Tarja Turunen discussed her recent collaboration with ex-NIGHTWISH bandmate Marko Hietala, including their latest single “Left On Mars” and their successful South American tour, in an interview with Sakis Fragos of Rock Hard Greece.
“I’ve been really enjoying to get to know him for the first time ever,” she said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “It sounds strange to you — I was in a band with him for many years, but I didn’t know the guy behind. I mean, I really didn’t. So he has changed, and I’m very happy for him, very happy for him. He’s doing great. He’s free. We have now a lot more in common, a lot more in common, and we can talk, we can communicate and we are in touch more than we ever been — ever, ever, ever. We are in touch, and I can call him as a friend. He is my friend.
“This all started in 2012,” Tarja continued. “I took part in one of the biggest productions in Finland happening every year. It’s called ‘Raskasta Joulua’ (‘Heavy Christmas’). It’s a Christmas production, that they do the Christmas songs in a more rock/metal way, arrangements, and I was one of the invited guest singers on that show — a couple of shows we did in Finland at that time. Marko was there. Marko is one of the original members of the project. And so I knew that I was gonna meet him there after so many years of silence between us that I hadn’t heard anything from him [and] vice versa. And so we met there for the first time and it was just very natural.
“Obviously we both were nervous,” she added. “Obviously it was no faking in that. He just came to my backstage room, ran late in time. I was expecting him to be in a soundcheck. He didn’t show up. I was, like, ‘I’m gonna be singing a song with him.’ It was [Franz] Schubert‘s ‘Ave Maria’ done with Finnish lyrics in a very emotional way. And particularly that song sung by me and Marko for a Finnish audience, like five, six thousand people there — wow. It was so emotional. After we finished the first song we sang together, people just collapsed. The audience, they started crying and screaming like crazy. You know Finns — Finnish people don’t show that much of emotion. [Laughs]
“It was crazy. It was crazy. And so after a couple of shows, Marko, after the last concert, he invite[d] everybody in the production to the backstage and apologize[d] to me in front of them, in front of everybody. It made me cry in that moment and we cleaned the table, we made peace after that. And then it was silence again. I lost the contact with him for few years and then I saw [that he was going to] perform in Switzerland couple of years ago in the same festival. I was headlining the festival; he had a show with his band there. So I contacted the promoter and said, ‘Hey, I would love to sing ‘Phantom Of The Opera’ with Marko, but I have lost a contact. So could you please forward my message to him?’ And the answer was that, yeah, he would like to do that. So I was, like, ‘Yes.’ So [I knew I was] gonna meet him again.
“And it was very, again, super emotional, but the guy, Marko, came with a pen drive. He had written a song, ‘Left On Mars’, already thinking about me and his wishes to collaborate with me as a duet in that song. So he gave me that song, and we talked and we talked, and a little bit of tears, and we talked and [blah blah blah]. And I came back home and I recorded the song. I love the song, and I love making music with him again. And then the touring started. The ideas of touring together started, and it’s been so nice. And we’ve been doing great shows, great shows, and we are very happy.”
When asked if she felt a sense of freedom working with Marko outside of the NIGHTWISH context, Tarja responded: “Man, how free I have been for 20 years or plus as a solo artist. Marko is starting — he’s still in the beginning of his [solo career], in a way. He’s been doing music all his life on his own, but now, after the band and everything, he must feel pretty much the same that I do. You are free and you can do what you want. It’s very important you have that freedom, and none of us should ever lose their freedom.”
Marko left NIGHTWISH in January 2021 explaining in a statement that he hadn’t “been able to feel validated by this life for a quite a few years now.” He has since been replaced by session bassist Jukka Koskinen (WINTERSUN), who made his live debut with NIGHTWISH in May 2021 at the band’s two interactive experiences.
Turunen was fired from NIGHTWISH at the end of the band’s 2005 tour. Tuomas Holopainen and the other band members informed Turunen in an open letter that the band did not want to work with her any more, accusing her of diva-like behaviour and greed: “To you, unfortunately, business, money, and things that have nothing to do with emotions have become much more important.”
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