"The joy of eternal bards/ the sound of the kantele"
July 8, 2006 6:42 PM   Subscribe

The kantele is the national instrument of Finland, strongly associated with traditional Finnish folk music. A psaltery-like string instrument of somewhat obscure origin, it prominently figures in the Kalevala. Despite this association with the past, the kantele is very much a living instrument- it was used in the soundtrack to "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" for its "pure, chilly sound", and electric kanteles have been made. [more inside, with sound samples]
posted by a louis wain cat (20 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
You can hear some examples of mostly traditional kantele music on this Sibelius Academy supported site, along with a few lessons. It also has found usage by a diverse variety of modern bands, ranging from the relatively traditional approach of Loituma(who recently became more widely known thanks to an internet phenomenon), to the neofolk of Nest(mp3s here- I recommend "The Silvershade Lynx"), all the way to the minimalist electronica of Memnon(who make use of the above mentioned electric kantele). And finally, if you're looking to buy a kantele, there are a couple places online where you can order them.
posted by a louis wain cat at 6:43 PM on July 8, 2006


Sublime! Whät a glörious söund treät! Thank yöu a louis wain cat for the wönderful information and beäutiful clips of kantele music on the second link. I'm pärticularly fönd of stringed instrument music, plucked, articulated nötes, cleär and then in söul-lifting chörds. Hyvä!
posted by nickyskye at 7:27 PM on July 8, 2006


P.S. Now that I know what it's called, found some lovely kantele music on CDBaby, Northern Light and Now and Then.
posted by nickyskye at 7:38 PM on July 8, 2006


I'm really enjoying those Nest songs, thanks. Too bad there doesn't seem to be any simple way of getting a copy of that CD...
posted by Gator at 7:57 PM on July 8, 2006


A little help from the MeFi musicians please: how does this instrument differ from the zither or the autoharp? Is it just the Finnish version of what every culture produces, as in food, every culture produces a handheld snack, so the sandwich = the burrito = the gyro = the crêpe?
posted by Cranberry at 11:56 PM on July 8, 2006


This is not to deny that it has an impressive sound, far beyond that of an acoustic guitar.
posted by Cranberry at 11:58 PM on July 8, 2006


I used to play one of these when I was younger. Kind of a shame that I gave up on it...
posted by slimepuppy at 2:29 AM on July 9, 2006




My college graduation speech was centered around the story of Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen and their thoughts on the pike bones.

Steady old Väinämöinen
put this into words:
“But surely these could become
a kantele of fishbones
were there someone who knew how
who could make an instrument of bones.”

posted by Wolfdog at 5:21 AM on July 9, 2006


The Kantele sounds like a cross between a guitar and a piano to me. I don't know a thing about music though.

[This is good.]

Now I have to get some music featuring kanteles and blast that krunk shit ridin' slow. It will be beautiful.
posted by Colloquial Collision at 6:41 AM on July 9, 2006


Colloquial Collision, Check out KRA: guttural shock at CDBaby.

Ska meets Gamelan, Balkan rhythms and Finnish Kantele music.


Gator , Nice call, those Nest songs are great.
posted by nickyskye at 10:45 AM on July 9, 2006


Gator: I'm really enjoying those Nest songs, thanks. Too bad there doesn't seem to be any simple way of getting a copy of that CD...

Nest was actually the original inspiration for the whole post. I'd heard of kanteles before, but "The Silvershade Lynx" was the first time I'd ever really heard one. It sparked a minor obsession with them that eventually led to this FPP.
On finding their CD, yeah, unfortunately it seems to be on this tiny little Bulgarian label. I actually don't have it yet myself- however, that may change soon, as I just tried looking around a bit more, and I found that Projekt Records carries it.

Cranberry: A little help from the MeFi musicians please: how does this instrument differ from the zither or the autoharp? Is it just the Finnish version of what every culture produces, as in food, every culture produces a handheld snack, so the sandwich = the burrito = the gyro = the crêpe?

