"Muanitus" by Pauliina Syrjala
The kantelle is a type of dulcimer from northeastern Europe. What distinguishes this kantelle video from the countless others on Youtube is the fact that Miss Syrjala is playing the instrument in the old Finnish style using a toothpick. Although the kantelle is played by many different European peoples, this playing style from Finland had always distinguished itself from the others by the fact that the player would pluck the strings using a small stick (nowadays a matchstick or toothpick) held in their right hand while the others simply used the bare fingers on their right hand.
Pauliina is among one of the last few kantelle players in world who still know this ancient and culturally significant technique. The matchstick plucking style is much harder to learn than the simpler all-finger plucking style; and this unique and more aesthetically beautiful discipline is in danger of becoming a lost art as more and more of the younger kantelle players continue to gravitate toward the all-hand plucking technique.
