Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Playing Kantele


A rather utilitarian video of my playing, Little My, one of my five string kanteles. The instrument shows up many times in my short story collection, Unikirja.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice Vlog! The instrument is beautiful and I love the sound. :)

I've played the guitar, both acoustic and electric for 45 years, and I'm a fan of all stringed instruments. I'd never seen this one before. Thanks for sharing this, and happy pickin' & strummin'!

Marvin D Wilson
http://inspiritandtruths.blogspot.com/
http://tiedyedtirades.blogspot.com/

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

A nice sounding instrument - I enjoyed the demo. Thanks.

Jane Kennedy Sutton
http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/

joe doaks-Author said...

Gee, that was just great. What a pretty sound the Kantele makes--due in part to the musician, for sure. Nicely done. Charming post.
Galen
http://GalenKindley.com

Alexis Grant said...

This is so cool! I want to learn to play! I love when bloggers include videos within posts -- And you kept it to under 1:30, which I think is a good cutoff for time.

KK Brees said...

What a great change of pace, although you've been leading up to it all along. Wonderful- You've Got Talent!

Karen K. Brees, Ph.D.
http://www.karenkbrees.com
http://www.practicalpreserving.blogspot.com

C. Margery Kempe said...

Thank you all for the kind comments! The kantele is a beautiful and soothing instrument. It's easy to picture all the animals laying down to listen to Väinämöinen play, isn't it?

Alexis -- it's also very easy to learn, particularly the 5-string. In Finland, they introduce them to small kids in school.

I'm saving to get one of the cherry red electric 15-strings from Koistinen. They are really gorgeous.

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

What a beautiful sound it makes! Thanks for introducing me to the Kantele. I really enjoyed your clip...

Elizabeth
http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/

Patricia Stoltey said...

That was excellent. The video clip is well done and plays smoothly without pausing, even on my stubborn laptop. The instrument sound is nice -- reminds me of the instrument my aunt used to play as she demonstrated folk music from the Appalachians.

Patricia
http://patriciastoltey.blogspot.com

Jina Bacarr said...

Charming and magical!! I love the melodic sound of your Kantele. Also, your presentation was very natural and appealing. Video length was perfect.

Jina

http://tinyurl.com/BerlinSexDiary

AlanChinWriter said...

That was both charming and educational. Thank you for sharing that with me.

Alan Chin
Author of Island Song
http://alanchin.net

Julie Lomoe said...

This will inspire me to finally get the audio speakers on my computer working - they've been silent for far too long!

Dani said...

Alas, I can't get the photos to download today, much less the vlog. Sigh. The delights of country living include dial-up.

Dani
http://twitter.com/blogbooktours

Charlotte Phillips said...

Thanks for sharing! I love the sound.

Connie Arnold said...

Thanks for sharing your playing of the kantele. That was lovely!

Todd Mason said...

As Patricia Stotley notes, the semblance to an autoharp is strong, and not unflattering to either.

Get down with your musical self, Kate!

C. Margery Kempe said...

LOL -- I don't think I ever noticed just how asymmetrical my face is! Wow. Thanks for the kind comments. Glad folks enjoyed it.