Rautalanka

Rautalanka, Finnish for 'iron wire', is the Finnish instrumental guitar style that emerged in the early 1960s as local groups such as *The Sounds* and *The Quiets* adapted the clean, echoing lead guitar of *The Shadows* and American surf records to Finnish dance halls. A single melodic lead line, played with pronounced vibrato over rhythm guitar, bass and drums, carries folk-inflected melodies and covers alike. Briefly eclipsed by vocal pop, the style was revived from 1979 by *Agents*, whose records with singer *Topi Sorsakoski* returned its twanging guitar sound to the centre of Finnish popular music.