Outi Linnaranta

I am from Hirvilahti, some 40 km from Kuopio. I learnt to play kantele on my own, and through teaching the village children, as well as in kantele camps in Ilomantsi. One of my important heroes was the folk musician Juha Kuorttinen, a kantele player from Lappeenranta. He used to teach me when I was a child. I was accepted in Sibelius Academy and completed my Master's degree, kantele as my major subject.

I have taught kantele playing since 1984, and many of my pupils are now professional kantele performers. I have made two music books on traditional kantele music on the basis of fieldwork and transcriptions and several new books are under preparation.

Viestejä ajasta (Messages from our time) is a result of the music of the last kantele examination and a project when I was still studying. The music was recorded in four sessions in 1999. It was mixed by Matti Kontio and myself.

I play with a modern machine-made kantele, built by Pekka Lovikka, in a style in which the right and left hand play the melody, from the short side.