One of the top memories from this summer will definitely be the kantele camp in Kuhmo between June 30th and July 5th.  The students, around 15 people, came from Japan, USA, Spain, Germany, Ireland, France and Finland. We had such a great time and I got to know many nice new people there. Working with such a hard working and inspired group is a great pleasure. Thank you all!

At the same time the Sommelo Folk Music Festival offered us many, many high quality concerts to listen to. What a shame that the tight schedule didn't allow me to join as many as I had wanted!

I admire these wonderful people who traveled all the way to Kuhmo for joining the camp and learning more about kantele playing. These people give us strength to work harder for the international kantele education. There is lots of hope and possibilities!

  

A way too long time has passed since the last posting... I realized I've been living 'internetless' life for the past weeks; means: no time for sitting by the computer.
So, here are some hopeless tries to update all the nice happenings from the past two months...

I had a great time in Japan in May-June. Tokyo always has its certain 'spark'... After the Nihon Kantele Tomonokai activities Tomoya -the great 25-string koto player- and I started working on 'Youkihi', our new work commissioned by Kihaus Folk Festival. Youkihi tells the story of one of the most beautiful queens in the ancient times. This Chinese beauty lived in the 8th century and our work was inspired by the image of her dance.

We also had a couple of gigs both in Tokyo and in Mie, Tomoya's hometown. This was a great preparation for the coming tour in Finland. It's such a pleasure to play in this duo, I got even more convinced that the two instruments, kantele and koto are a GOOD MATCH!

The la... more

Kantele Association has now a sister association NIHON KANTELE TOMONOKAI! The establishing happened last Saturday when group of Kantele enthusiasts got together at the Finnish Embassy in Tokyo. I can't tell you how relieved I am that all the work we've done during the past months was concluded with success. Kisses and hugs to everyone -especially Riitta- I love you all! Congratulations to Nihon Kantele Tomonokai! May our collaboration be fruitful and strong!