Into the Deep – Folk music improvisation laboratory
The artistic research project explores the process of generating historically informed, contemporary folk music
Syvälle (Into the Deep) – Folk music improvisation laboratory is a three-year artistic research project funded by the KONE Foundation. It explores the process of generating historically informed, contemporary folk music. The music is based on the intangible cultural heritage of older Finnish and Karelian traditions, which are based on improvisation and variation, repetitive patterns and long duration music making.
The deep essence of the archaic runosong culture’s music challenges today’s musicians and composers with another worldview and concept of art: can music manifest itself differently than in works? What can be found in the process of musical creation if it is not forced into the typical forms of publication – how does lingering in the unfinished affect the outputs? How does the archaic allow for experimental expression, and how does making music based on memory affect the musician-composer who embraces it? And how does it resonate with the listener?
In this project, the artists of the Syvälle collective are looking for methods to identify the phenomena within and at the interfaces of traditional, sustained improvisational playing and singing. We search for methods to open the dynamics and developments in the work process, in the impulses of interaction and in the public performances. The collective works by playing and singing, composing, recording, improvising, and documenting, both together and separately. Research material is also generated by joint seminars, where we aim to verbalize for the first time from within the processes of collective improvisation and composition in Finnish folk music.
The project aims to think differently about the structures of the contemporary music scene, of which perhaps one of the most established is to see music as works. The project will provide new knowledge and much-needed basic research not only at the intersection of traditional music and experimental improvisation and the co-creation of music, but also on the practice of contemporary Finnish folk music, which for over four decades has succeeded in reviving a vanishing musical culture.
The Syvälle artistic collective works at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki.
We are:
- Prof. Kristiina Ilmonen (PI of the research project), folk flutes, vocals, percussion
- Dr. Pauliina Syrjälä, kantele
- Dr. Timo Väänänen, kantele
- MMus Hanna Ryynänen, kantele
- Dr. Anna-Kaisa Liedes, vocals
Project name
Syvälle – Kansanmusiikin improvisaatiolaboratorio teoskeskeisyyden haastajana
Time
08/2024-07/2027
Funder
Koneen säätiö
Team
Syvälle-kollektiivi: Kristiina Ilmonen, Pauliina Syrjälä, Anna-Kaisa Liedes, Timo Väänänen, Hanna Ryynänen
Syvälle (Into the Deep) – Folk music improvisation laboratory is a three-year artistic research project funded by the KONE Foundation. It explores the process of generating historically informed, contemporary folk music. The music is based on the intangible cultural heritage of older Finnish and Karelian traditions, which are based on improvisation and variation, repetitive patterns and long duration music making.
The deep essence of the archaic runosong culture’s music challenges today’s musicians and composers with another worldview and concept of art: can music manifest itself differently than in works? What can be found in the process of musical creation if it is not forced into the typical forms of publication – how does lingering in the unfinished affect the outputs? How does the archaic allow for experimental expression, and how does making music based on memory affect the musician-composer who embraces it? And how does it resonate with the listener?
In this project, the artists of the Syvälle collective are looking for methods to identify the phenomena within and at the interfaces of traditional, sustained improvisational playing and singing. We search for methods to open the dynamics and developments in the work process, in the impulses of interaction and in the public performances. The collective works by playing and singing, composing, recording, improvising, and documenting, both together and separately. Research material is also generated by joint seminars, where we aim to verbalize for the first time from within the processes of collective improvisation and composition in Finnish folk music.
The project aims to think differently about the structures of the contemporary music scene, of which perhaps one of the most established is to see music as works. The project will provide new knowledge and much-needed basic research not only at the intersection of traditional music and experimental improvisation and the co-creation of music, but also on the practice of contemporary Finnish folk music, which for over four decades has succeeded in reviving a vanishing musical culture.
The Syvälle artistic collective works at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki.
We are:
- Prof. Kristiina Ilmonen (PI of the research project), folk flutes, vocals, percussion
- Dr. Pauliina Syrjälä, kantele
- Dr. Timo Väänänen, kantele
- MMus Hanna Ryynänen, kantele
- Dr. Anna-Kaisa Liedes, vocals