From a Teal Sound press release: At the end of January, brass arranger and caption head Ron Ellis, along with Teal Sound director Randy Blackburn, left the Drum Corps International winter meetings in Atlanta to fly to Helsinki, Finland to meet and discuss this year's program with Rajaton, a Finnish contemporary a cappella group. The group is the inspiration for this year's Teal Sound production titled, "Voices of the Sun." "The intent of our program is to bring Rajaton's music to a different idiom besides the choral world," said Blackburn. "They have such fantastic melodies and harmony that are perfectly structured for drum corps that we want to introduce their unique style of music to our audiences this year."

Teal Sound Director Randy Blackburn talks with members of the
Finnish a cappella group Rajaton.
Rajaton members, Jussi and Virpi, along with managing director of Plastinka Records, Kim Kussi and Rajaton's general manager Tiina Vihtkari, met to discuss the show and listen to the arrangements done by Ellis. After hearing the music played by a drum corps for the first time, they were intrigued by the sheer power and energy their music provided in a different format. Drum corps is an unknown activity in Finland, and while they are familiar with brass bands and military bands, the members of Rajaton have never seen a drum corps show and are still learning how the music, marching and choreography will blend together. Read more about Blackburn and Ellis' trip and learn more about Rajaton on www.tealsound.org.