Chapter 03
Kantele, Horsehair, Fiddles and Bellows
4 min
Finland's instruments are sometimes presented as a neat heritage display: kantele, jouhikko, fiddle and accordion in a row. They belong to different histories and require different touch. Hear them as ways of organising time.
The kantele is not one instrument
An older five-string kantele can be carved from a single piece of wood and tuned to a compact group of pitches. A player may pluck individual strings, damp selected notes or let a small figure keep changing inside the resonance. Later concert kanteles have many more strings, mechanisms and a wider range. Both are real kanteles; one should not be used to erase the other.
On Arja Kastinen's “Poigu Kalervo,” from KANTERVO (2023), the most important event may happen after the finger leaves the five-string brass-string kantele. Notes overlap, and tiny alterations change the colour of a repeated cell. The piece joins a traditional basis to Kastinen's improvising work; it asks for close attention rather than a hunt for a large melody.
Martti Pokela helped establish modern concert and ensemble possibilities for the instrument. On Kanteleet, different sizes and ranges widen the palette. Hannu Saha treats it as a contemporary compositional voice. Maija Kauhanen coordinates kantele, voice and percussion alone on stage, turning independence of hands and feet into arrangement.
Jouhikko: friction and motion
The jouhikko is a bowed lyre. The bow sets its strings into continuous vibration; the stopping hand commonly touches strings from the side instead of pressing them to a fingerboard. The sound can be grainy and concentrated, with a drone or open string holding the ground while another pitch moves.
Historical evidence in Finland is strongest in Savonia and Karelia. Jouhikko players accompanied singing and dancing, sometimes alongside kantele. Short motifs could be varied for as long as dancers required. That practical duration matters: the music develops through accumulated changes rather than a fixed concert form.
For a present-day entrance, hear Ilkka Heinonen Trio's Savu. The jouhikko keeps its bowed edge while bass and percussion create a modern chamber space. Pekko Käppi & K:H:H:L push the instrument into amplified songs whose weight comes from distortion, repetition and a performer's own writing. Revival here is invention with historical knowledge, not impersonation of an unnamed ancestor.
Fiddles make Kaustinen move
Kaustinen in Central Ostrobothnia is famous for pelimanni music: community fiddling, local compositions and dance repertory carried through families, ensembles and public gatherings. At the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival, the boundary between performer and audience can become unusually porous. Musicians play on formal stages, in smaller rooms and wherever a session gathers.
Hear JPP for the craft inside the lift. Several fiddles do not simply double one melody. One line leads, another thickens the harmony, inner voices make the rhythm spring, and bass or harmonium can frame longer arcs. The dance pulse stays clear even when the arrangement becomes elaborate.
The festival remains a living public entrance because it programmes local pelimanni groups alongside new folk work. Its 2026 showcase names Melkutus Party, combining kantele and Karelian dance tunes with electronics; uni uni, using bowed lyre, loops and electronic pop; and Veikko Virkkala Band, grounding a young ensemble in Kaustinen's rhythmic knowledge. These are dated examples, not predictions of what will be on next year's stage.
Accordion breathes across language
The accordion arrived later than kantele and jouhikko, yet it became central to dance music, tango and regional folk practice. Its bellows make phrasing visible. A player can swell into a note, clip a dance accent or hold harmony beneath a singer while the right hand ornaments a line.
Maria Kalaniemi offers one of the clearest entrances. On I Ramunders fotspår, made with singer-fiddler Marianne Maans and guitarist Olli Varis, accordion participates in Finland-Swedish repertory without flattening it into a national folk style. Kalaniemi's control of air gives dance tunes room to breathe while keeping their directional pulse.
Listen with your hands in mind
When an instrument sounds “simple,” imagine the physical coordination it requires. A kantele player chooses which resonance to leave alive. A jouhikko player manages bow pressure and side contact. Fiddlers negotiate attack together. An accordionist controls two keyboards and a moving air chamber. Technique is where history becomes sound.
Start here
- Arja Kastinen — “Poigu Kalervo,” from KANTERVO (2023): follow the decay of the five-string brass-string kantele after each pluck. - Martti Pokela and ensemble — Kanteleet: compare instrument sizes and arranged registers. - Ilkka Heinonen Trio — Savu: hear bowed grain against bass and percussion. - JPP — String Tease: track the inner fiddle parts, not only the top melody. - Maria Kalaniemi, Marianne Maans and Olli Varis — I Ramunders fotspår: hear bellows, voice and strings share a dance phrase.
