TARJA TURUNEN At Belgium's METAL FEMALE VOICES FEST; Video Footage Available

Fan-filmed video footage of former NIGHTWISH singer Tarja Turunen performing at the Metal Female Voices Fest on October 18, 2008 in Wieze, Belgium can be viewed below (clips uploaded by YouTube user "Filmpje114").

Tarja Turunen recently announced the backing band for her just-launched European solo tour. She is being joined by the following musicians:

Mike Terrana (MASTERPLAN, ex-RAGE) - drums
Maria Ilmoniemi - keyboards
Oliver Holzwarth (BLIND GUARDIAN, ex-SIEGES EVEN) - bass
Alex Scholpp (ex-FARMER BOYS) - guitar
Max Lilja (HEVEIN, ex-APOCALYPTICA) - cello

A new audio interview with Tarja Turunen conducted by Vassil Varbanov of Bulgaria's Tangra Mega Rock is available for download at this location (MP3, 4 MB).

On the subject of her current touring lineup, Tarja said, "Alex Scholpp (FARMER BOYS), who played guitar on my record and on the two European tours, couldn't come to South America, so I was having Kiko Loureiro. You know, all these musicians that are playing with me are session musicians, so I have to give them time to do their own business with their own bands... Now in Europe there will be Oliver Holzwarth from BLIND GUARDIAN playing the bass instead of Doug Wimbish, who is touring with LIVING COLOUR. The rest of the band will be the same — Alex will be again on guitar, Mike Terrana (ex-RAGE) on drums, Maria Ilmoniemi on keyboards and Max Lilja (ex-APOCALYPTICA) on cello."

Asked if she is going to record her next album with the same musicians, Tarja replied, "Yes, but you know, when I'm writing songs or selecting material, it's always up to the feeling I have about what kind of musicians I'm going to work on each song. I have very different kinds of songs — there are these film-music-type of songs, and then metal, metal, metal, ha-ha! These are differend kinds of styles, so not every musician can play both types of music. The musician has to be an open-minded person. Doug Wimbish, for example, is a great man for this job, because he can play various music styles. However, I can't tell you for sure which musicians are going to be part of my next album, because it depends a lot on the songs."