Sweet Spot Between Extremes
Listening Post 391. Värttinä has iconic status in Finnish folk music, and considering the ensemble’s boreal origin it’s no surprise that Kyly, their fourteenth studio album, features themes of heat and cold— expressed in sharp harmonies and rich subtleties. The chill in the opening track, Riesa (Under the Weather, video 1), refers not to temperature but to respiratory distress, and woe to the virus that trespasses on these glorious vocal chords, as the women curse the intruder and appear to relish the fight. But it’s in turning up the heat that Värttinä gets to the root of their music—and also of Finnish identity. The band formed in 1983 in Rääkkyla, the smallest town in the North Karelia region. Founding member Mari Kassinen anchors the group today with Susan Aho and Karoliina Kantelinen, backed by three musicians on acoustic instruments. Finns recognize Karelia—setting of the Kalevala, the nation’s national epic poem—as the wellspring of their culture, but much of Karelia itself was lost in the Soviet-Finnish Winter War of 1939-40, and at least 10 percent of Finland’s population is descended from refugees who fled the conquered areas. The album’s title track is set in the sauna but it’s a dark and foreboding chamber, inspired by a trip into what is now Russian Karelia; it’s a spiritual as much as a physical sweat, accompanied by chants for purification and liberation from evil spirits. Nostalgia turns inward in Maaruska (Autumn Colors), written after a concert in central Finland where a team of affable Ukrainian caterers reminded the artists of earlier refugees, including their own forebears, uprooted by war. Kyly also showcases the lightness of flight: Kaihomieli (Longing), floats on currents of sadness and wanderlust, while Kukkilindu (Flower Bird), offers a touch of folklore that evokes Finland’s perennial ranking as the world’s happiest country. Like the nation that makes the most of its raw elements, Värttinä fashions talent and experience into soundscapes of wonder. (Rockadillo Records)

Värttinä: Kyly*
Susan Aho: Vocals, accordion
Mari Kaasinen: Vocals, kantele
Karoliina Kantelinen: Vocals, pipes, kantele
Matti Laitinen: String instruments, vocals
Lassi Logrén: Fiddle, jouhikko, vocals
Mikko Hassinen: Percussion

*Värttinã is Finnish for “spindle”
Kyly is an old Karelian word for “sauna” or “bath”; linguists are divided on whether Karelian is a dialect of Finnish or a language in its own right.

Note: Värttinä’s 2012 song Kaihon Kantaja (The Bearer of Yearning) is #60 on World Listening Post’s list of “The Global 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” https://worldlisteningpost.com/the-global-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-page-1/

Riesa / Under the Weather
Lyrics: Mari Kaasinen/Music: Matti Laitinen

(From the Finnish lyrics)

You annoying little pest/I’ll knock you to the ground
You annoying little pest/I’ll kick you out
Now there’s the cough/The shivering has started
This disease is contagious/A big nuisance.

Coughing up phlegm/A nasty cold
A sneeze’s joke/A nose’s plea

Throat is closing up/The sickness stifles my words
Whrobbing in my chest/Whips up my lungs

If you’ve come from the country/I’m going to the ground
From the heavens, on the wind/You’re a nuisance
If you’ve risen from the water/You’re a burden, I’ll force you out
Ripples

Send the cough away/Coughing up blood
I’ll smoke you out/I’ll burn in the fire’s ashes
Go away your malevolence/Burn your own bridges
From this maiden’s throat/From an ailing body

Kyly / Sauna
Lyrics: Karoliina Kantalinen, Traditional/Music: Karoliina Kantelinen

My sauna, my steam room, my sauna bath/Roll away my troubles, sweep away my worries
My sauna, my steam room, Kyly’s steam room is burning/Bathe in cool water, gently with a washcloth.

