Jari Mäenpää

Jari Mäenpää
Jari Mäenpää at in 2011.
Background information
Born	(1977-12-23) 23 December 1977 (age 39)
Origin	Helsinki, Finland
Genres	Melodic death metal, folk metal, power metal,Viking metal, melodic black metal
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass
Years active	1997−present
Labels	Spinefarm Low Frequency Nuclear Blast
Associated acts	Wintersun, Cadacross, Ensiferum, Immemorial, ArthemesiA
Website	www.wintersun.fi

Jari Mäenpää (born 23 December 1977, in Finland) is a Finnish guitarist, keyboardist, bassist, songwriter and vocalist. He is the founder of the band Wintersun in which he performs vocals, plays guitar and keyboards. He also played bass on Wintersun's first album before hiring a full-time line-up. Before forming Wintersun, Mäenpää was best known for his time in the folk metal band Ensiferum, which he joined in 1996 after leaving his prior band named Immemorial. Wintersun was initially planned as a parallel project alongside Ensiferum, but in January, 2004 he was forced to leave Ensiferum due to clashes between their touring schedule and the studio recording time he had booked for Wintersun.

In 1997, Mäenpää had to put his musical career on hold to take part in Finland's compulsory military service. In an interview, Mäenpää admitted he disliked the time he spent in the military and suspects it's where he acquired tuberculosis.

Jari was also a member of the band Arthemesia, and participated in Kimmo Miettinen's sideproject Lost Alone.

Jari's style of guitar playing utilizes tremolo-picked melodies and phrases and the heavy use of extremely fast sweep-picking solos and breaks as heard on most of the songs. The speed of Wintersun's music is due in part to the use of blast beats and quick, spacey keyboard lines. This gives the guitar a charging, power metal feel for the most part.