One of the important themes of Dream Book is the music of the kantele. Long time readers of this blog know well the Finnish lap harp. I have a couple of five string kanteles, a ten string made by Gerry Henkel that’s waiting for me in Dundee and a fifteen string one that I got back recently. I have improved my playing though I’ll never be a superstar, mostly thanks to the Maine Kantele Institute, where I even made a five string kantele.
It’s a wonderful instrument that’s great for meditative music. Unamplified it’s rather quiet so you won’t disturb anyone — though I am still longing to get a red electric fifteen string. One of the stories explores a little girl’s relationship to her kantele — and the imaginary friend she discovers with it (or is it just her imagination…?)
Here’s some samples:
K. A. Laity 
Beautiful. I think I like the plucked pieces rather than the strummed ones, but that could be the songs themselves! š
They had very different purposes. š
Reblogged this on Wyrdwend.
Wow, what an awesome instrument. Love the sound of it. What are they tuned to?
This one’s tuned to D but there’s a bit of flexibility in how you can tune them and what strings you use.