Veterans' Finnish Independence Day
Van Nuys, California
December 4, 2005
Los Angeles Finlandia Foundation Annual Luncheon
Studio City, California
November 14, 2004
With Finlandia Foundation President John Laine
Pasadena, California
May 15, 2004.
Finnish Veteran's Independence Day Celebration
Van Nuys, California
November 30, 2003.
Playing for "The Finnish Folk Art Museum" DVD
Pasadena, California
May 31, 2003.
Scandinavian Festival, Thousand Oaks, California
April 20, 2002
Los Angeles Finlandia Foundation Annual Meeting
Pasadena, California
February 10, 2002
Kalifornia Kanteles began in April 1996 when a group of enthusiastic adult students met at the residence of Bitte Westerlund and Jorn Donner, then Consul General of Finland to begin to learn to play the Kantele from the renowned Merja Soria. Most of our members are amateur musicians and some have no prior musical background; However, the kantele has opened up the world of music to them. We also have members who are not of Finnish heritage, so non-Finns, as well, are learning to play and enjoy this wonderful national instrument of Finland. The kantele has captured many hearts, and we feel that the kantele "belongs in every hand". (Patti Lamb)
Kalifornia Kanteles have performed at the Grand Finn Fest in Portland, Maine, The Scandinavian Festival in Thousand Oaks, Kalevela Day celebrations, the Scandinavian Festival in Turlock, California, Los Angeles Finlandia Foundation Christmas celebration, and several functions in the Los Angeles Finnish-American community.
Our goal is to continue to encourage others to learn to play and enjoy the kantele and become a part of this recent renaissance of kantele in America!
From the DVD
"The Finnish Folk Art Museum"
Celebrating the Tupa
Pasadena, California
May 31, 2003
The clip of Kalifornia Kanteles performing "Melkutus" is available in different
formats:
Low Quality RealVideo (383K)
Medium Quality RealVideo (1657K)
Medium Quality Windows Media (1091K)
Mothers Day Performance
Finnish Lutheran
Church
Van Nuys, California
May 5, 2002
Scandinavian Festival
California Lutheran University
Thousand Oaks, California
April 20, 2002
This song is in MP3 format:
Yksi, Kaksi, Kolme, Nelja (1455K)
Recorded at practice
March 17, 2002
In picture and text from the Kalevala: creation of the kantele.
Merja Soria is our kantele instructor. Merja, a native of Finland, is an instructor of traditional Finnish music at San Diego State University. Ms. Soria received her Master of Music degree at the Sibelius Academy in Finland. In 1995 she was named the first Finlandia Foundation Performer of the Year. In 1992 she performed a program of ancient Finnish music prior to the Los Angeles Philharmonic's performance of Sibelius' Kullervo Symphony. During the summer 2000 Ms. Soria performed at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. Merja has also played background music for a Coca-Cola commercial which was shown on national television during the Winter Olympics in 1992.
The Kantele Shop: Handmade Musical Instruments by Gerry Luoma Henkel, Maker and Seller of Kanteles and other Finnish Folk Music Instruments. Henkel has become the major supplier of kanteles and jouhikkos to North Americans in the last four years. He builds traditional Finnish kanteles and jouhikkos in a small shop in the woods a few miles north of Lake Superior near Duluth, Minnesota. He strives to build quality instruments that will bring joy to the players and listeners. He's not a factory - he approaches making the instruments as a craft and an art, not a "product". The goal of his work is to build instruments that he enjoys making and that a buyer will enjoy playing.
Lani Thompson: I see myself primarily as a songwriter and story teller and I've been writing for over 30 years. However, until I discovered the kantele, I only wrote the lyrics to songs and left the music to my collaborator-husband, D2T. I don't really hear music in my head. My fingers discover songs - one note at a time. The first song I wrote on the kantele was In the Forest.
The Kantele: Although its roots lie far away in Asia, the kantele has been elevated to the status of Finland's national musical instrument. Its early history is associated with the period when a class of stringed instruments called psalteries, which include the zithers, reached the Mediterranean region and the rest of Europe from the East. Experts believe that the kantele was played in Finland centuries before we started numbering our years from AD 1 on.
Kantele: Kantele is a traditional folk music instrument of Finnic people inhabiting Finland, North West region of Russia and some of the Baltic states. The Kantele proper is a traditional instrument of Suomi, Karjala, Vadja, Isora, Vepsad, Lappi people. Among Estonians similar type of instrument is called Kannel. The same word is usually applied for traditional instrument of Setu people. Among local group of Russians inhabiting areas closely related to Finnic cultural tradition similar instrument existed up to 19th century and was sometimes called Gusli. Very close to this tradition are musical instruments of Baltic people. Lithuanian Kañkles and Latvian Kuokle shear the similar construction and playing technique.
The Kantele - Finland's National Instrument - Written for Virtual Finland by Anneli Asplund, researcher, Finnish Literature Society The kantele (or kannel) and rune-singing both symbolise ancient Finnish culture. In the Kalevala, Elias Lönnrot had constructed an image of a mythic kantele, made of the jawbone of a pike, as the typically Finnish musical instrument of the epic hero Väinämöinen. In the final stages of the work, the kantele is an essential part of the power of Väinämöinen's song. It was thus, through the Kalevala, that the kantele became, in the 19th century, the Finns' national instrument.
This page last updated November 2, 2005
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