Poropetra - Interview with Virva Holtiton - June 2005
Thank
you very much for providing Sheol Magazine with your CD. By the way, what´s the
title of the CD? (I can´t see it in the booklet.)
-It is in the booklet. It's name is simply "Poropetra". It's easy and
natural way to make your first -MCD self-titled. ;)
It´s really a very different kind of music for me here, because, you know, in
Germany we don´t get to hear Finnish folk music that often. It´s really a
treat for my ears to hear such soulfull spiritual music from the heart of
Finnland. There is a review about the album on Sheol Magazine, but for the
readers who still can´t imagine what it sounds like > how would you yourself
describe the sound of your music, and who are the people who might be interested
in listening to that kind of music (from the rest of Europe I mean, besides the
Finns)?
-I would consider our music both modern Finnish folk music and ethnic
kantele-rock music. It's pure and it's very honest music, which is closed to
nature and our hearts. You can hear the legacy of our forefathers in it - with
an echo of the future. I've noticed that many kind of people are interested in
our music - and not only in Finland! If you like modern or traditional
Baltic-Finnic folk music (Nostatus, Sinimaniseele, Tshakku, Värttinä), ethnic
folk rock music (Atalyja, Myllärit, Oort, Pohjannaula, Tarujen saari, Vägilased,
Yat-Kha) or folk metal (Korpiklaani, Metsatöll, Skyforger, Zalvarinis), I can
recommend Poropetra's music to you!
What are the lyrics about (as they are in Finnish language plus one song in
Estonian I of course haven´t got a clue about the content). Is there a concept
behind the music/lyrics or is each song about a different subject?
-The lyrical concept of our music is straight continuum to an old Baltic-Finnic
folk songs. In "Poropetra" -MCD the song "Salon sahti" is a
drinking song, "Saare piiga" is an epic song and "Tunturikukka"
is a love song. In our forthcoming "Sinihirwi" - album we have a
pleasure to introduce you also some spells, invocating songs, legends,
traditional dances, songs to children, laments and more love songs. Our lyrics
are from the lived life itself and from everything which surrounds it.
-"Saare piiga" is the only song I've written in Estonian. I made that
song during the time I lived in Estonia. As a respect to my history, I left it
in Estonian. All other Poropetra - songs are written in my native tongue -
Finnish. The Finnish runo-singing - style is born from the base of the Finnish,
Karelian, Estonian and Votic languages. You run with the feet you learned to
walk, you sing with the tongue you learned to talk.
Is your music typical or average Finnish folk music or is it different from
other folk from your country (if so, what´s the difference exactly)?
-The root of our music is in ancient Baltic-Finnic folk music, in Finno-Ugric
runo-singing tradition and in kantele-playing tradition. In this base we mix
influences from throat-singing and from modern metal. We want to preserve
primeval Finnish folk music tradition along with ancient Finnish folk
instruments, but also we dare to create something new in it with modern elements.
I think it's unic how we combine different things in our music. We're able to
capture different feelings into our songs, and that's the thing which makes
Poropetra's music one of it's kind.
How close are you to the Finnish folk music scene in general and personally?
It seems to be an important part of your life!?
-I don't see, if there is an actual "scene" in folk music in Finland.
But I know many Finnish folk musicians and folk bands and I listen good
traditional Finnish music every day. The folk music and traditions are more a
way of life to me. I've always been fascinated by the languages, folklore and
history of the Finno-Ugric peoples. And I'm totally self-taught as a
kantele-player and runo-singer. I train my kantele skills every day. Those
traditions are one with my life.
How far does your own music reflect Finnish traditions and nationalism? How
important are these traditions and what do you think is it that makes Finnish
people so proud of their own country? You know, some European countries tend to
achieve a mixture of all cultures and beliefs (being really open-minded) and
their traditions get lost with time, while the Finns still follow them
passionated. Where might this difference in priority come from? Which of the 2
views seem more progressive to you?
-As I already said earlier, our music is straight continuum to old folk songs.
Our songs are part of my own life. Our goal is to upkeep kantele and
runo-singing traditions and develope them further. Only in that way the
tradition preserves, lives and breeths. And there's nothing nationalism -
related in our music. I don't like that stuff.
-Actually it's quite opposite here in Finland. Many people are NOT aware of
their own roots in here. There's much lack of knowledge in Finland. Specially
among young people, which makes me truly worry. If you're playing silently
kantele in the train or in the bus, people wonders what are you doing and asks:
"What's that instrument you're playing?" And you answer: "It's
kantele. Our national instrument, isn't it."
