Les Harkonen, Sr. 9318 Goodell Rd. Angora MN 55703 (218) 741-1015 Work Samples Audio: When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again Blue Spanish Eyes Finn Polka To hear the work samples, Windows Media Player is required. If you do not have it installed, you can download it for free here: Download Windows Media Player

Les Harkonen Group Multiethnic music We provide multiethnic accordion music, country, variety, rock, and more for dancing or listening, along with jokes and stories. We play a very smooth, easy-to-dance-to type of music, and have one of the largest repertoires of variety music anywhere. We play from a one-piece to a five-piece band, so we can accommodate almost any budget. Available: We are available anytime day or night and have no travel restrictions as long as our expenses are paid. Space: We can furnish our own public address system and equipment unless the place is really large or travel would restrict our carrying it (airplane, etc.). Fee: $150 to $600, plus necessary expenses (lodging and travel)

Additional Information:
In Minnesota, the greatest concentration of Finns is the northeastern part of the state. These people came largely for opportunities in the timber and mining industries, although many turned to cash crop or dairy farming.

Les' mother was a teacher who arranged for Les, at age 6, to take piano lessons. She and Les lived in an apartment above the school in which she taught, and Les would go downstairs to practice on the school piano. However, when Les would play, his mother would never hear the lessons Les was taught. Instead, she heard the songs Les learned by ear. Finally she determined that there wasn't any need for piano lessons because Les could play without them.

Between the ages of 8 and 12, Les was fortunate to live nearby a violin maker, and their relationship maintained Les' interest in music. The teacher taught Les banjo chords, and sometimes Les would accompany the man's violin music on the banjo or piano.

However, the Iron Range knows Les best as a piano accordion player. At the age of 12, Les heard Frankie Yankovic, the Cleveland Slovenian style polka musician who became synonymous with the polka, nationally. From that moment, Les was inspired to play the piano accordion. Because of his early piano training, the right hand accordion fingering came easily to Les, and he remembers that "Home Sweet Home" was his first number. The left hand, which plays chordal accompaniment on the accordion, was a tougher study, and Les credits a local player from Angora, Walter Alt, with helping him learn left hand patterns. Les began his musical career playing talent shows, school programs, wedding parties and wedding dances.

When he reached adulthood, Les took full time jobs in sales, and later did county roadwork, employment that afforded a pension. All the while, he performed. After World War II, in many locations on the Iron Range, Finns constituted the majority European group. For a musician, there was much work to be had in the Finn Halls, community structures built by prior generations of Iron Range Finns. In these structures, Les played a wide variety of musical and social dance occasions.

However, the Iron Range neither was nor is a Finnish monoculture. Among the European American groups living on the Iron Range are the Norwegians and Swedes, Irish, Slovenians, Croatians Germans, Czech, French, Jews and Italians, among others. Les found that in local playing situations, in order to satisfy audiences, it was good to feature music representing a broad swath of nationalities, as well as pop and Country songs. It is fair to characterize the Les Harkonen Band as a contemporary old-time Finnish group reflecting the multi-ethnic character of the Iron Range.

For a number of years in the 70's when his sons were growing up, Les did little playing. However, by the late 1970's he began to play again, first as a member of the Polka Chimes (Biwabik). Later, he reestablished his own band. Today, there is not as much as there used to be in the Finn halls, but there are additional opportunities at festivals and other civic occasions, and, as a generation ago, for wedding parties and social dances.