{"id":102,"date":"2025-04-11T08:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T06:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/?p=102"},"modified":"2025-04-11T08:45:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T06:45:00","slug":"innovative-swedish-finnish-duo-broadens-horizons-in-their-folk-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/?p=102","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Innovative Swedish-Finnish duo broadens horizons in their folk music.&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-36.png?w=1010\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-103\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>With traditional instruments, one can emphasize cultural distinctiveness, but just as easily a sense of unity. Contrary to what today\u2019s nationalists might believe, sounds travel easily across national borders. On the album <em>\u201cMigrating\u201d<\/em>, the Finnish-Swedish duo Maija Kauhanen and Johannes Geworkian Hellman embrace the idea of folk music as a migratory bird \u2014 or <em>muuttolintu<\/em> in Finnish. This constructed genre became a caged bird primarily through 19th-century ideas about the nation-state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maija Kauhanen plays the <strong>kantele<\/strong> \u2014 a string instrument of the zither family \u2014 and was awarded the <strong>Nordic Council Music Prize<\/strong> two years ago as an \u201cexplosively powerful and versatile one-woman orchestra.\u201d Johannes Geworkian Hellman is known as one half of the innovative folk duo <strong>Symbio<\/strong> and plays the <strong>hurdy-gurdy<\/strong>. The two discovered their musical connection while exchange students in Stockholm and Helsinki, respectively. From occasional improvisational sessions, the idea for a joint album was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-37.png?w=520\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-104\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Now their debut <em>\u201cMigrating\u201d<\/em> arrives at a fitting time \u2014 amid both NATO cooperation and a wave of KAJ-fever. Two richly resonant instruments together sound like an entire ensemble, straddling the line between folk and art music. The sound travels freely across expansive vistas and sonic landscapes, each with its own backstory detailed in the album booklet. Kauhanen\u2019s vocal technique is rooted in the Finno-Ugric singing tradition, and her voice often adds wordless, shimmering colors to a warmly rhythmic flow \u2014 as in the gently rustling track <em>\u201cMother\u2019s Song\u201d<\/em> with its minimalist pulse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other tracks carry a Celtic feel or venture even farther out into the world. My only reservation is that <em>\u201cSide by Side\u201d<\/em> sounds like a cheerfully clich\u00e9d Disney version of its inspiration, <em>\u201cMio, My Mio.\u201d<\/em> In the songs with lyrics, it&#8217;s also a pity that English was chosen over Finnish or Swedish. Even on international duty, the music would have spoken for itself in its native tongues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The album &#8220;Migrating&#8221; by Maija Kauhanen and Johannes Geworkian Hellman exemplifies the concept of folk music as a migratory entity. Their collaboration blends the kantele and hurdy-gurdy, showcasing cultural richness. While spacious and resonant, some tracks feel clich\u00e9d, and the choice of English for lyrics detracts from its authenticity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}