-I've noticed those things in many well known Finnish messageboards. Only a few
weeks ago I went over long and painfull discussions. People made their totally
own misleading conclusions concerning Finnish folk music and traditions, and got
upset when I told how the things REALLY are. I've been lived many years deeply
devocated into our folklore, and I do got annoyed and frustrated when someone -
without ANY knowledge about the subject - comes to teach daddy how to f**k. This
very same thing I've seen also in few Finnish "Poropetra" - reviews. I
had to explain those writers what is OUR OWN folk music tradition!! It was
really frustrating, can you imagine?
-I lived a year and half in Estonia, and there the situation is totally
different. There people are proud of their culture, and you can see it in every
day life. I could enjoy folk music happenings in every warm spring day as I
wandered in the marketplace of Tartu. In Estonia I really started to learn
kantele playing and people inspired me and couraged me to do my own music. I
have much Poropetra fans in Estonia - they even wanted me to do more songs in
Estonian! In Estonia kantele for example may be a common add even among with
usual rock band! And if you ask me, the best combination between metal and folk
music is Estonian band Metsatöll's "Hiiekoda" - album. And in Estonia
there's still preserved the knowledge how to build old instruments. My own
12-string kantele is made by Rait Pihlap, a very skillfull and talented Estonian
kantele maker. They don't make such a kanteles here in Finland
-Luckily I've sensed that the situation here in Finland is in the way to become
better. People are discovering their roots and the records of brand new fresh
folk music groups can be more and more often found in communal libraries. And in
which direction this kantele tradition is about to develope, it's only honour
and pleasure to take a part of it! Along with Poropetra I have to advertize
Frostheim Kuuraparta's band Nostatus and Aslak Tolonen's Nest. Their work and
devocation with kantele has inspired me much in my own music.
Are the other 2 band members (Frostheim and Hittavainen) fixed members? Or is
it your own project and they just helped out with this particular project? Which
instruments do they play within the band? Are they involved in the songwriting?
-Hittavainen and Frostheim have been a permanent members of my band since the
day I found Poropetra in autumn 2002. Their role is very big in our music.
Hittavainen records, produces, mixes and masters our works. We made "Poropetra"
-MCD in Hittavainen's home studio and "Sinihirwi" -CD will be forged
to be exist in both Frostheim's and Hittavainen's residences. In "Poropetra"
-MCD I made the vocals, kanteles and percussions. Frostheim did the backing
vocals and Hittavainen played all other instruments (violin, guitars, bass,
jouhikko, torupill, mouth harp, mandoline, pipes).
-In our new forthcoming "Sinihirwi" - album our line-up is doubled. We
have now six members in our band. I play kanteles (both 5-string and 12-string
kantele) and some minor percussions and I do most of the vocals, and all
throat-singing vocals and some yoik too. Hittavainen plays violin, jouhikko,
torupill, mandoline, mouth harp and pipes. Frostheim's role is now bigger: he
plays double kantele-tracks with his 12-string kantele, some guitar tracks and
he also sings in most of the songs with me. We have now a true ethno drummer,
Aapo in our lines; he makes all the major ethno percussions (djembe, udu and
bongo drums) and even some didgeridoo and Tibetan singing pot. And we have also
two beautiful women in our band too: Peikko-IP plays most of the guitars and
bass lines, and Elsa does the vocal-parts with me and Frostheim.
-All Poropetra members are needful persons in our band. Without them this
wouldn't be possible. They all have free hands to arrange their own instruments.
They are all talented musicians and my very good friends. It means lot to me to
play with them. I'm very satisfied in all the work they're done to Poropetra. I
want to play with them as long as I can keep kantele in my hands.
-I write almost all the music and lyrics in Poropetra. But every help is needful,
and if someone comes up with a song that would fit into our concept, we'll use
it. In "Poropetra" -MCD I had the main melody of "Tunturikukka"
and the lyrics, but I didn't get any forward with it, so Hittavainen finished
it. In our next CD "Sinihirwi" there's one Frostheim's song and one
Peikko-IP's song. We also use some traditional Finnish folk lyrics and
traditional Baltic-Finnic folk melodies in "Sinihirwi" -CD.
Line-up in "Poropetra" -MCD:
Virva Holtiton: vocals, throat-singing, 10-string kantele, shaman drum,
mouth harp, percussions.
Hittavainen: guitars, bass, violin, jouhikko, torupill, mandoline, pipes,
mouth harp.
Frostheim Kuuraparta: backing vocals, humming.
Line up NOW (31.5.2005):
Elsa: female vocals
Virva Holtiton: vocals, throat-singing, 12-string kantele, 5-string
kantele, electrified 5-string kantele, shaman drum, hands, maracass,
cattle-calling bells
Hittavainen: violin, jouhikko, mandoline, torupill, pipes, mouth harp
Peikko-IP: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass
Frostheim Kuuraparta: vocals, 12-string kantele, electric guitar, hands
Aapo: bongos, djembe, udu, didgeridoo, Tibetan singing pot, rain stick
Please could you tell us non-Finns something about the traditional Finnish
instruments you use on your CD (names, what do they sound like, what do you know
about the history of those intruments etc.) and why do you use especially those?
