Finnish violinist and ethnomusicologist TUOMAS ROUNAKARI has unveiled the official video for ‚Bear Awakening – First Morning‘, released to mark the traditional Day of the Bear and the natural midpoint of Midsummer. Filmed at an ancient ritual ground in Finland, the video captures the animist spirit at the heart of his solo work.Finnish violinist, composer, and ethnomusicologist TUOMAS ROUNAKARI has released the official music video for ‚Bear Awakening – First Morning‘, a piece drawn from his 2022 solo album Bear Awakener. The video was made public on July 13th, a date traditionally observed in Nordic land-based calendars as the Day of the Bear and the natural midpoint of summer — distinct from the astronomical solstice celebrated earlier in June.
The footage was captured by filmmaker Antti Pentikäinen during a live performance at the Heinäveden Muinaisviikot Festival in Finland in July 2024. The ancient ritual ground setting lends the video a ceremonial weight that ROUNAKARI himself describes as the closest visual representation of his art and animist spirituality to date. Additional bear footage, filmed in Sweden in 2014 by Björn Ola Lind and Torkel Lundgren, is woven into the edit — the same bear that appeared on the imagery for the Bear Awakener album release.
Sound was recorded live at the festival by Patrick Tubin McGinley, while field recordings of birds were contributed by Jyrki Portin from 2022 sessions.
Bear Awakener draws on bear-related ceremonial songs from Khanty, Mansi, Carelian, and Finnish traditions, rooted in cultures that maintained deep reciprocal relationships with the natural world. ROUNAKARI, a former member of KORPIKLAANI between 2012 and 2022, has spent years in collaboration with Indigenous communities across Siberia, Scandinavia, and Greenland, and his doctoral research completed in 2024 examines altered states of consciousness through music.
With over 30 albums across folk, metal, blues, and avant-garde electroacoustic music, TUOMAS ROUNAKARI continues to occupy a singular space where ancient tradition and contemporary artistic practice intersect.