Kantele Taikka Suomen Kansan sekä Wanhoja että Nykyisempiä Runoja ja Lauluja, II

This audio collection gathers a vibrant chorus of Finland’s oldest verses, collected in the early nineteenth century by scholar Elias Lönnrot. Listeners will hear shepherd’s laments, children’s lullabies, and festive village songs that once rang across the pine‑clad hills of Karelia and Savonia. The archaic language glimmers with simple beauty, letting the poetry of work, love and sorrow flow straight into the landscape. Each piece is presented as it would have sounded around a crackling hearth, preserving the raw immediacy of oral tradition.

Among the pieces are the daring exploits of the heroic Lemminkäinen, the gentle verses of the “Kultaneito” (Golden Maiden), and a handful of ritual chants invoking spirits of forest and field. The anthology also includes practical work songs—like the rhythmic chants of a herdsman hauling bundles—offering a glimpse into daily life in pre‑industrial Finland. While the collection is rooted in myth and folklore, its themes of longing, bravery, and the changing seasons feel surprisingly universal. Listeners will come away with a richer sense of how music and poetry once bound communities together across the northern wilds.