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Runoi’s kantele camp (June 16–20) is over and I’m still digesting it. Planning and making preparations took almost a year. There were many twists and turns of which the covid-19 was not the smallest one. And finally, everything condensed into five hectic days. Digesting haven’t been merely mental: the meals at the inn PikkuPriha were […]

Wilho Saari, born in 1932 in Naselle, Washington, USA, is a fifth-generation kantele player down from the famous Finnish kantele icon Kreeta Haapasalo (1813-1893). Wilho’s parents came to the USA with the wave of Finnish immigration in the beginning of the 20th century: mother, Aili Lindström (1898–1981) from Rauma in 1911, and father, Wilho (Leppä)Saari […]

It was about nine years ago when I seriously bumped into this issue for the first time. I was visiting an US based online forum for kanteleplayers and I was following the discussion of our (then) new 11-string kantele guide book Invisible Vibration. I was completely surprised by one comment in which the kantele string […]

I had the wonderful pleasure to visit a kokle weekend course in Latvia, Dauguli, June 28-30, organized by Laima Jansone and the Kocēni Municipality. On the 30th of June we also took part in the 155-year anniversary of the Latvian Song festival in Dikļi. The kokle course had ca. 40 participants who attended different kinds […]

In the world of small kanteles, the long lasting, slow esthetic’s improvisation, means a combination of playing techniques, instrumentation and tuning systems; the old plucking technique combined with other playing techniques and the variety of timbres from historical small kanteles, which is deepened even more by strengthening the resonance via suitable tuning. (Read more: https://www.temps.fi/en/research/) […]