Janne Halmkrona
Humanist of the day

Janne Halmkrona

Janne Halmkrona could have buried himself in computer programming if music hadn’t held sway. He switched from computer studies to the humanities in the early 1990s. His parents were delighted by their son’s Master’s degree in musicology. His father imagined this would lead to a cantor’s post, but his son became a rock musician – the guitarist for the bands CMX and Sapattivuosi.

Janne Halmkrona

Janne Matias Halmkrona
Born April 19, 1968, Tornio.

Master of Arts (Musicology), 1996, University of Helsinki

Musician, CMX, 1990- , Sapattivuosi, 2000-
Production Head, Sony Music Entertainment Finland Ltd, 2005–2012
Founder/Programmer, Njet Communications Ltd, 1999–2004
Programmer, 1996–1999, ICL Data Ltd
Radio DJ, Radio Helsinki, 2000–2006

Publications, Awards and Special Achievements
CMX: 14 albums, 4 compilations, 16 Gold and 3 platinum records
Sapattivuosi: 3 albums
Encyclopedia idiotica (ed. Tuukka Hämäläinen): book based on CMX’s website’s forum, together with A.W.Yrjänä
Second form, Tornio inter-schools skiing competition, Silver Medal, 1976

Photo: AJ Savolainen
Written by Riitta-Ilona Hurmerinta
Translated by John Calton

From Computer Geek to Musicologist

Janne Halmkrona began his university studies at the University of Joensuu (present-day University of Eastern Finland) in 1987, majoring in computer science. In addition to computer science, mathematics and sociology, Halmkrona took language courses, but he didn’t feel at home.

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The artist at work and on stage

Janne Halmkrona has had a diverse career. After graduating, he worked for an IT company for a few years, after which he and five of his colleagues founded a programming firm of their own. When the IT bubble burst in the early 2000s, he became an executive producer at Sony Music Entertainment Finland. He has also worked as a freelance disc jockey on the radio. On top of all this, he has managed to lead the heady life of a rock musician.

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My dream

Every now and then I think of returning to the University. A big question mark over this is whether I dare to go there and hang out with people who are less than half my age. I have something of an urge to study Finnish.

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