VA - Anthology of Electroacoustic Music from Finland (2023)

There is a long tradition of Electroacoustic music in Finland beginning in the 1950’s with the experimentation of tape music. Finland’s first electronic musical instrument the "Sähkövalopiano" or "Electric Light Piano" was built before this in 1894. It was constructed in the Polytechnic Institute (now Aalto University) in Helsinki. Finland also has a tradition of blending archaic traditional music in the contemporary music scene. The Kalevala tradition for example dates back centuries before today and the instruments associated with it were used to accompany shepherds on their lonely watches, or village dance parties bringing joy and sense of belonging to communities. These musical traditions have been revitalised by being used in a modern context. Even with the emerging of new technologies to open new horizons for composing music, the avant garde movement and a plethora of new and continuously evolving music genres, the very root of Finnish Kalevala tradition has stayed alive and has been brought to the present, not only in its original form, but also being integrated into electroacoustic realm by the musicians willing to experiment. Rauno Nieminen, a master luthier of archaic instruments and a musician, explains this best: “An instrument or a musical culture can stay alive only if it will be adapted to the music that new generations are creating". This compilation is proof that the Finnish musical tradition and its instruments are still alive and taking steps to new sound territories.

Heikki Lindgren

Facts about electroacoustic music history in Finland from the studies of Petri Kuljuntausta.

Traditional instruments used in the record (among others): bowed lyre, overtone flute, kantele, jaw harp among others.