Kalevala Suite Overview Kalevala and Nature mythsin Finnish Music – Part 1

Vesa Matteo Piludu

Lecture 1 12.9.2011

University of Helsinki

Lotman, Universe of MindSymbols: otherness and archaic features

Symbols are a special kind of sign

Symbols are always connected to signs of other orders or languages

The content of symbols are generally highly valued in culture

A symbol is for example a religious sign used in a non-religious situation as art: novels or painting

There is always something archaic in symbols Sometimes symbols go back to pre-literate or oral cultures (fairy

tales)

Symbols

Symbols preserves long and relevant texts in a condensed form (image, icon)

The vertical cut

A symbol never belongs to one synchronic section of a culture It always cuts across that section vertically coming from the past And passing on into the future

A symbol’s memory is always more ancient than the memory of its non symbolic text content

Texts: heterogeneous

Every texts of a culture is heterogeneous, it form a complex plurality of voices, coming from different ages and times

Symbols, as powerful symbols, as condensed elements of cultural memory, can transfer texts, plots outlines, from one level of memory to another

The symbols activated cultural memory The symbols prevent the disintegration of culture in isolated layers

(no communication between classicism and romanticism)

Duality of Symbols

Symbols reveals their duality By one hand the symbol is conservative, it has elements of

repeatability and invariance The symbol is a seed, it exists before the text, it comes from the

depths of cultural memory

The symbol is like an emissary from other cultural epochs A reminder of the ancient foundation of a specific culture

To the other side A symbol actively correlates with the cultural context of the text,

transform it and is transformed by it

So there are many variant of the same symbol, that could have different meaning in different texts of different ages or places

Finland

In Finland the nature is a relevant artistic symbol

Nature isn’t ”biological” but cultural and mythological

Many natural symbols derivates from mythology and in particular the national epic poem Kalevala

Kalevala and Finnish Arts

The Finnish Epic Poem Kalevala: Old Kalevala 1835 New Kalevala1849 by Elias Lönnrot (ethnographer - poet)

In English on the web: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/kveng/index.htm

The Kalevala by Elias Lönnrot Translated by John Martin Crawford [1888]

Kalevala: based on Finnish Folk Poetry

No Kalevala in Finnish Folk Culture, but a many differents epics songs, spells, marriage songs … disconnected to each other

General context: the village culture

The message: musical-lyrical performance of a skilled singer

The code: musical – mnemonic (kalevalaic octosillabic metre): Nu-ku nuku nur-mi li----ntu

Two melodic lines (ab ab ab) Modal incipit … incipit sol in g (sol-la-do-re-mi)

Rhythm: 2/4 or 5/4

Contest of performance: often ritual (spells or long charms), local entertainment (narrative or lyric songs), work song, everyday life

Cd: The Kalevala Heritage

Track 9: Kilpalaulanta

Singer Iivo Lipitsä Registered in Helsinki 1966 SKSÄ 867:5

The song challenge: A shamanistic magic song challenge between the old tietäjä (seer,

shaman) Väinämöinen and the young Joukahainen

Joseph AlanenJoukahainen and Väinämöinen

Kalevala and shamanistic heroes

Kalevala’s heroes are not warriors, but shamans that fight with magical charms, even if they could use occasionally also swords, spears or ordinary weapons

Shamans or tietäjä (sages, seers) are magicians able to heal, to transform themselves into animals, to travel in the otherworld

Their magical powers depends on the knowledge of magic charms, incantations

The most powerful tietäjä (the-one-who-knows) of Kalevala is Väinämöinen

But all the relevant heroes of Kalevala has shamanic powers: The smith Ilmarinen, able to forge the Sky Lemminkäinen, the Nordic “Don Juan” La mother of Lemminkäinen, able to summon his son from death The tragic Kullervo, who will commit suicide

Also the enemies of the heroes has powerful shamanic powers: Louhi, the mistress of the North The joung Joukahainen

Carelian Wedding (1921) 1/3 The Proposal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnoxYC5n4yo&feature=related

Reenactment of a Carelian Wedding shot on location in Suojäri (Finland) 1920. Producer: Kalevalaseura a.k.a. The Kalevala Society. Directed by A. O. Väisänen. Script: U. T. Sirelius. Camera: J. W. Mattila. Local volonteers play the parts of the different characters.

Kalevalic runo singning today

Värttinä - Tuulen tunto (best quality) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Erf26tDccio&feature=related

Värttinä - Äijö http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu-srUiWVsQ&feature=related

Värttinä - Seelinnikoi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9ozxHOXf8I&feature=related

Kalevala ”manipulated” the signification processof Finnish Folk Poetry for a new social and cultural context

Elias Lönnrot wrote down the songs change on the code: from oral to written – from music to literature

He joined together different themes and chose the principal myth (Sampo) as a red line: from fragmentation to unity

Social context: from village culture to ”national culture”

Message’s context: from oral performance to reading

Addresser: from Oral poets (anonymous) to a ”Poet” Lönnrot

Addressee: from other villagers to intellectuals, scholars, teachers, artists, politics …

Meaning of the kalevalaic signs: from rituals and village entertainment to the building of Finnish national identity and literature

”Sprawl” of Kalevala in Finnish Arts

From the literary text to:

Symphonic, opera, Classical Music (Sibelius, Rautavaara)

Visual Arts: painting (Gallen-Kallela), sculpture, architecture, comics

Military propaganda in the Winter and Continuation Wars

Jazz, rock and ”Contemporary folk music” (Värttinä, Gjallarhorn)

Media and advertizing (Sampo)

Multimedia art, Modern Dance: Kimmo Pohjonen, Tero Saarinen

Again we have complete redefinitions of the signification of the Finnish Folk poetry using different codes and languages

Gallen-Kallela: Mäntykoski (1892)

Sibelius- Finlandia

Sakari Oramo conducts "Finlandia”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci3RPAOFok4

Sibelius:FinlandiaYle Radion Sinfoniaorkesteri (Finnish radio symphony orchestra)conducted by Sakari OramoOctober 22, 2005NHK Hall, Tokyo