Finnish Folk Music

Finnish folk music is the traditional music of Finland, rooted in the runo-singing of the Kalevala epic tradition, in which singers chanted alliterative verse to short repeating melodies, and in the pelimanni fiddle culture of Ostrobothnian dance halls. Its instruments include the plucked kantele, the jouhikko bowed lyre, fiddle and accordion, and its repertory ranges from laments and herding calls to polskas, waltzes and wedding dances. Suppressed at times as pagan or backward, the tradition was revived from the 1960s by conservatory-trained groups who joined archival material to new arrangements, and contemporary Finnish folk acts move freely between ancient runo meters and modern ensemble writing.