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[Timpsi]

Ethnic music is something I've always steered away from (mainly due to the horrible mistake my parents did when I was 5. To save you people from the painfulness of it, let's just say it involved traditional dances. That should be enough). However, thanks to my girlfriend - whose taste in everything seems to be just perfect - I have now discovered that some of ethno is bloody good, and I wish to share my findings.

For example the Swedish-Finnish band Hedningarna is totally awesome. The mix of modern and old instruments with two (sometimes three) languages, and the haunting sound of the female vocals works perfectly. If you have Real Player or Real Alternative, you can listen to them online at http://www.silence.se/jukebox/default_eng.htm (choose "Play the Jukebox" (pop-up opens) -> Pick "Hedningarna" from the list -> Choose "Trä" -> Choose a song. I recommend "Räven". Push play, wait, and find your mind be blown away). Lyrics translated in English over here.

Gjallarhorn is a Finnish band that plays in Swedish (for some reason the Finnish-Swedish cooperation seems to work in music). Their approach is mode medieval than that of Hedningarna, and they're a little bit less experimental. The great skill of each member of the band is easy to hear, but especially the vocals are impressive. Real Audio available at http://www.gjallarhorn.com/audio.html (I recommend for example the second song of the Ranarop album). Unfortunately in this case the sound quality isn't as good as it should be, but you can still hear their excellence.

More later.

(Oh, and should you not wish to install Real Player, I recommend Real Alternative. It allows you to play real audio and real media through Media Player Classic without installing the evil Real Player. And it's free.)

[Timpsi]

Värttinä was ridiculed a lot in Finland when they started nearly 20 years ago, but with hard work they've become immersely popular abroad. The songs may sound pretty unoriginal at first, but then the talent of the singers and the naughty lyrics kick in. The harmony of their voices is rather spectacular, and the sense of humour shines through.

MP3's and Real Audio are available on their website at http://www.varttina.com (check for example the ones over here).

EDIT:

This probably shouldn't go under Ethno, but since it's a very Finnish phenomena, I will add it here anyway.

Mieskuoro Huutajat ("The men choir Screamers", or "The Screaming Men") are a group of 20-30 guys in black suits, white shirts and rubber ties, screaming traditional and/or well-known songs.

Yes, screaming. Or yelling, if you prefer.

It's amazing how well such an off-the-wall idea works. The performances are mighty powerful, and the serious humour shows the Finnish mentality in an excellent way.

Examples as MP3's at their website http://www.huutajat.org/ - also check out the video, as it gives a much better idea of what the heck is the whole thing all about.

There's a movie made of them, and the website for that is at http://www.klaffi.com/screamingmen/

[Timpsi]

Wimme Saari is a particularly odd fellow. He takes the traditional 'joik' singing of the Sámi (the ancient culture of the northern parts of the nordic countries, more information here and here) and incorporates it to techno/trance music. And surprisingly enough, it appears to work. While Wimme is considerably better when he doesn't attempt a dance beat or getting too electronic, the contrast of the old and the new is exciting and wild. Excellent ambient stuff.

MP3's:
Traditional style (3mb)
Modern stuff (3,4mb)

[Timpsi]

Finnish folk music has a special instrument, the kantele, which is also the national instrument of Finland (largerly thanks to Kalevala, our national epoch that features kantele as a mythical instrument that has magical powers. Examples of that at this site).

Kantele is basically a harp, or a cordophone (that is, "an instrument whose sound arises from a string stretched between two fixed points"). The sound of the traditional kantele is light and melancholic, while the elctric kantele has a whole different set of sounds.

You can listen to some Real Audio examples of the kantele sound at the Virtual Finland site.

Pictures:


Teppana Jänis and his kantele in the early 20th century.


Minna Raskinen and her 36-string kantele.


A set of kanteles. From left to right: modern kantele, round-ended box kantele, square-ended box kanele, 10-string carved kantele, 5-string kanteles.

[Timpsi]

Since the interest towards the Finnish folk music is so immense (I've been the sole poster in the whole thread for way over a month), I will post some links through which all you eager folk fanatics can find out more about the music that bloody well ought to be more popular.

- Beginner's guide to Finnish folk
- Folks Arts Center
- Recommended Finnish and Nordic folk music bands

- A collection of links to international folk music sites
- Finnish Musical Groups in Wikipedia - the bands mentioned in this thread can be found from there.

More later.

[Reup]

Wow, these Kantales sound pretty nice. How much would a 21-snared one cost approximately? And do you know if there's an online shop that sells them? I googled a bit, but your google-fu vastly exceed mine, not to mention your knowledge of suomi :P

[Timpsi]

Yikes! Someone posted!

Looked around the web. Someone appears to be selling a pretty fine, used 36-string kantele for 450 euros. New basic 5-string ones seem to be about 100-150 euros, 10-string kanteles go for 200-300 euros and 36-stringed ones cost 500 euros. (At http://www.keminmusiikki.fi/musiikkikauppa.htm anyway - go "Muu soitin" -> "Kanteleet")

Should you want a fancy, polished one, you'd need to prepare to pay at least a 4-digit price.

[Reup]

Well, they're a bit expensive, allthough I did find a very small German one on ebay... Today however, I went to the library and found a book on how to make musical intstruments and it also has the plans for a Kantele. I might try and make one. We have a woodshop at uni with all necessary equipment. The rest is buying some good wood and lots of patience