I will sing of what I know

I will sing of what I know is a selection of lyrics and ballads composed and sung by generations of men and women living ordinary lives. These fifty poems are from a treasure of some seven hundred edited and aranged by great Finnish scholar-physician Elias Lönnrot, whose best-known work is the Kalevala. Like its epic companion, the Kanteletar draws on the rich oral tradition of Finnish people. But where the Kalevala derives from heroic poetry originally sung by men, the main source of the Kanteletar is femine lyrical song. It reflects the more everyday world of family life, love, work and play.