Sound and Spirit on the Kalevala

In my captured radio listening was a true treasure – the two episodes of Sound and Spirit on Finland’s national epic The Kalevala – one on Jan 4 called Kalevala and one on Jan 11 called Out of Finland. I found them both fascinating, and they have kindled a strong desire for me to go and actually read some of the original text. “Original text” is kind of a misnomer, since this is a collection of ancient folk tales but it’s the best term we have. Luckily for me, this is something that is available for download from Project Gutenberg. I think I’ll start reading it soon.

Another thing I found out from those two episodes is that I dig the music. I much preferred the Finnish and Sami music to the foreign interpretations of their myths. The second episode featured some yoiking from Wimme Saari, which was cool. Even better I thought was him singing with Finnish band Hedningarna, which had this yoik (kind of like either Arab wailing or Native American chanting) with this funky techno music under it. I found it captivating. Maybe I never knew it until now but I am a Finn-ophile.

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Dave Slusher is a blogger, podcaster, computer programmer, author, science fiction fan and father. Member of the Podcast Hall of Fame class of 2022.

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