This short piece is inspired by Sirpa Ylhäinen's painting "Yö ja päivä" (Night and Day). It is played on the Perniö replica (12 brass strings) made by Rauno Nieminen and on the 15-string kantele made by Keijo Säteri. The tuning is lower, A4 as 438 Hz.

I love the night
Its soft promise of  a breather
Dissolving boundaries
And its tenderly curved palm
I love the night
Its guidance to find the shadows of daylight
Preventing from being blinded
Showing the way to enjoy the purity of the rainbow

Yö Ja Päivä_Night and Day

Trying out resonances when combining these two kanteles: Perniö replica (12-brass strings) made by Rauno Nieminen and the 15-string (steel strings) kantele made by Keijo Säteri. A4=438 Hz

November.
The month of my birth
signed by the death;
the silence of earth
with an icy bed.

Ah, November-the-hilarious,
holding the key to my passion for life
with your benevolent smile and a sharpened knife.

November.
Teaching how to wait like a helpless bait
for the Spring to come.
After which, time and again, you can turn it all undone.

Kekri

THIS IS WHERE I COME FROM

Burning days of spicy June,
countless tones of green in the distance,
earthy smell in a haunting tune,
the powerful will of a handed down dance.

All senses strained and well concealed,
scratching sounds of the phrases sealed.
The burning days of the summer's core
and the infinite whirl of the circular saw.

Smell of fresh hay,
touch of soil,
the ominous clouds approaching, growling.
Such salty droplets,
and muddy hooves, 
rambling thoughts keep on dreaming. 

A wisp of smoke escapes the space of fire,
water ripples in the pulse of a heart,			
brilliant stories reflecting desire,
surrounding embrace of velvety ponds gives a start.

It's the water and the taste of iron
that keep telling me who I am,
shuffling rhythm hunting for direction,			
roots so thirsty in the long lost land.			

It's the water and the taste of iron
- and the infinite whirl of the circular saw.

(Special thanks for helping to Martin Schmalz.)

This Is Where I Come From

This is a demo of a track planned as part of an album of new music played on museum kantele replicas. This one is made with a 13-string replica made by Jouni Kurki and a 5-string replica made by Rauno Nieminen. Both have bronze strings.

Vesikivelle

Recording: Taito Hoffrén (kantele) & Tuomas Ylönen (train) 
Playing & Mixing: Arja

Tokyo Train

Track 11 on the Emanuel-CD (TEMPSCD05, 2016). Live recording at the Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum in Oslo, Norway.

#11 Emanuel

Dedicated to Gary. The theme is a 19th century  "Itkuvirsi" (lament) tune from Suistamo, Karelia. Played on a five-string kantele (with viscose strings, same sound as horse hair) made by Rauno Nieminen, the original one in the museum is dated 1893; and a 5-string kantele with bronze strings, also made by Rauno Nieminen, the original one is dated 1833; and a 10-string kantele with bronze strings, made by Pekka Lovikka

Until on the Other Side

From my new album "The Last Gathering", coming February 2012. Played on the 10+4 -string kantele made by Erkki Okkonen. Traditional plucking, a bow, harmonics etc. &  Matti Kontio's studio wizardry.

Noite II

The first part of the Night...
noite
I watched them dance
so easy, so light, so free
almost impossible to follow
And I begged the Night
to let me stay there a little longer
Me and my soul
so eager, so hungry
much too heavy
for that kind of a dance
noite
decisão
"...and there is nothing to be afraid of..."
noite
noite
noite


Noite I

To the Painter. Played on the 10+4 -string kantele made by Erkki Okkonen. In addition to the traditional plucking technique and plucking by the metal bar,  also harmonics, a bow and a pencil were used.

Malarz

I bent my will and crossed the line
no turning back – makes things simple and fine
I love the wind, it’s strong like you
and has the skill to touch the sky too

The brightest colors are invisible and unseen
the most powerful touch the one that’s never been
The cloud and the wind, nothing in between
just carrying a while and then setting it free

I can feel the wind, I am the cloud
all that's been doesn’t make me feel proud
but under my wings the strongest feel
you are still carrying me

Impro 22.1.2012

Part of the sound installation made for Sirpa Ylhäinen's art exhibition in the Gallery Tyko, Nurmes, Finland,  March 12 - April 15, 2012. Played on the 15-string kantele made by Keijo Säteri.

Saattajat

A demo. Played on different kind of kanteles.

