This past summer I had the opportunity to work (performing and teaching mandolin and improvisation) in Finland, the land of my forbears. During the festivals and music camps, I heard some great music and met some very fine musicians. Finland, way up in the eastern end of Scandinavia bordering on the USSR, is a somewhat out of the way place as far as the rest of democratic Europe is concerned and Finnish music, even when world-class, doesn't receive much attention. Therefore, in this series of articles, I'd like to talk about some of the bands, musical instruments, recordings, etc., along with sources and addresses. For the musician readership of Dirty Linen, I'll also try to give you an idea of what is available in regards to instructional books, tune books, and such. Probably the ideal place to begin is to listen to the sampler album Suomen kansanmusiikki 1 - Folk Music of Finland #1 [KILP 14], issued by the Kansanmusiiki-Instituutti (Folk Music Institute), which in addition to its archival and promotional duties, is one of the two primary folk record labels, and probably the best source for Finnish folk music books and music. This album offers a sampling of the diversity of styles from various regions and eras. Many tracks are devoted to showcasing the various instruments played by the Finns the kanteles of various sizes, bowed lyre, flutes and wind instruments, various accordions, and harmonica. There are also vocal cuts ranging from an ancient medieval-sounding "runo song" to unaccompanied ballad to open-throat singing by the female band Niekku. There are a few tracks representing the more modern group format.
The musicians involved are the members of the band Tallari, the only full-time pro folk band, various Institute personnel, and Niekku members. But the album also includes cuts from source recordings of now deceased pelimannis (folk musicians).
There are a number of instruments which are found in Finnish music. Among the more ancient are the kanteles, jouhikko, and various flutes and reed instruments. The kantele has been the national traditional instrument for 2,000 years. This zither/psaltery instrument in its simplest form has only 5 strings tuned to a pentachord (first 5 notes of either a major or minor scale) and is played on the lap with the fingers of both hands (see illustra- tion). Surprisingly, it is capable of much more musically than one would think possible. The sound is similar to that of a medieval harp. There are 9 and 10-string kanteles which retain the same basic body shape but the big kanteles with 20-30+ strings are out- and-out zithers in the usual European mold, and in the hands of a good player like Eino Tulikari (Kantele [KILP 1]) can sound like a harpsichord.
Kantele playing is promoted heavily in the Finnish elementary schools, largely as a result of the Institute's efforts. There's even a magazine, Viss-kielinen (5-string), published by the Institute. So, instructional material for the instrument is available, even to the extent that the book A Guide to Five String Kantele Playing [KI book 28] (and optional cassette) is in English. Hannu Saha's Viisikielisen Kanteleen Ohjemistoa #1 [KI book 10] and V.K.O. #2 [KI book 22] are full-blown tune books containing both ancient melodies and new (and complex) compositions for up to four 5-string kanteles. Saha, the current head of the Institute, has also written an instructional book for the 10-string version of the instrument, Kymmenkielisen Kanteleen Opas [KI book 21]. (Unless otherwise stated, text for all books is in Finnish.) These books would seem immediately applicable to any sort of zither/psaltery/ autoharp type instrument, but the music could also be experimented with on fingerstyle guitar and other instruments depending on the capabilities and inventiveness of the player.
The jouhikko or bowed lyre came to Finland out of central Europe, and is similar to the Welsh crwth. Melody, limited to about 4 or 5 notes, is played on one string while one or two other strings provide a primeval drone. The sound is primitive but it can be powerful. I saw the band Tallari perform an ancient tune with 3 jouhikkos and bowed bass backing up a couple of fiddles and the effect was awesomely primeval! The Institute has published an instruction guide/tunebook entitled Jouhikko [KI book 13] which contains many examples of the oldest Finnish tunes. Antti Kettunen, who works at the Institute, admits that books like this will never really sell many copies, but that it is important that it is available in libraries for the more seriously-minded student of folk music.
Rapapallit ja Lakuttimet (Ancient Finnish Musical Instruments) [KI book 18] is a 50-page trilingual (Finnish/Swedish/English) history and exposition of the various instruments of the land, with plenty of photos.
There are also various homemade flutes, animal horn instruments and clarinet-like reed instruments to be found in older Finnish music. [For some reason, the Finns never did have the bagpipes, although the clarinets, being reed instruments, sound much like pipe chanters]. An excellent record of these type tunes on the various wind instruments is Paimensoittaja Teppo Repo [KILP 7] which translated is Herdsman Player Teppo Repo. The recordings made in the early 50s are sonically excellent and Repo is a wonderful player. This is an area which is the most neglected in the Finnish folk music revival. There is a 170 page book, Karjasoitto [KI book 15], which has 160 of these type tunes, although the notation is a reproduction of the original hand-written manuscripts and is a bit hard to read.
