Ilmatar's Inspirations: Nationalism, Globalization, and the Changing Soundscapes of Finnish Folk Music [Paperback]

Ilmatar gave birth to the bard who sang the Finnish landscape into being in the
Kalevala(the Finnish national epic). InIlmatar's Inspirations,Tina K. Ramnarine explores creative processes and the critical role that music has played in Finnish nationalism by focusing on Finnish new folk music in the shifting spaces between the national imagination and the global marketplace.

Through extensive interviews and observations of performances, Ramnarine reveals how new folk musicians think and talk about past and present folk music practices, the role of folk music in the representation of national identity, and the interactions of Finnish folk musicians with performers from around the globe. She focuses especially on two internationally successful groups—JPP, a group that plays fiddle dance music, and Värttinä, an ensemble that highlights women's vocal traditions. Analyzing the multilayered processes—musical, institutional, political, and commercial—that have shaped and are shaped by new folk music in Finland, Ramnarine gives us an entirely new understanding of the connections between music, place, and identity.

Tina K. Ramnarineis a lecturer in ethnomusicology and social anthropology at Queen's University Belfast. She is the author ofCreating Their Own Space: The Development of an Indian-Caribbean Musical Traditionand is also a professional classical violinist with a special interest in folk fiddling traditions.

Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part One: Theoretical and Historical Perspectives
Chapter 1 - Introduction: Place, Identity, Representation
National Art : Folk Music, Art Music
History
Continuity and Change
Identity and Representation
Borrowing from the Traditions of Others
Chapter 2 - The Folk and the Nation
Interest in Folklore before Lönnrot and the Kalevala
Lönnrot and the Kalevala
The Kalevala, Song Traditions, and lS/