Baltic psaltery

{{Multiple image

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|image1 =Kankles.jpg |caption1=9-stringed kanklės of northeastern Aukštaitija

|image2 =Latgales_kokle.jpg |caption2=11-stringed Latgale kokles

|image3 =Väikekannel.jpg |caption3=6-stringed kannel

|image4 =Gusli tradition.png |caption4=9-stringed krylovidnye gusli

|image5 =10stringkantele01.jpg |caption5=10-stringed Finnish kantele

|image6 =Кантеле.музей.jpg |caption6=11-stringed Karelian kantele}}

Baltic psaltery is a family of related plucked box zithers, psalteries, historically found in the southeast vicinity of the Baltic Sea and played by the Baltic people, Baltic Finns, Volga Finns and northwestern Russians.{{Harvnb|Muktupāvels|2013|pp=12}}

Types

Baltic psalteries include:

Kanklės (Lithuania)
Kantele (Finland, Karelia and Northwest Russia)
Kannel (Estonia)
Kāndla (Livonian people of Northwest Latvia)
Kokles (Latvia)
Krez (Udmurt people of Central Russia)
Krylovidnye gusli (Northwest Russia)
Kusle (Mari people of Central Russia)
Harpu (Sápmi)

The internationally most known instrument of the family is Finnish kantele, so its name is sometimes used in English to also refer to other Baltic psalteries as well. Many of the Baltic psalteries hold a strong symbolic significance in their respective countries, including Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Russia, where playing instruction and instrument makers are available.{{Cite web |title=The kantele – not exclusively Finnish |first=Tove |last=Djupsjöbacka |date=May 24, 2016 |url=http://www.fmq.fi/2017/05/the-kantele-not-exclusively-finnish/|publisher=Finnish Music Quarterly |access-date=May 24, 2017}}

Etymology

According to Finnish linguist Eino Nieminen, the names kanklės, kantele, kannel, kāndla and kokles possibly come from the proto-Baltic form *kantlīs/*kantlēs, which originally meant 'the singing tree',{{Harvnb|Muktupāvels|2013|pp=12}}{{Cite book |year=1993 |chapter=The Singing Tree |editor-last=Williams |editor-first=Roger |title=Insight Guides: Baltic States |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2x4CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT123 |publisher=APA Publications (HK) Ltd |page=85 |isbn=978-9624-2118-2-5 |access-date=March 30, 2017}} ultimately deriving from the Proto-European root *qan- ('to sing, to sound'). However, Lithuanian ethnologist Romualdas Apanavičius believes they could be derived from the Proto-European root *gan(dh)-, meaning 'a vessel; a haft (of a sword)', suggesting that it may be related to the Russian word gusli.{{Harvnb|Muktupāvels|2013|pp=13}}Apanavičius, Romualdas. [http://kankles.mch.mii.lt/ Ancient Lithuanian Kanklės], Institute of Ethnomusic, Vilnius, Lithuania

The Baltic Psaltery Symposia

Since 1990 Baltic Psaltery Symposia have taken place in Finland (1990; 1997; 2008), Lithuania (1994; 2017), Latvia (2000), Canada (2004) and Estonia (2013) every three or four years on a rotating basis.{{Cite web |title=The Baltic Psaltery Symposia |first=Carl |last=Rahkonen |year=2004 |url=https://www.people.iup.edu/rahkonen/kantele/baltic_psaltery_symposia.htm |publisher=Indiana University of Pennsylvania |access-date=May 24, 2017}}

References

Bibliography

{{Cite book |title=The Baltic Psaltery and Playing Traditions in Latvia |edition= 2nd |first=Valdis |last=Muktupāvels |author-link=Valdis Muktupāvels |year=2013 |publisher=Lauska |location=Riga |isbn=978-9934-8276-2-4 }}