Vakavanha Väinämöinen – Lyrics and Translation

Finnish Lyrics:

Va-ka-van-ha Väi-nä-möi-nen, it-se tuon sa-noi-ksi virk-ki: "Näi-stä-pä to-ki

tu-li-si ka-lan-lui-nen kan-te-loi-nen, kun oi-si o-so-a-ja-ta, soi-ton lui-sen laa-

ti-ja-ta. Kun ei toi-sta tul-lut-ka-na, ei ol-lut o-so-a-ja-ta, soi-ton lui-sen laa-ti-

ja-ta, va-ka-van-ha Väi-nä-möi-nen it-se loi-he laa-ti-jak-si, te-ki-jäk-si teen-te-

li-he. Laa-ti soi-ton hau-i-n-lui-sen, suo-rit-ti il-on i-kui-sen. Kust' on kop-pa

kan-te-let-ta? Hau-in suu-ren leu-ka-luu-sta. Kust' on nau-lat kan-te-let-ta?

Ne on hau-in ham-pa-hi-sta. Kus-ta kie-let kan-te-let-ta? Hi-vuk-sis-ta Hi-ien

ruu-nan. Jo oli soit-to suo-ri-t-tu-na, val-mi-hi-na kan-te-loi-nen, soit-to suu-ri

hau-in-lui-nen, kan-te-lo ka-la-ne-väi-nen. Tu-li tuo-hon nuo-ret mie-het, tu-li

nai-ne-het ur-o-hot, tu-li po-jat puol'-i-käi-set, se-kä pie-net pii-ka-lap-set, ty-

töt nuo-ret, vai-mo-t van-hat, nai-set kes-ki-ker-tai-set-ki, kan-te-let-ta kat-so-

-ma-han, soit-to-a täh-y-ä-mä-hän. Va-ka-van-ha Väi-nä-möi-nen kä-ski nuo-

ren, kä-ski van-han, kä-ski ke-ski-ker-tai-sen-ki soit-tam-a-han sor-mil-lan-

sa1 tuo-ta ru-o-tai-sta- ro--mu-a, ka-lan-lui-sta kan-te-let-ta. Soit-ti nuo-ret,

soit-ti van-hat, soit-ti ke-ski-ker-tai-set-ki. Nuo-ret soit-ti, sor-me-t not-kui,

van-hat vään-ti, pää va-pi-si: ei il-o il-ol-le nous-nut, soit-to soi-tol-le y-len-nyt.

English Translation (numbered by runes)

1. Steady old Väinämöinen put this into words:

2. "But surely these could become a kantele of fishbones,

3. Were there women who knew how, who could make an instrument of bones."

4. When no one else came forward and there was none who knew how,

5. who could make an instrument of bones, steady old Väinämöinen

6. made of himself a maker, took the shape of a shaper:

7. he made an instrument of pike bone, produced a joy forever

8. What was the kantele's belly from? 'twas from the big pike's jawbone.

9. What the kantele's pegs from? they were made from the pike's teeth.

10. What the kantele's strings from? from the hairs of the Demon's gelding.

11. Now the instrument was made, and ready the kantele,

12. the great pikebone instrument, the kantele of fish fins:

13. The young men came up to it, and the married fellows came,

14. the half-grown boys came, and the little wenches too,

15. young girls and old wives, middle-aged women,

16. to look at the kantele, to inspect the instrument.

17. Steady old Väinämöinen told a young one, told the old,

18. told one too of the middle-age, to play with their fingers

19. that sounding thing of bones, the kantele of fish-bones.

20. The young played and the old played, the middle-aged played.

21. The young played, their fingers sagged, the old tried, their heads trembled

22. but joy did not rise to joy, nor instrument to music.

---- Translated by Keith Bosley in the Oxford University Press edition (1989)----
 Background (as retrieved from hnu.edu)

The Kalevala is the Finnish national epic, which, like the Iliad and the Odyssey,

grew out of a rich oral tradition with ancient roots. The texts comprising the

epic were collected and compiled from rural storytellers in the Baltic region of

Karelia, which straddles the border between Finland and Russia, by the

physician and linguist Elias Lönnrot in the early to middle years of the

nineteenth century. Published in 1849, the Kalevala played a central role in the

development of Finnish national identity and the struggle for Finnish

independence. It inspired many of Sibelius’ major works and has had a wide

influence in the arts. The English novelist J.R.R. Tolkien drew from the

Kalevala in writing his epic Lord of the Rings, inspired by the idea that every

nation needed a national epic. Similarly, the American poet Henry Wadsworth

Longfellow studied the Finnish language and was influenced by the Kalevala in

writing his epic poem Hiawatha, created from Native American tales. The epic

consists of over 22,000 verses in 50 chapters or runot, traditionally chanted to

a set of pentachordal melodies. There are hundreds of rune melodies used in

Finland; the performer in this recording uses several of the best known. The

Kalevala song style includes a typical meter of 8 syllables in 5/4 time and a

free use of alliteration, repetition and recurring conventional epithets and

phrases. In the traditional practice of chanting the epic, the singer chooses

which melodies will be used for each verse. Embellishment and improvisation

are encouraged; the better the singer, the more varied the performance. This
section of the epic comprises the 31st to 37th verses of the 40th poem: one of

the most celebrated events of the Kalevala, the making of the first kantele by

Väinämöinen, the Finnish culture hero and, like Orpheus, symbol of the

spiritual power of music. Like so many magical instruments, the harp-like

kantele is created from living beings: the body from the jawbone of an

enormous pike, the strings from the hairs from a mythical water-dwelling

spirit. At its creation, no one but Väinämöinen can coax music from its strings.

Later in the epic, the magical powers of the kantele are revealed as

Väinämöinen by turns enchants the world to sleep and calls forth all the beings

of creation by the power of its song