July 20–27, 1995

disc quicks|roots

Martti Pokela

Ever since Sari Kaasinen of Vrttin revealed that she trained at Finland's most prestigious music school (the Sibelius Academy) as a professional player of Finland's national instrument, the kantele, I've been curious to hear it solo, not buried in the rock mix.

Martti Pokela is joined by two other kantele masters playing a variety of tunes, strictly on kantele (except for several cameos from a country cousin, the kannel, strung with horsehair.) Such a peaceful, ringing sound! The kantele appears to fall some place in the company of zither, dulcimer and harp. It evolved from a folk instrument of five strings to modern "concert kantele," as Kaasinen called them, of 36 strings with pitch altering mechanisms to flat or sharp a note.

When I get to heaven it's what I want to hear the angels playing. If they take requests, I'll ask for Pokela's arrangement of Finland's answer to "Rocky Top": "In the Hills of Karelia," played on 3 concert kanteles.

— Mary Armstrong