About studying the kantele at a later age

In Finland, kids normally have their first touch to the kantele in music playschools, or by latest in the elementary school, thanks to the project that started in the 1980s, "Kantele to school!". Some kids continue studying in music academies and conservatories, and a few reach the highest level at Universities of Applied Sciences, or...

Enchanted playing and Kalevala day activities with kids

The day of the Finnish national epic, Kalevala (first published in 1835), approached and passed on Saturday the 28th of February. To join the festivities, I went to play in a kindergarden on Wednesday of that week. Together with my cousin, we organised a half-an-hour session of playing and singing, and the kids could re-act...

A dive into the diversity in contemporary kantele music

Two weeks ago in Alppipuisto, Helsinki there was a park festival Puistokarkelot with contemporary folk music. I did not attend but as I was checking the line-up I could not help noticing what an important part the kantele had come to play in the programme. I started googling other festivals like Kihaus Folk and Sommelo,...

Using acoustic simulations in musical instrument restoration

Last February I attended the opening conference of the COST-Action Wood MusicK at Cité de la Musique, Paris. "This Action (WoodMusICK - WOODen MUSical Instrument Conservation and Knowledge) aims to combine forces and to foster research on wooden musical instruments in order to preserve and develop the dissemination of knowledge on musical instruments in Europe...

Mechanical distorters in the kantele

This Wednesday instrument builder Jyrki Pölkki  (Soitinrakentajat AMF) came for a visit at the university to talk about musical instrument making. The thought that struck me the most was that unlike violin or piano, the kantele is not yet fixed in sound or shape, and thus it is easy to develop and introduce new features ...

Kantele in Japan

I just returned from Japan where I did a four-month internship related to guitar acoustics. I took my 15-string kantele with me. Before I went to Japan, I knew that there was a community of kantele players, mainly in Tokyo and the Hokkaido area. So, in the early days of November I set out to...

Essentially, the kantele consists of strings wrapped around tuning pins, which are attached to a wooden resonator box. The amount of strings can vary from 5 to 40. In most kanteles, there is a sound hole on the top plate. The strings are typically strummed or plucked. The kantele is said to belong to the...