Heat up my sauna, burn the wood cleanly/With the splintering of the ice, with the falling of the passing moon
Splash a little water with a whisk, throw it on the rocks/With a bucket of water, I splash it on the floor

Go bathe in the frozen lake/Away with your worries, away with your troubles
The oldest of the waves, the troubles flow away/Put on clean clothes, white clothes

Hit the sauna bench, wipe your brow with a towel/The black worm milkweed, haunted by the devil
There is no escape from the heat, no relief from the pain/Bathing in Satan’s sauna, burning with anger

There’s no finding it in the sauna/Black worm milkweed
Black kyly, white kyly, golden king of kyly/The pure mother of trees

Hit the sauna bench, splash water with a whisk, use an old man’s bucket, and throw water with your foot.
Simmer with the nettles, with a burning whisk. Let anger sway you, burn with passion.

Push the pain further away, hot pain, hot anger/Put on clean clothes, white clothes
Have a pagan bath, take what is yours/Carry your own evil, take away your good, sweat the heat from the stone!
Pain, be gone!

Maaruska /Autumn Colors
Lyrics: Mari Kaasinen, Matti Laitinen/Music: Matti Laitinen, Lassi Logrén

A maiden from her best place has gone home/A maiden has gone away from her dearest home, her home
From that cold village, from the last hatred/The wind carries the insecure, drives the hungry, without mercy

Let the gusts and winds come/There’s no need for the shelters of hell
Autumn colors, autumn colors/The sky cannot hold the autumn colors
Autumn colors, autumn colors/The sky cannot hold, autumn colors.

Autumn colors, autumn colors
Autumn colors, autumn colors
Autumn colors, autumn colors

What have I taken from my previous life?/I carry my dearest, my darling
I leave my high home, I leave my cold village/The people do not live in harmony, nor is there peace on the shores
Let the wind and storms come.There’s no need for the shelters of hell.

Kaihomieli / Longing
Lyrics: Karoliina Kantelinen/Music: Matti Laitinen

I sat on a stone of longing, looking out/The birch whispered, calling me to fly away
I sat on a stone of longing, watching/I hoped that the wind would push me, to lift under my wings.

I sat on a stone of longing, looking out/I was ready to fly away, over the sea
Take only your instincts, again you wander/Only thoughts of longing are with you

Red trees, green waters/They seduce the migratory bird
Take your instincts, again you wander/Only the mind of longing accompanies you

Red trees, green waters/They seduce the migratory bird
Restlessness churns within me, calling me to travel/Longing calmed the storms, my mind made the waves subside

Restless flutter within me, calling me to travel/My mind takes me to other continents, to live on the clouds
Take only your instincts, again the traveler/Only the mind of longing accompanies you

Red trees, green waters/They seduce the migratory bird
Take only longing, only to travel/Again the migratory bird is on its journey

Golden moons, mountain waters/They seduce the migratory bird
Take only your instincts, again the traveler/Only the longing mind accompanies you

Kukkilindu / Flower Bird
Lyrics: Mari Kaasinen, Karoliina Kantelinen/Music: Mikko Hassinen

As winter wanes, the day grows longer/From the Kolkonpohja path, from the back of the sky
As winter falls, the day grows longer/From the Kolkonpohja path, from the back of the sky

The south wind brings a light breath/The cloud sparkles in the evening chill
The south wind brings a light breath/The cloud sparkles in the evening chill.

The message chirps, who hears the call?/To that which is coming, to the chosen one
The message chirps, who hears the call?/To that which is coming, it takes to the chosen one

Behind the rain, a falcon/The cemetery is calling
The soul bird is fluttering/Something better is coming

The whole village waits/The message is coming
Who the flower predicts/Delivers its words

When it summons the underworld/Who is it calling?
Better things to come/The whole village waits

It is circling, winding, who hears the call?/The lucky charm is being shed, the torment is prolonged
The message is chirping, who hears the call?/That which is coming, will take to the chosen on

Behind the rain, a falcon/The cemetery is calling
The soul bird flutters/Better things to come

The whole village waits/The message is coming
Who is the flower that is predicting?/Delivering its words