folk instruments

The jouhikko, a traditional bowed lyre that represents a dead end in the evolution of musical instruments, is enjoying a renaissance not only in Finland but internationally too. Jouhikkos are being played and built as far afield as in the Americas, by amateurs and professional instrument makers alike. But what should a jouhikko actually look and sound like? What are the ideals governing its development? Jouhikko virtuoso Ilkka Heinonen adds his two cents.

A group of four women who each both sing and play the kantele and who write songs in a consistent and original style, Kardemimmit have their roots in the folk tradition but are not afraid to season their menu with whatever spices take their fancy. Few ensembles can boast having made music together from childhood through to turning professional. In recent years, Kardemimmit have been in demand from the USA to Japan.

"Päivi Hirvonen approaches music with focus and attitude, but then lets it speak for itself. Her music-making is quite intimate but at times incorporates a lot of different layers, expanding herself into an orchestra or a choir."

"In some ways Frost on Fiddles is a test of Frigg’s musical strength and spirit and it questions whether a band can survive changes in personnel and the pressures of the brilliant up-and-coming younger generation of Finnish musicians."

"Maija Kauhanen's debut album could well be a future classic in Finnish folk music."

Today, the kantele inspires composers and performers across genre boundaries. Musician Maija Kauhanen and composer Adina Dumitrescu discuss the instrument from their respective perspectives.

Finns never fail to point out that the kantele is Finland’s national instrument. In our national epic, the Kalevala, Väinämöinen the wizard builds the first kantele from the jaw bone of a pike and charms all the people and the animals of the forest. But there are kantele-like instruments elsewhere too, and it is only recently that they have begun to be studied more thoroughly.

Cut off a piece of willow, construct a whistle and blow through it – this is as close as it gets to a perfect combination of the roles of musician and instrument maker. Although this kind of playing has not always been considered as music, folk wind instruments have gradually taken their place among contemporary folk music instruments.

"This is a disc of delightfully pompous acoustic stadium folk that without any doubt will have people dancing. Described as all-natural ethno-disco, the repertoire consists of repetitive kantele and jouhikko tunes and fiddle melodies from both Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking regions of Finland."

Edited by Vesa Kurkela and Marko Tikka and released in late 2014, a new book about the Finnish accordion covers, among other things, the early stages of the instrument and the most significant players, as well as going through the Finnish accordion repertoire. In the following article, based on the book’s introduction, the two editors contemplate the status of the accordion in Finnish music.

What happens if you put forty folk musicians and their instruments in one room once a month for a couple of years? The Sibelius Academy Folk Big Band is leading the way for Finnish folk instrument orchestras.

Suvi Oskala has a lot going on. She plays the violin and sings but also writes music, teaches, produces and runs her own record label. Involved in both avant-garde art folk music and traditional folk music, she keeps her bands going through active performance sales and with grants.

"He’s more pop than ever, bringing to mind especially Finnish singer-songwriters from past decades. But he has not forgotten who he is: a modern runo singer, a storyteller knowing well the musical tradition of his country and playing his bowed lyre, jouhikko, brilliantly."

Singing with the voice of old men and playing the jouhikko, an ancient bowed lyre, Pekko Käppi is hot stuff in Finland and abroad with his band. The archaic boogie performed by K:H:H:L seems to resonate with an incredible variety of audiences. Käppi is on the front line in the resurrection of one of Finland’s oldest instruments.

”The accordion is the arch enemy of folk music. It kills any musical tendencies the nation may have, ravages the ear and drags down musical taste. Do not dance to the screeching, insidious accordions. Burn them.” In such colourful terms was one of Finland's most popular instruments once described.