In the early 80s Hannu Saha, along with his former Institute boss Heikki Laitinen and Jouhikko author Rauno Nieminen formed a band called The Primitive Music Orchestra, or PRIMO for short, which showcased old music/song performed on the more ancient instruments. Their 1984 album Haltian Opissa [Olarin OMLP 8] has a cover which shows the trio sitting on rocks playing in the middle of a river. This is a Finnish version of the "crossroads" idea one goes to a rock in the middle of the rapids on midsummer night if one wants to play well, and the old devil will come along with the necessary magic! The Primo album is quite listenable with concentration on more primal sounds; however they show their sense of humor with an occasional jam or blues instrumental.
There's a small booklet, Hiiden hirvi - Runolauluja [KI book 16] which is comprised of ancient rune melodies and poems. The poems assembled some 150 years ago into the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, were always sung/chanted with kantele accompaniment, most often in a distinctive 5/4 time signature (1&2&3&4 5).
ln the 1920's, Finnish folk music was pushed into the background by the influx of tune/song forms such as the foxtrot, the tango, and other dance music. The accordion became the dominant musical instrument, and the 5-row chromatic (same note on push or draw) accordion with full 120-bass became the mainstay of the Finnish dance band, much in the same way the piano accordion rose to dominance in other countries. So the older styles were surpassed in popularity and many players dropped out of the limelight or quit playing altogether.
In the 1950's contests started to be organized which coaxed some of the older players out of isolation. Also Finnish radio would record pelimannis (folk musicians) for airing, and also for posterity. Some of these recordings have been issued by the Institute. Aapeli Hautenen (Pelimanni [KILP 6]) was one of these players, a one-row accordionist who quit playing at age 24 for 40 years because his type of music went out of favor. He took up playing again in order to compete in one of the music contests, which he proceeded to win. His album demonstrates an older style; Hautanen could still play despite his years but unfortunately several of the reeds in his instrument were out of tune, making it not for casual listening. Kustaa Järvinen Pelimanni [KILP2] is a nice album of solo fiddle by another important source musician. Fiddle had been the primary dance instrument but those styles were almost drowned out by the accordions.
One area in which the fiddle remained king was in the Kaustinen area, which has a very strong fiddle band tradition. Here, the group format would be 2 or more fiddles, harmonium (foot driven reed organ) and stand-up bass. The bass was not used that much in other areas, but the Kaustinen fiddle groups served to introduce it elsewhere.
The current preeminent fiddle-based group in Finland is the Järvelän Pikkupelimannit (also known as J.P.P.), from the Kaustinen area. They have three albums out on the Olarin label, the latest of which, Leipä Työlla - S&a;rvin Soitolla [OMLP 24] splits the record between J.P.P. and 1977 recordings of Johannes Järvelä & Arvo Myllykangas (fiddle/harmonium). Johannes is the father of J.P.P. leader Mauno Järvelä (fiddle) and was an important musical figure in the region, and thus his half of the album serves as an exposition of the older playing style upon which the wild excur- sions of J.P.P. are rooted.
In future articles we'll talk more about the 5 and 6 fiddle music of J.P.P. and about other contemporary groups (Tallari, Niekku, Salamakannel). Before closing, I'd like to briefly mention a cassette tape The Mandocrucian's Digest is releasing: Heikki Lahti & Friends' Traditional Finnish Mandolin. Heikki is a 3-time Finnish mandolin champion with a lively and robust style. He's backed by his own trio and by members of the group Tallari. Price is $8.00 postpaid ($9.00 overseas), checks payable to Niles Hokkanen/ P.O. Box 3585/ Winchester, VA 22604.
Now for the important addresses: Kansanmusiikki-Instituutti/ SF- 69600 Kaustinen/ Finland. Olarin Musiikki Oy/ PI 20/ 02211 Espoo/ Finland. Olarin is the other "big" folk music label in Finland. They tend to carry the more progressive stuff which is what I'm sure you all want to hear about. All of the LPs mentioned in this article are also available on cassette.
The best record store in Helsinki is Digelius Music/ Laivurinrinne 2/ 00120 Helsinki/ Finland. They also do mail-order business around the world and seem to serve as a distributor for Olarin and Institute records. Don't worry about language when writing to these places; there's always several folks who speak excellent English.
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