Markku Ounaskari

Markku Ounaskari is a jazz drummer from Finland. Fluent in American and European traditions, his professional career began when he played with Piirpauke and the Pekka Pohjola Group. Between 1998 and 2006 he served in the Jarmo Savolainen Trio. In 2007, he joined singer/kantele player Sinikka Langeland's quintet alongside bassist Anders Jormin, trumpeter Arve Henriksen, and saxophonist Trygve Seim. Ounaskari issued his ECM debut, Kuára: Psalms and Folk Songs, in 2010. He returned to Langeland's quintet for 2011's The Land That Is Not, 2015's The Half-Finished Heaven, and 2016's opus The Magical Forest with the quintet and Trio Mediaeval. He joined guitarist Raoul Björkenheim and Ecstasy for their eponymous album in 2014, then released his own album, Years. Ounaskari rejoined Ecstasy for 2015's Out of the Blue and 2017's Doors of Perception. In 2025, the drummer collaborated with Seim, Henriksen, and Jormin on the collective quartet set Arcanum.