Jukka Perko and Severi Pyysalo both became better known after their
breakthrough at the Pori Jazz festival. Pyysalo's happened in 1984 and
Perko's two years later.

From the very beginning they have both received great reviews
and have been praised as one of the great virtuosos of their instruments
by such names as Sarah Vaughan, Paquito D'Rivera, Dizzy Gillespie and Jon
Faddis.

Perko and Pyysalo first performed together in Pori, in 1986, and after
Pyysalo joined the Jukka Perko Quartet in 1992, the group started using
their present name, the Poppoo.During this time they played with Eerik
Siikasaari in bass and Marko Timonen in drums.

In 1993 their new cd, GARDEN OF TIME (Ondine Octopus)
received the Jazz Record of the Year nomination in Finland. In 1994
the Ministry of education awarded them the Suomi-prize fer young
artists, worth a 100 000 fmk.

During their career both Perko and Pyysalo have received a number of
other acknowledgements as well, for example the Finnish Jazz Union's Yrjö
award (Pyysalo 1988, Perko 1989), The Young Artist- award at the Pori Jazz
(Pyysalo 1993, Perko 1994 ), Perko's nomination for the young artist of
the Finland Festivals organisation and the European Young Artist reward,
which Pyysalo received at
the Leverkusener Jazztage-festival.

Both musicians have performed in almost every European country,
the United States and Australia, either as a group or as solo artists.

Composition has always played a very important part in
the musical expression for both artists. In 1995, together with the singer
and actor Vesa-Matti Loiri they published a cd with 17 songs
written to the poems of Uuno Kailas.

Since the summer of 1996 the ensemble has been in its present form.
The two new young talents, Ville Huolman and Teppo Mäkynen have already won
a great deal of popularity due to their skills and musical
broadmindness and made a significant contribution to creating new
musical lines for the Poppoo.