Melvin Kangas: Kantele Man – Official trailer

In a fairy-tale cottage in the forest of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Melvin Kangas performs enchanting music on a traditional Finnish harp known as the kantele. Cultural sociologist Michael Loukinen details Melvin’s journey to Finland in the 1960s to learn to play kantele, Finland’s national instrument, with master artist Ulla Katajavuori. Since returning to his home community he has become a master performer in his own right. Today Melvin is widely recognized both by his community and by scholars and folklorists for developing a cadre of kantele performers who keep the tradition alive.

According to legend enshrined in the Finnish national epic Kalevala, the first kantele was created by its culture hero Väinämöinen. When he played it, all the animals came out of the forest and were mesmerized into a magical spell. They wept. Today the kantele remains relevant, visible, and beloved in Melvin’s home region and beyond. Melvin is part of a network of kantele performers across the Upper Midwest who, through regional migration, traveling festivals, and other means of connection sustain and inspire one another to play this bewitching harp. Kantele is a musical tradition rooted deeply in old Finnish and Baltic cultures. For Kangas and others like him, however, it is a beautiful means by which to engage with Finnish heritage, while at the same time making their own space for personal creativity. They are part of the dialog that tradition creates; reshaping items, ideas, and sounds from the past for our needs in the present. 

-Written by folklorist, Hilary-Joy Virtanen, PhD

This film was released in 2019 and is 27 minutes long. 

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