Star Trek, Asian Zithers, and Kantele - Connecting the Dots

A short improvisation with my 8 stringed, deeper-tuned mahogany-frame Kantele #003. This little improv was inspired by the pentatonic scale, of which major and minor versions make up the large core of tuning for Asian instruments and music.

As usual, I always have my eyes and ears open for new instruments to peak my interest. A couple of years ago I had started construction on a Chinese guzheng, a large stringed zither from China. Most commonly consisting of 21 strings and spanning several octaves, this instrument was an ambitious project. I had become fascinated with the sound and tone of the instrument, and already having a strong interest in Asian instruments and music, and having built several already, it seemed like an excellent addition to my collection. Two years later it still stands incomplete. I have most of the wood, but never got around to finishing it. It did however begin my fascination with zithers.

Above: Chinese gugheng. Picture source and credit:
Gurumandarin, http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guzheng

Despite having a beautiful sound and repertoire, with an extensive note range, it does have the drawback of being a huge instrument. Like over a foot wide by almost six feet long, and rather heavy. Not very portable. I wanted a zither, (or at least some stringed instrument), that played 1 note per string (not including overtones), was very resonant, and small enough to travel with.

Enter Star Trek. Quite random, yes, but it will tie all together eventually. Over the past year I have grown to be quite a Star Trek fan, having been convinced by my girlfriend to start watching the Original Series, being a Trekkie herself. One noticeable thing during the series that quite caught my attention was Spock's famed Vulcan Lyre/Harp/Lute (its commonly referred to as all three.) Though just a prop in the show, with some planning and modification, it could be brought to life as a fully functioning acoustic instrument. There have been several people who have made functioning electric and acoustic versions of the instrument (this is another project I do plan on attempting sometime in the future.) Not having access to many tools at the time, and due to its rather unusual shape, I decided to do some research into simpler, historic lyres and harps. Lyres were portable and easy enough to build, but just did not have the tone I was looking for, often times flat and dull sounding with little resonance. Harps had the resonance, but were still too large and/or difficult to make with my limited tools. While browsing for more information I stumbled upon the website of Michael J. King, a luthier from the UK.While browsing through the large selection of beautifully crafted instruments he makes, I came across the kantele. It was exactly what I was looking for. Small, simple, portable, and very resonant. One thing led to another, and I was on my way to building my own.

I highly recommend checking out Michael J. King's website for information on the kantele, excellent building instructions, and introductory playing videos. Michael J. King is a very well known kantele maker, and is extremely nice and helpful. Not only does he build kanteles, but many other instruments as well, and offers plans for each. I originally bought his 5 string and 12 string kantele building guides (they are very cheap and I recommend them as excellent reference guides, well worth the price.) I didn't have the right sized woods to make them like in the instructions, and decided to build my own style, but they nevertheless were valuable guides and references. I think its quite awesome that such an excellent instrument craftsman is willing to give plans on all the instruments he builds and is so willing to share his knowledge of his craft.

Michael J. King's Website: http://www.michaeljking.com/

Above: Chinese guqin. Picture source and credit: CharlieHuang,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guqin

And so goes my rather convoluted connecting-the-dots of how all of these are related: Asian zithers peaked my interest in zithers in general, Star Trek led me on a search to build a smaller and more portable stringed instrument, and the search for the Start Trek inspired instrument ultimately led to the kantele. Since then, my interest with Asian zithers and the kantele has inspired me to design and plan some pentatonic scale and themed kanteles, including a very large "bass" kantele inspired by the Chinese guqin and guzheng. Though these won't happen for a while, as I still have a decent list of kanteles to build next, they shall nevertheless be some unique pieces. Hopefully though sometime after this coming Christmas I will be attempting my own guqin build, and should have a few more kanteles built by then, including a cocobolo/cherry/purpleheart kantele, and a very unique live edged-solid redwood slab kantele with bloodwood accents inspired by Vainamoinen's kanteles from the Kalevala. Above at the top of this post I have included a short clip of improvisation on my Kantele #003 inspired by the pentatonic scale. Enjoy!

The Kantele - Strings of Magic and Lore

A short improvisation on my latest 5 string kantele, #004. Made with very dense exotic woods such as bubinga and wenge, with padauk and maple accents and a cypress soundboard. Very resonant with rich overtones, enjoy!

The kantele is a very unique instrument. Simple, elegant, and relatively easy to learn and improvise on - often times I liken it to the "Native American flute" of the stringed instrument world. This little known instrument hails from Finland, with a history and tradition wrapped in the roots of legend and folklore. It was said, in the great Finnish epic The Kalevala, that old Vainamoinen, powerful, ancient, and magical bard and minstrel, created this instrument, first from the jawbone of a pike strung with the mythic hairs of a stallion, and later from a birch tree (birch being the national tree of Finland and given great significance in the Kalevala) strung with the hairs of a maiden.

Right: Painting of Vainamoinen playing the kantele. Picture source and credit: Robert Wilhelm Ekman (1808-1873), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ekman_Vainamoinen.jpg

The kantele itself is classified as a zither, and belongs to the baltic psaltery family of instruments. Traditional style instruments can range from 5 strings up to 15 (or even sometimes 18 depending if extra drone strings are added), with 5, 10, and 11 being the most common. Modern concert designs are radically different from the traditional style, ranging up to 40 strings and having completely different construction methods. There are a vast variety of sizes, styles, and features for kanteles available, though the vast majority of makers tend to stay towards a common shape and wood selection. Over time I will add discussions and thoughts on the various parameters of kanteles, such as wood choice, size, sound-holes, backboards, etc.

 
Left: Example of a Koistinen made 38 string modern concert kantele. Picture source and credit: Jorunn, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kantele Below: Example of traditional style Melodia Soitin made 10 string kantele (upper) and 5 string kantele (lower). Picture source and credit: TheYellowFellow, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:5and10stringkantele.jpg


One thing the kantele is very well known for amongst those who know of it is its very distinctive and unique tone, often described as "bell like." There are many factors that contribute to its unique tone, and as I have discovered as a hobbyist maker, can be radically altered depending how an instrument is built: I have instruments ranging from relatively flat sounding, to rich and mellow, to exceptionally bright and resonant with amplified overtones. Such is one of the fascinations of building and experimenting with your own instruments, in exploring the sonic manipulation of tones to create a unique sounding instrument of your own. Interestingly enough, in the olden days of the instrument, almost every man of old Karelian tradition built and played their own kantele from simple found materials. Below is a link to an excellent read regarding kantele tradition and roots of its music and playing. The site the article is from and the article itself is by Arja Kastinen, one of the most well recognized and leading players of the kantele today. I highly recommend reading some of her other available articles, as well as checking out her youtube clips for some awesome kantele playing!

Karelian Kantele Tradition: http://www.temps.fi/en/research/

This is but a very small and brief overview and introduction to this fascinating instrument. There are many excellent sites that go into much more depth and have already covered the overview of the kantele quite well. I will be adding a resource page soon to include these excellent sources of additional information. At the top of the page is a short improv on my kantele #004, perhaps my favorite kantele to date. I will be posting an overview of this unique little kantele and others soon. For now, enjoy the rich soundscapes of kantele!