Värttinä combines traditional Finnish folk music with smatterings of other genres such as jazz. They saw their beginning as a young Finnish folk music ensemble in 1983, by founding members Sari and Mari Kaasinen in the Karelian village of Rääkkylä. Many transformations have taken place in the band since then. Värttinä shot into fame with the release of their 1991 album Oi Dai.
Since then their style has become increasingly contemporary, and have now totalled 14 albums, including the recently-published utu in 2012. In 2006 they worked with Indian composer A. R. Rahman in creation of the Lord of the Rings musical, opened in Toronto on March 23, 2006.