Wild Song

by Janis Mackay

  An important aspect of this tradition is the yoik – or wild song. The yoik can be deeply personal or spiritual in nature and is often dedicated to a human being, a landscape or an animal – for its wellbeing. Each yoik, sung by a yoik-singer, is meant to reflect a person, animal or place and comes out of the shamanic spirituality that sees nature as sacred and believes that human beings become unwell when we are out of harmony with nature. Shamanic practices, such as singing the yoik, aim to honour and restore that balance between human and nature. The yoik is one of the longest living music traditions in Europe.

  The Kalevala

  Throughout history people have shared stories. Sometimes these stories remind us of our origins. Some tell of Gods and Goddesses. The actual creators of the Finnish Epic, The Kalevala – the ‘rune’ singers, both men and women, lived hundreds, perhaps thousands of years ago. Their names are long forgotten but in this great epic poem their stories live on. In the 1800s folklorist and collector Elias Lonrot made many visits to Eastern Finland to listen to the stories told by the old Finnish poem-singers. These people chanted their stories of creation in a particular rhythm (trochee) and some chanted their stories while playing a kantele (a harp). Elias wrote hundreds of these poems and stories down and in time put them together and created a national creation epic for Finland called ‘The Kalevala.’ The stories in The Kalevala here are set in Finland’s prehistoric Iron Age. They could also be said to be set in a mythic dream place of the imagination.

  RUNE THE FIRST

  I am driven by my longing

  And my understanding urges

  That I should commence my singing

  And begin my recitation.

  I will sing the people’s legends,

  And the ballads of the nation.

  To my mouth the words are flowing,

  And the words are gently falling,

  Quickly as my tongue can shape them,

  And between my teeth emerging.

  Some of the main characters from The Kalevala are:

  Vainamoinen – steady, old, the father everlasting.

  Ilmarinen – the master craftsman, the smith who hammers the magical sampo – a Finnish Holy Grail.

  Aino – the young maiden pursued by Vainamoinen.

  Louhi – mistress of Pohjola, the gap-toothed hag of the northlands.

  The characters and stories in The Kalevala inspired many works of art, and the book has been translated into forty-five languages. This dream-like and wondrous fantasy epic ends with the words:

  […] this way therefore lies the pathway.

  Here the course lies newly opened,

  Open for the greater singers,

  For the bards and ballad singers,

  For the young who now are growing,

  For the rising generation.

  Janis Mackay

  Edinburgh, Scotland

  December 2014

  Copyright

  First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Piccadilly Press Northburgh House, 10 Northburgh Street, London EC1V 0AT

  www.piccadillypress.co.uk

  Copyright © Janis Mackay 2015

  The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN: 9781848124424

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  Printed and bound by Clays Ltd, St Ives Plc

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