Finnish Folk Music

Ever since I got to Finland, I began to notice the many things about it that are amazing yet mainly undiscovered to the outside world. One of them is the folk music.

Most of the instruments in traditional Finnish music I had never heard of. Take the kantele (see picture below). Although it's not that similar in the way it's played, I find that it looks a little bit like a hammered dulcimer. The kantele is a traditional plucked string instrument. In my Finnish folk music class, we learned to play the 5-stringed kantele. Kantele is especially unique because it has been used in the past to accompany the singing of traditional poems and stories. Some of these songs/poems were collected and made into the epic poem: the Kalevala (another well-kept secret about Finland).

In my folk music class, we learned melodies that can be sung to Kalevala texts. They are usually 2 lines long, each containing 5 beats. We would sing antiphonally, where 1 person sings the first line and the rest of us repeat that line, etc. We then moved on to learning the kantele. Learning how the music and poetry are interwoven through hands-on experience enabled me to understand the music far better than reading about it in a book or being instructed about it in a lecture format.

We then learned about the many folk woodwind instruments. One day, we had a chance to go to the instrument making workshop in the basement and make our own overtone flutes. I was so proud of my flute and practiced it a lot for a couple days ;) I then realized that I had been holding it the wrong way: with it facing to my left, rather than to the right. Haha. I am obviously not a woodwind player. I plan to continue my practice of the flute when time permits.

And more recently, we learned about the jouhikko. It is 3-stringed and played with a bow and the bottom of it is held between your legs (in the way you would hold a cello). It's really interesting because you have to hold onto it with your left hand (where there's a space in the wood-see above). And you only change the pitch on the string farthest to your right; the other 2 are drones. BUT, instead of putting your fingertips down on the string to change the pitch, you have to move the bottom joint of your left-hand fingers (except for the thumb, which is still holding on) backwards to touch the string. It's really counter intuitive if you grew up playing a violin or cello or guitar (for instance). Also, the bow is used to create a back beat feel, where the drone strings are emphasized on the 2nd and 4th beat. I hope to make a jouhikko in the instrument making workshop spring semester. This, I really WILL practice!


Another intriguing part of Finnish folk music is joiking. It originates from the Sami people in Lapland. When you joik, you're basically singing or chanting on something. For instance, you can joik on your dog or on the tree you just walked by or whatever. It's a way to represent, right now, how you are feeling about or experiencing something. The Finnish band: Rinneradio has a track on their album 'On' that is called Slow Travel, Part 1, which features joiking. Check it out!

The Sibelius Academy has one of the only Folk Music departments in the entire world. It emphasizes playing of Finnish and international folk styles, with less focus on research than an ethnomusicology program. I'm grateful to have had such a great opportunity to learn about Finnish folk music.