“Aikahyppy”, the third kantelephonogram album

News

February 03, 2025

Aikahyppy SKS:n kantelefonogrammeilta (A time leap from the kantelephonograms of the Finnish Literature Society). The third kantelephonogram album by Arja Kastinen was released on Etno.net in January 2025 (no. 191, recordings by the Folk Music Department of the Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki).

The album is part of Arja Kastinen’s research project Kantele of the Runosong Culture and the Dialogue of Creativity.

Archive recordings: Archive of the Finnish Literature Society.

New recordings and editing: Arja Kastinen.

Mastering and layout of Etno.net: Alec Havinmaa.

Cover picture: Tuomas Ylönen. Based on a photograph of Jaakko Kulju taken by A. O. Väisänen in 1917. The Finnish Heritage Agency, Kansatieteen kuvakokoelma, finna.fi.

Publication: Department of Folk Music, Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki.

The publication was supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

Iivana Šemeikka. Photo: Samuli Paulaharju, 1908. The Finnish Heritage Agency. Kansatieteen kuvakokoelma, Samuli Paulaharjun kokoelma, finna.fi.

The first phonogram album, Teppana Jänis (AANIA-37), was released as a CD with the support of the Karelian Cultural Foundation in 2021. The second album, Iivana Mišukka, was released on Etno.net in 2023.

Unlike the first two releases, the third album contains recordings by several different players. The earliest recordings are phonograms by Armas Launis (1905) and Väinö Salminen (1906) of the famous runosinger and kanteleplayer Iivana Šemeikka from Suistamo, Border Karelia.

Most of the recordings were made by A. O. Väisänen in 1916, 1917 and 1919. In these, Border Karelian musicians are represented by Iivana Širgo from Impilahti and Pekka Happo and Jaakko Kulju from Suojärvi. There are also three tunes from Pielisjärvi in ​​North Karelia played by Taavi Kiiskinen and three recordings by Patšoin Stjoppi from Perttijärvi, Vitele, Olonets Karelia.

The recordings on the album are arranged chronologically, starting with the oldest. For each track, there is first the original archive recording (a) and an edited and partially re-recorded version based on the recording data (b). The only exception is track 14, which contains only the original recording. For my own recordings, I chose different kanteles for different tracks, depending on which of the instruments I had at hand seemed closest to the sound of the original kantele.

Iivana Širgo from Impilahti. Photo: A. O. Väisänen. The Finnish Heritage Agency. JOKA Journalistinen kuva-arkisto, Otava, finna.fi.

The Archive of the Finnish Literature Society has copies of some phonograph and parlograph recordings from both the 1960s (mono) and the 1980s (stereo). This album uses the 1980s copy for all other tracks except for Taavi Kiiskinen’s playing, where the 1960s copy is more complete.

In many recordings, the speed of rotation of the wax cylinder changes in the middle of a melody, causing the pitch to change. There are also breaks in the copies of the recordings due to the uneven rotation of the cylinder. In particular, Patšoin Stjoppi’s recordings show the inability of the wax cylinders in question to record the lowest notes of the kantele.

Jaakko Kulju from Suojärvi. Photo: A. O. Väisänen 1917. The Finnish Heritage Agency. Kansatieteen kuvakokoelma, finna.fi.

In addition to these challenges, the interference sounds often obscure the original music to such an extent that my own interpretations in these passages must be regarded as more or less good guesses.

Although almost all the recordings are short samples of dance tunes from the period of the players, and there are no other examples of the freer improvisations mentioned in the literature, except perhaps Kulju’s recording, in many cases they vividly illustrate the contradiction between the musical notations we use and the original music.

I hope that this publication will inspire current and future kantele players to delve deeply into the world of the Karelian kantele, to question my assumptions and to make their own interpretations of the echoes left by these old masters.

I would like to thank the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Finnish Literature Society (special thanks to Risto Blomster) and the Sibelius Academy Folk Music Degree Programme at the University of the Arts Helsinki for making this publication possible.