Are they hard to get in Finland nowadays or are they still easy to find all over
the place?
-I tell you about our key instrument, which is - what a surprise - the kantele.
It's stringed instrument classified as a being a member of the zither family.
It's Finland's national instrument. It has a somewhat two thousand years old
history in Baltic-Finnic and Baltic music culture. Kantele has many forms and
names among the peoples who live in that area: Finns have kantele, Estonians
have kannel, Latvians have kokle, Lithuanians have kankles, and one form is also
Russian gusli. I use actually kannel - because of my own 12-stringed kantele is
made in Estonia!
-The oldest kantele-type is the 5-stringed kantele. It was hollowed out of a
piece of wood either from abow or below. The version hollowed had a separate lid.
Before the advent of metal strings these were made of twisted horse-hair.
Finnish folklore records also maiden's hair. In later times strings were made of
copper or steel wire. The instrument was tuned to a pentatonic scale
corresponding to the first five notes of the major or minor scale.
-The hollowed kantele was replaced in time by the kantele made of separate
boards. The number of strings grew and the technique of playing changed. All
this happened a couple of centuries ago. The chest-type kanteles are
diatonically tuned, and there are numerous traditional ways to play them.
-In the 1920s the kantele underwent a revolution with the invention by Paul
Salminen of a tuning mechanism rather similar to that of a concert harp. By
means of levers it is possible to produce chromatic notes and modulate to
different keys. By chromatic concert kantele you can play anything from folk
music to classic.
-There's a three ways of playing kantele. In Finnish-Karelian region the kantele
was chiefly played by "picking" the strings, but in the Baltic region
kantele was played by playing rhythm: the other hand pulls gently some strings
down and other hand plays the rhythm. And from the last one has developed the
mixed style, from which you can play rhythm and same time "pick" the
strings. I prefer mainly rhythm and mixed style, but I also use time to time
"picking" style too. So my own playing style is in all areas a mixed
style of Finnish and Baltic traditions.
-It was already very clear even from the first moments that kantele would be the
dominating instrument in Poropetra. Kantele-playing was the most natural way to
bring out the real ancient feeling of Finnish folk music. I didn't want to learn
for example accordeon, because it's so much newer add in folk instruments. The
first accordeon was made in Germany in 1822, so it's a "baby"
comparing it to a "old man" - kantele - which is at least 2000 years
old and stricktly our OWN traditional instrument. Many of its structural
features make the kantele unique of all instruments of the whole wide world.
-For a metalhead I could recommend to listen the music of Metsatöll and
Skyforger. They use a lot kantele in their music. Finnish metal bands are not
used so much kantele, but I know that Ensiferum, Moonsorrow and Korpiklaani have
some kantele in their records. Actually Frostheim plays kantele in Moonsorrow's
"Verisäkeet" album in the track "Jotunheim" and I play
kantele in Korpiklaani's "Voice of the Wilderness" album in the track
"Kädet siipinä"! ;)
-In Finland you can get your own kantele for example from Lovikka (http://www.lovikka.com),
Soitinrakentajat AMF (http://www.soitinrakentajatamf.fi)
or Koistinen (http://www.koistinenkantele.fi).
But you can get your own unique kantele made by primeval ways from Estonia -
from Kandlekoda (http://www.kandlekoda.ee)
- much cheaper!
-A side of kantele we do have other Baltic-Finnic folk instruments too in use.
From older instruments I'll name the jouhikko (a bowed harp), torupill (Estonian
bagpipe) and mouth harp. From newer folk instruments we use violin and mandoline.
I don't know their history so well, as I know kantele's history, but they do
share the very same function: to build the true atmosphere of the old Finnish
folk music.
I think I heared the word "Poropetra" in the lyrics of "Salon
sahti". But maybe I´m totally wrong. What does the word mean?
-You heard right. In the song "Salon sahti" there's a couple of times
mentioned "Poropetra". "Poropetra" is ancient Finnish
language and means "The Elk of Hiisi". "Hiisi" is also
ancient Finnish language and means "the sacret forest". So, one might
say that "Poropetra" means "The elk from the sacred forest".
As you can see, one Finnish word can mean even six words of English language!
-The Elk of Hiisi is one of the most best known Finnish-Karelian mythological
animals. It has also called by the name "Sinihirwi" ("The Blue
Elk" in English), which is - how surprisingly - the name of our new album.
Elk of Hiisi was the magical blue elk, which was always been hunted by the most
best hunters, who never catched the animal. Finally the great hunter Vuojolainen
(in "Kalevala" Vuojolainen is replaced by Lemminkäinen) hunts the Elk
of Hiisi so patiently, that Elk of Hiisi climbs up to the sky, Vuojolainen still
after him. They are there still: ancient Finns had the signs of the zodiac for a
hunter and for an elk. The myth about the sky-elk lives also in the folklore of
the all peoples from Lapland to Siberia. Our forthcoming epic song "Sinihirwi"
will tell you this ancient legend of Poropetra, the Elk of Hiisi!