Inside my room there is
A forest with golden leaves
It moves, it waves, it sighs
With so many voices inside

              And they weave together
                       Each with its unique color
             And they weave together
       Each with its unique voice

And I know that they all are
                                                  Inside of  me

The forest with golden leaves 
Has a room reserved for me
As I arrive it's never the same
That's why I keep coming back again and again

And they weave together
Each with its unique color
And they weave together
Each with its unique voice

And I know that they all can be found
inside of me

Inside

A demo played on two bronze and brass string kanteles.

NeverTheLess

Played on the 15-string kantele made by Keijo Säteri.

Forget-me-not. 3.6.2012

Played on the 15-string kantele made by Keijo Säteri

Sails

Played on the 12-string kantele replica made by Rauno Nieminen (1906, museum of Perniö) and the 15-string kantele (steel strings) made by Keijo Säteri. This is where I am now in searching for the right sound for this one year old Perniö replica. I've tried several different string material, and the top plate has been thinned a little. At the moment it has different kinds af bronze and brass strings. I used the traditional plucking technique, the bow, muted sounds, the tuning key (as slide and rhythm) etc.

Searching Perniö 14.7.2012

This is a compilation from our improvisations in Toronto in Nov 2018. Alison Melville, recorders, klockenspiel - Ben Grossman, hurdy-gurdy - Arja Kastinen, kanteles. Photo by Colin Savage. (The photo is taken in St. Catherins at the Rodman Hall Art Centre, Nov 24, 2018, on the "Northern Oracle", an installation by artist Heather Hart.)

When we met in Toronto

When we met in Toronto_Alison Melville-Ben Grossman-Arja Kastinen

This is a soundtrack for Sirpa Ylhäinen's art exhibition "Maan lapset" at the art museum of Varkaus, Finland, January the 11th - February the 24th, 2013. The exhibition is the third (out of four) in the collaboration "Siemenen ajatus" by Sirpa and Arja (more information at www.temps.fi). There are six different kanteles used in this soundtrack: the 15-string kantele made by Keijo Säteri, two 5-string kanteles made by Rauno Nieminen (bronze and viscose strings), the 10-string kantele made by Pekka Lovikka (bronze and brass strings),  the 14-string kantele made by Erkki Okkonen (with drone strings) and the 12-string replica from Perniö museum made by Rauno Nieminen (brass strings). In addition to the plucking technique there are also bow sounds, harmonics, muted sounds, soundboard echo etc. (Image: "Maan lapset" art by Sirpa Ylhäinen, photo: Kari Hyttinen)

Maan lapset (Children of Earth)

Played on the 15-string kantele. A little bit of sound editing along as well. The instrument builder: Keijo Säteri.

Saturday

This is my bittersweet farewell to the "Nurmes 1626" replica. The instrument was made by Rauno Nieminen during a project by the museum of Nurmes and I was lucky to get the instrument  for one year to test it. The material was recorded already during last autumn but I haven't had the chance to work on it until now. The replica has 12 brass-strings and the box  lacks the "ponsi" and the "varras" (metal bar) that are typical features of the Finnish-Karelian kanteles (more info at my official site). As at this recording, I often played the replica together with the 14-string so called Korpiselkä-kantele with steel strings; the resonance that resulted from these two together was divine. At this track I used in addition to the traditional plucking technique also the bow, harmonics, muted sounds and blowing through the sound hole. The idea for the title came from an article about the on-going search for alien civilizations. 

Odd Civilization

This 12-string kantele replica was made in 2011 by Rauno Nieminen. The original instrument was bought in 1906 from the kantele player Iivana Shemeikka and is kept in the museum of Perniö, Finland. The solid piece of pinewood is hollowed out from the upper side, and the separate cover is fastened with small nails. The original instrument didn’t have strings even when it was bought, but there are a few small pieces of brass wire around the metal bar, and thus brass strings were put also into this replica. The timbre has been an issue from the very beginning. For more than a hundred years Finnish people have used to the sound of steel string kanteles. The sound of this replica is totally different and it seems a little hard to accept that a Finnish kantele could actually sound like this. In addition, the sound of the three highest strings is kind of stuffy. Different kinds of brass wire have been tried out, and also the front plate has been sanded a little thiner. The next step may be that also the box will be hollowed out a little thinner.

The Timbre Issue

Kantele. 
Improvisation. 
Replicas. 
Continuum.


Arja Kastinen

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