folk tradition

Pauanne is both the name of an innovative Finnish folk trio and the old Finnish thunder god. And like a blast of thunder their music is shaking up the way we look and hear the past, present and future.

Folk music and video game music are poles apart – or are they? Composer and sound designer Anni Tolvanen and Jimmy Träskelin, creator of the Pelimanni 8bit game, talk about the encounters between pelimanni players and the world of pixels.

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.

In summer 2015 fiddler Emilia Lajunen will undertook a concert tour of Finland by bicycle. Two months, more than 20 concerts at music festivals, over 2000 kilometres. The idea of the tour was to return to the roots of the Finnish tradition of vagabond fiddlers. On the other hand, the idea was to save the world by showing that a CO2-free tour is possible even today.

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.

The concept of a national musical language made its way to Finland in the 1800s. One of the culminations of this new wave was the premiere performance of Sibelius’s Kullervo. The birth of this epic music historical tale was influenced by a number of endeavours, ideas and occurrences.

What happened when Jean Sibelius and Larin Paraske met? This is one way to imagine the scene, from the runo singer’s point of view.

The groundbreaking folk wind ensemble Wind on Wind will surprise even wind music sceptics with their versatile music.

Although serious music is often looked upon as a clearly defined genre of its own, it has by no means remained immune to the influence of its surroundings. Composers have from time immemorial been spicing their works with ingredients borrowed from popular and folk music, and the Finns have been no exception in this respect. Folk music really blossomed in the music of the National Romantics of the 19th century, but it was also a major source of inspiration for many of the 20th century modernists.

A protégée of the Sibelius Academy Folk Music Department, the vocal ensemble 'MeNaiset' has delved deep into the music not only of the Finno-Ugrian peoples but of other nearby races as well. The important thing about this band of young women is not, however, their academic background but the joy they find in singing together.

The main theme of the first ever FMQ magazine in 1985 was the Kalevala. In the issue composers and researchers like Pekka Lounela, Eero Tarasti, Erkki Salmenhaara, Heikki Laitinen and Olli Kortekangas approached the epic from varying points of view. Estonian composer Veljo Tormis (1930–2017) wrote in his column how the Kalevala has influenced his work.

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.

Wimme Saari, one of the world’s best-known Sámi performers, has made a powerful comeback after a long break away from the recording studio. His new album, Mun, contains less electronics than before, but there is still an element of trance involved. Wimme transports his listeners to another time and place.

“One of the greatest problems confronting Finnish culture is the relative absence of critical attitudes with any measure of influence,” says the composer Olli Kortekangas in his article from FMQ 1-2/1985.

The role of keyboards in folk music has changed over the last few decades. The folk musicians of today really like to manhandle the traditional harmonium and the piano has finally made an entrance as an instrument for playing folk music. More and more keyboard players are stepping out as soloists.