hear the harp of Väinämöinen...

Other Songs



Summer Land

"When the cold wind sings its song and the snow lies deep, I will lay me down, close my eyes and sleep...."

I wrote this song on my 10 string kantele. I hope you enjoy it.



My Western Mountains

Michael King, a UK luthier, made the beautiful pentatonic kantele I'm playing in this song, which I wrote to express my love for my home in the western mountains of Maine.



Under the Stars

Another song on my pentatonic kantele....



Something Funny

by Lani K. Thompson

I developed my own method of playing kantele because it was hard for me to pluck the strings in the "traditional" way. Some people who've seen me play like my style of plucking, and have adopted -- and adapted -- it to suit themselves.

My plucking style gives a clear attack. If you have smooth finger pads that slip off the strings, you will find this style of playing a lot easier. Click on the video to see and hear me play a shortened version of my song, Something Funny, using my thumb plucking style of playing.



National Galleries of Scotland

Scottish Galleries picture

I was honored in the fall of 2012, when the National Galleries of Scotland asked me if they could use my arrangement and recording of the traditional Finnish folk tune "Tottele" as the background to a reading of an extract from The Kalevala, which was available on a touch screen for people to listen to in relation to a painting by Akseli Gallen-Kallela. A picture of the touch screen presentation is shown above. Although the exhibit is no longer on display, you can listen to the music here.