Is your songwriting based on already excisting folk music tunes of your
country, or are all these your own independend ideas?
-Both and. Mainly I prefer my totally own tunes, but in "Sinihirwi"
album there is used some real folk tunes too.
What´s the inspiration for your music (instrumentally and lyrically) and
what are the places you write your music? What I mean is, does the environment
have to have the right ambience for you before you can write good music or can
you do it no matter where you are?
-I wander often in the forests of Hämeenlinna, which is inland town situated in
centre of South-Finland. In nature I get the ideas and then the primeval music
flows through me. But I can do good music in my home too when the feeling and
the mood is right.
-The lyrics will always come first. It's easy to snap just the right atmosphere
from the lyrics in writing the music. Sometimes it may take a months without no
songs at all, and sometimes I may write four songs in two days! I don't stress
about it: the songs just come, when their time is right.
-I also have sometimes very crazy ideas, how I want to arrange my songs. It's
important to me to have fun in music making. When I truly enjoy during the
song-writing process, I believe that other people enjoy the final versions too.
If you could write the music for a book (to make a film out of the book),
which book would that be and why?
-It would be my own book. I'm working on with my first novel, which deals with
magical realism, dark humour, adventure, sex and Finno-Ugric myths. It's placed
in my very own world and only I can create a perfect musical background to it.
I'm written lyrics, poems and my own stories since I was 10-years old, and it's
also one way to express myself and my own feelings. I love writing in rich
Finnish language, I adore so much my own native tongue. I hope that in some day
I'll get my work published.
Are there any other band projects you are working on? What kind of style is
it? Have you ever thought about trying something really different? What I mean
is music which has absolutely nothing to do with folk in any way?
-I'm involved in one ethno project, which is actually our ethno drummer's
project. It's quite a stone-age - kind of music based on djembe drums,
didgeridoo and throat-singing. It's good to make something totally different for
time to time; that's how I'm more interested in my own music making too.
-And I honestly want to help people and participate with bands and persons, who
have same kinds of feelings and who make music even slightly related to folk
music. I can give something from me to others, and others can give something
from themselves to me too. If you're in need of throat-singing vocals, kantele
or runo-singing lyrics, I'm here ready to co-operate! :)
Are you working on the new Poropetra album already?
-Yes, we're working on with the the new Poropetra album "Sinihirwi".
Whereas the first "Poropetra" -MCD showed the warm and yellow side of
us, the new "Sinihirwi" -CD will show the colder and bluer side. The
songs itself are simpler and more closer to real folk songs, but in same time
the arrangements are much heavier, and more proggressive. I call them as
"an electrified folk songs". In the same side along with
metal-influenced arrangements, there's also two songs, which only have singing
in it, and one "man and kantele" - song. The concept is forced to
expand in every possible directions! Altogether there's fifty-fifty acoustic and
electric songs in the album.
-I think I can recommend "Sinihirwi" to a metalheads. There's much
heavy guitar riffs in it. And in the spirit of proggression, I used also some
electrified kantele in some songs. I managed to capture the magical and
shamanistic sound of kantele into a form of electric. So you can expect to hear
some electrified and distorted kantele riffing along with electric guitars! In
"Sinihirwi" one can sense all the music I've been liked during my
lifetime. You can hear even some doom metal - influences in it!
-I also use more throat-singing in "Sinihirwi" - album than in "Poropetra".
There's few songs, where the throat vocals are in dominating position.
Throat-singing is actually a part of Tuvinian folklore, and I learned the
singing style in accident. When I thinked how it would fit into my songs, I
immediately said to myself: "You MUST use this in your music! This is
HEAVY!" We don't need the basic and usual growling/grunting vocals - we
have throat-singing!
-Now we've recorded all kanteles, some percussions, and all vocals by me and
Frostheim, and some guitars. Everything else is yet unrecorded, so there's much
to work still ahead. I don't give you any particular day, when the CD is done.
Maybe in the late of summer or the early fall. I'll inform all the updates and
info in my website.
How can anyone interested in your music get the CD (contact info)?
-You can contact me by e-mail. You can send all "Poropetra" - related
post into e-mail address poropetra@luukku.com
You can also visit in my website, which is in address http://www.hirwenkota.cjb.net
There's both Finnish and English version of it. "Poropetra" -MCD is
still available in the price of 6,50 Euros (includes postage).
Thanx for taking out time for this interview.
-Thank's to you! :)
(Virva and Frostheim with their kanteles/ used with permission of
V.Holtiton):
