hear the harp of Väinämöinen...

Articles



  • St. Henry of Uppsala: A look at the patron saint of Finland.


  • Louhi's Daughter: An interview with Kate Laity, author, teacher and founder of the Yahoo kantele group.


  • The Age of the Knife Fighters: If the knife fighters were so terrible, and by all accounts they were, why do people admire them, and sing songs about their horrifying deeds?


  • A Brief Look at Pukkos: The Finnish puukko or sheath-knife is an all-purpose tool and a symbol of Finnish heritage that dates back to medieval times. It is also a dangerous weapon.


  • The Kantele - From Birth to Rebirth: A brief look at the history of the kantele.


  • Sacred Birch: The roots of the birch tree grow deep in the history, culture and soul of the Finnish people. What makes this tree so special to Finns?


  • I was honored to have my song, Aino's Lament: featured in a video about the Kalevala that ran on a Polish podcast called Losiowisko. The video was made by Ola, one of the author's of the podcast, in celebration for Kalevala's Day on February, 28, 2010. It's in Polish. If you'd like to view just the portion featuring my music, you can download it here, and open it in Windows Media Player. This clip also contains background music of Matti Paalanen.


  • Simple and Sacred: An Interview With the Winners of the 2006 Kantele Songwriting Competition


  • Pikebone sävellyskilpailu: An article about the 2005 Pikebone songwriting contest appeared in the January, 2006 edition of a Finnish magazine called Kantele.


  • Feeling the Music: An Interview With the Winners of the 2005 Pikebone Songwriting Competition.


  • This Makes Me So Quiet: Wilho Saari comes from a long line of kanteleplayers dating back to his great-great grandmother, Kreeta Haapasalo, who wrote Mun kanteleeni. He's a prolific composer of kantele music who is generous with his time, especially when it comes to sharing his passion for kanteles. This interview took place in November, 2004 and was published in the summer 2005 issue of New World Finn.


  • Plucking Sounds From Your Own Head: Carl Rahkonen wrote The Kantele Traditions of Finland as his doctoral dissertation more than 20 years ago. This is the interview I did with him for the spring, 2005 issue of New World Finn.


  • So You Want To Learn To Build Your Own Kantele: A review of kantelemaker Michael J. King's book, Construction Manual for the 5 String Kantele..


  • New Faces, New Friends: In August, 2004 I visited the Maine Kantele Institute in S. Portland, ME. This article appears in the Winter, 2005 issue of New World Finn. More Photos


  • Gerry Henkel...A New Branch of the Kantele Tradition I interviewed kantelemaker Gerry Henkel for the fall 2004 issue of New World Finn..


  • A Kantele By Any Other Name... A report on the Baltic Psaltery Conference held in Toronto Canada on June 5-6, 2004. This article first appeared in the summer 2004 issue of New World Finn..


  • Why We Should Write Our Family's Folktales My brother, John, inspired me to write my first family folk tale. I called it "The Four Brothers". You can read it here, along with this article, written for the spring 2004 issue of New World Finn.


  • Book of Chords and Songs for Small Kanteles Published in Maine This article, about my first book Complete Chords for the Kantele, appeared in the spring, 2002 issue of New World Finn.