Signmark
Signmark is a Finnish hip hop band. The head of the group is the deaf rapper Marko Vuoriheimo, who works under the pseudonym Signmark. Together with the two listeners Heikki “Mahtotapa” Soini and Kim “Sulava” Eiroma, he forms the band named after him. He is the first commercially successful deaf rapper.
history
The band members have known each other since their youth, but after finishing school they initially went their separate ways. Only when the MC Heikki Soini decided to film a documentary about Finnish rap and reggae artists in 2004 did he remember that Vuoriheimo had previously translated rap texts by well-known artists into sign language . This resulted in the collaboration for the documentation and finally - together with DJ Sulava - the band Signmark .
organization
Mahtotapa Signmark lends his voice on stage, Sulava is the DJ. This makes the music accessible to both deaf and hearing people. As a result, the first album Signmark was released as a package consisting of audio CD and DVD on which the videos for the songs can be viewed in sign language. While the lyrics are usually in Finnish, Signmark alternates between Finnish, international or American sign language, depending on the country in which they occur. Signmark and Mahtotapa write the band's lyrics together. This and Sulava produce the beats.
subjects
In her texts Signmark deal with the prejudices against the deaf, as well as with the history and the relationship between the deaf and the hearing.
Discography
- Signmark (November 29, 2006)
- Breaking the Rules (2010)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Hip-hop music - the next Finnish export ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article on finland.org from January 25, 2008
- ↑ a b Interview with Signmark on d-pan.com
