Finnish Folk Music

Finnish folk music

There is a lot of folk music in Finland. For example joik is from Lapland, Kalevala-songs from Eastern Finland and so called pelimannimusiikki from Western Finland. Every genre has been influenced by local culture, historical events, religion etc.

Joik is a traditional style of Sami singing. Traditional joik is improvised and it remains when it has been once made. Each joik is meant to reflect a person, an incident or a place. When you start a joik it doesn’t have an ending, it continues or starts again. Because if it had an ending it would mean that the person would die.

Normally joiks are sung without instruments, so they are a cappella. But sometimes joiks are accompanied by a drum. Joikers use pentatonic scale when they sing. That means that there are only five tunes in the scale. A melody normally has two verse lines and there often are syllabes like nun- nu and lal-la. http://www.luontoon.fi/news.asp? Section=1603&Item=20051

Joiks are still living tradition.

Kalevala songs

Kalevala songs are ancient poems which are played in verses. A typical song has time signature 5/4 so every bar has 5 (iskua). Every song is based on a pentatonic scale. They were performed by a soloist and sometimes by a soloist and listeners in turns.

Kalevala poems and songs are characterised by alliteration, for example “Vakaa vanha Väinämöinen.” The songs tell about myths and historical events. The songs were collected by Elias Lönnrot in the 19th century, and Kalevala is the national epic of Finland. J.J.R. Tolkien drew inspiration from Kalevala when writing the Lord of the Rings. Before the songs were written down they were passed down from “father to son.”

Also many spells and prayers have been made in Kalevala style. Nowadays many children songs have the same rule, 8 syllables in one stanza.

This is how kalevala poems were sung in the 18th and 19th century.

http://de.academic.ru/dic.nsf/dewiki/734799

After the turn of the 20th century people havn't sung thease poems anymore.

The kantele The kantele symbolizes ancient Finnish culture. It's still called Finnish national instrument and it's the oldest folk intrument in Finland. In Kalevala kantele was made of the jawbone of a pike. The epic hero from Kalevala, Väinämöinen, played it. Väinämöinen is the main character in Kalevala and he owns a macigal voice. When he sung, kantele was an essential part of his songs. Nowadays kanteles are made of wood and there are 5-40 strings.

But the most popular is a kantele with

5 strings.

http://www.people.iup.edu/rahkonen/kantele/FinnishKantele.htm

Pelimannimusiikki

This Music style is from Western Finland and also from Sweden. It is band music and it is played with many “new” instruments, for example clarinet, violin, harmonium, double bass and accordion. Songs are upbeat, melodic and there are no lyrics. http://www.riihimaensoroptimistit .net/image2.html

Kaustinen Folk Music Festival

This festifal is held annually in Kaustinen. It's the biggest folk music festifal in the Nordic Countries. It has been organized since 1968. Nowadays the festival lasts nine days and is visited by over 100,000 people. The festival has a different theme every year, for instance the theme was European folk music.

http://www.mtv3.fi/uutiset/kulttuuri.shtml/

2008/11/748553/kaustisen- musiikkifestivaalit-

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