kannel (instrument)
{{Short description|Plucked string instrument native to Estonia}}
File:Kromaatiline klaverivabriku kannel.jpg in 1988]]
Kannel ({{IPA|et|ˈkɑnːel|pron}}) is an Estonian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery along with Finnish kantele, Latvian kokles, Lithuanian kanklės, and Russian gusli. The Estonian kannel has a variety of traditional tunings. In Estonia, studying the kannel has made a resurgence after some years of decline.[http://www.postimees.ee/270308/esileht/kultuur/319974.php Postimees: Pärimusmuusika ait lööb uksed valla] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080403081355/http://www.postimees.ee/270308/esileht/kultuur/319974.php |date=2008-04-03 }} (in Estonian)
Etymology
According to Finnish linguist Eino Nieminen, the name of the instrument, along with the names of most of its neighbouring counterparts (Finnish kantele, Livonian kāndla, Latvian kokles and Lithuanian kanklės), possibly comes from the Proto-Baltic form *kantlīs/*kantlēs, which originally meant 'the singing tree',{{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 *kan- ('to sing, to sound'). However, Lithuanian ethnologist Romualdas Apanavičius believes kokles could be derived from the Proto-European root *{{PIE|gan(dh)-}}, meaning 'a vessel; a haft (of a sword)', suggesting that it may be related to the Russian word gusli.Romualdas Apanavičius. [http://kankles.mch.mii.lt/ Ancient Lithuanian Kanklės] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120103134525/http://kankles.mch.mii.lt/ |date=2012-01-03 }}, Institute of Ethnomusic, Vilnius, Lithuania
History
File:SUK127 145.jpg, Setomaa, Estonia ca. 1912.]]
The kannel became rare in the early 20th century, though surviving in some parts of the Estonian diaspora, until cultural movements under the Soviets encouraged the development and playing of larger chromatic kannels. However, influence from neighboring traditional Finnish kantele players supported the playing of the traditional smaller kannels.{{cite book|author1=Simon Broughton|author2=Mark Ellingham|author3=Richard Trillo|title=World Music: Africa, Europe and the Middle East|url=https://archive.org/details/roughguidetoworl00simo|url-access=registration|accessdate=13 June 2012|year=1999|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=978-1-85828-635-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/roughguidetoworl00simo/page/18 18]–}}
Social role
File:Coat of arms of Petserimaa and Setumaa.svg]]
The kannel serves as a national symbol of Estonia; Jakob Hurt's 1875-1876 publication of Estonian folksongs was even entitled Vana Kannel ("The Old Kannel").{{cite book|author=David John Puderbaugh|title="My Fatherland is My Love": National Identity and Creativity and the Pivotal 1947 Soviet Estonian National Song Festival|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LHHvMuJENUIC&pg=PA50|accessdate=13 June 2012|year=2006|isbn=978-0-542-83396-0|pages=50–}} The kannel was legendarily played by the Estonian god of song Vanemuine, and the Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg (published in the 1850s) begins with the line: Laena mulle kannelt, Vanemuine! ("Vanemuine, lend me your kannel!").{{cite book|title=Ethnologia Europaea|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DvF-AAAAMAAJ|accessdate=13 June 2012|year=1991|page=139}}
Players
See also
- Hiiu kannel, the Estonian bowed lyre
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Kannel}}
{{Baltic psaltery}}
{{Zithers}}
{{Authority control}}