They're certainly very similar- not being a musician, I can't really say what the exact differences are, but I looked into zithers a bit and found this site, which has some samples. I'd say the zither sounds slightly different, but there's certainly a very strong family resemblance- I think your handheld snack analogy is right on the money, actually.
posted by a louis wain cat at 7:02 PM on July 9, 2006


Sweet! I'm somewhat familiar with Projekt, they have a lot of really great stuff. (And a much less ludicrous "darkity dark dark dark" site than that Bulgarian label.) Thanks again!
posted by Gator at 7:19 PM on July 9, 2006


Here is a beautiful passage from the Kalevala -- Vainamoinen's creation of a kantele from the bones of a giant pike -- in three different translations.

And here is Kenneth Rexroth's superb "Classics Revisited" essay about the Kalevala. An excerpt:

"No wonder Carl Jung was fascinated by the Kalevala. It is a kind of socially negotiable Jungian dream, full of archetypes and animuses and animas, totemic symbols of the soul; Methusaleh figures; sacred, unobtainable maidens; impossible tasks and mystic beasts — all set in the forests, lakes, and waterfalls of primeval Finland. All its tales seem to be moving toward an unknowable end — the ultimate integration of the integral person — just like the dreams of Jungian patients under analysis. Yet the Kalevala is far more than any psychoanalytic text. Its heroes struggle in dreams, but they simultaneously live wide awake in the Finnish land, in conflict with a hard but beautiful environment. ... The Kalevala [is] certainly the most ecological of epics."
posted by Bureau of Public Secrets at 9:32 PM on July 9, 2006


Did any of those links mention the Latvian version of the instrument, the kokle? Another link here. Otherwise, it's very easily googlable. Looks like the word is almost unique to the instrument.
posted by UbuRoivas at 9:39 PM on July 9, 2006


just the Finnish version of what every culture produces

Yeah, it looked like a version of the cymbalom to me .
posted by dhruva at 11:20 PM on July 9, 2006


Bureau of Public Secrets: Here is a beautiful passage from the Kalevala -- Vainamoinen's creation of a kantele from the bones of a giant pike -- in three different translations.

That was one of the FPP links, actually. (the "prominently figures" link.) I wanted to link to the appropriate Kalevala section as part of this post, and I was actually having a bit of trouble finding something, until I came across that page on your site, which was exactly what I was looking for. (There's a lot of other interesting stuff there, as well.) So, yeah, thanks for putting those up. I have a copy of that Keith Bosley translation, actually, and I might have done a post on the Kalevala itself, but it's been done.

(As a Tolkien geek, by the way, I knew he borrowed a lot of stuff from Finnish mythology for the Silmarillion, but I was really struck by how much seemed familiar when I read the Kalevala. The Turin/Kullervo thing, the song duels, one of the Elvish languages is clearly based on Finnish, etc.)

UbuRoivas:Did any of those links mention the Latvian version of the instrument, the kokle?

Yeah, I was trying to avoid an overly long FPP so I didn't really get into them, but the first link has some stuff about the various Baltic relatives. The kannel of Estonia, the kokle or kuokle of Latvia which you already linked to, the kankles of Lithuania... I suspect the etymology of the word would be a pretty fascinating study in its own right.
posted by a louis wain cat at 11:30 PM on July 9, 2006


Ah, yes, I found those mentions after a bit of poking around.

I suspect the etymology of the word would be a pretty fascinating study in its own right.

Yes, especially with the complicationg factor that the Estonians and Finns belong to the Finno-Ugric language group, which is completely unlike the Baltic languages of Latvia & Lithuania.

"Kuokle", btw, is a very strange spelling. I can't think of a single Latvian word that uses a "uo" dipthong. This seems to be the Finnish way of rendering the Latvian word.
posted by UbuRoivas at 12:20 AM on July 10, 2006


...and "complicationg" is pretty unusual in English, too.
posted by UbuRoivas at 12:21 AM on July 10, 2006


Truly surprising to see etno.net linked here - I study at the Sibelius Academy Folk Music Department and have worked on a couple of these projects... Great to see that you have found it! There is going to be more instrumental lessons and information on that site soon.

If you are interested in nordic/Finnish folk music, you might find these notes interesting. (A bit of a shameless self-link)

I find the traditional meditative way of playing kantele very interesting. One of the most powerful tales I have read was about an old blind player who played the same "tune" for hours at a time. Arja Kastinen is propably the most prominent player of that style.

Digelius is the best music store for buying Nordic Folk Music. They sell many independent releases that you can't find anywhere else.
posted by hoskala at 4:18 AM on July 10, 2006


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