical, the focus of this conversation is making friends with uncertainty. Not just living with it, but getting comfortable and welcoming it. We talk about the danger of “knowing”, how accepting that we don’t know (that there isn’t certainty) allows us to be productive and stay focused on what brings us joy and inspiration. We go into getting quiet and seeking inspiration by actively not doing and Tuomas leads a ten minute or so exercise to help do just that. Then, we wrap up talking about living in close quarters and handling the conflict that can come from it.
It’s time to play bigger, do better, and move the world. Let’s get started.
After you listen, please share with others. And let me know your most important takeaway or a-ha moment from this conversation. Email me at ImperfectActionPodcast@gmail.com or tweet to @brocedwards.
 
 
Related Episodes:
040: Tuomas Rounakari: Aligning With Inspiration
071: Tuomas Rounakari: Wisdom Traditions
 
 

Tuomas Rounakari, Violinist, Composer, Ethnomusicologist
Tuomas Rounakari is an internationally acclaimed violinist, composer and an ethnomusicologist from Finland. Currently rocking the world with his fiddle in the phenomenal folk-metal band Korpiklaani with close to a hundred live shows per year globally. Tuomas Rounakari is often referred as a shaman violinist after his solo performance entitled Shamanviolin that is still going strong.
The Shamanviolin performance was born in reaction to his studies on archived Siberian shamanic songs. These songs had an immense affect to his personality. Through studying these songs he found both an explanation and a conscious way back to the trance state experiences in his early childhood. (You can read the story in his own words here)
Tuomas Rounakari is a founding member and a music director of a theatre group Ruska Ensemble, with an agenda to promote collaboration between first nations across the arctic areas. Ruska Ensemble has collaborated with Finnish National Theatre (Helsinki), Ob-Ugrian National Theatre (Khanty-Mansijsk), The Sámi National Theatre Beaivvaś (Koutakeino) and the National Theatre of Greenland (Nuuk).
Rounakari has also done field work among the Khanty people in Siberia as an ethnomusiclogist. One outcome of these fieldtrips is a Bear Feast performance that combines ritual, music, theatre and dance in a four-hour event. Rounakari’s version of the Bear Feast evokes the mythical bear living inside of us today. The performance is based on shared mythology between the Finns, Khanty, Mansy and Sámi people combining ancient poetry and modern poems from Jüri Wella and Scott. M. Nomaday.
One of his most recent projects is a spin off band from the Bear Feast performance entitled Ohtoni with Pekko Käppi, Antti Paalanen and Karoliina Kantelinen.
A key to understanding Tuomas Rounakari’s artistic world is an emphasis on dialogue in multiple levels. Dialogue between cultures, dialogue between ancient,