The Kaustinen fiddle tradition as a source of learning about intangible cultural heritage
Sep 14, 2023
In HEART we aim to develop new educational tools through a pilot process where we get to test our ideas in practice. In this pilot process, each partner organises a course of learning led by the art educators working in the project. The starting point for each pilot course comes from an area of intangible cultural heritage, presented by a member of that heritage community.
For Kansalaisfoorumi, that heritage community is the Kaustinen fiddle playing community from Central Ostrobothnia in Finland. Inscribed to the List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2021, the tradition is somewhat known for Finns, to the extent that for many Finns the traditional music from Kaustinen represents all of Finnish traditional music. This may elicit echoes of a known and shared cultural history for some of the pilot course participants, while serving as a catalyst for uncovering personal experiences of heritage community membership for all.
The Kaustinen fiddle playing tradition involves distinctive melodies and styles of playing the violin, related e.g. to the bowing techniques used, the melody patterns and the harmonic structures of the music. The music is connected to a strong folk dance tradition in the region. Typical for the Kaustinen tradition is the widespread and extensive use of the music in wedding activities in the past, which nowadays translates into other types of communal festive activities from dances, parties and free time jam sessions to Kaustinen Folk Music Festival, a major international festival that attracts some 4,500 musicians and dancers, and 45,000 audience members yearly.
In the Kansalaisfoorumi pilot course, participants will get to work with a fiddle player from Kaustinen. They will have the opportunity to hear some of the music, learn about the ways in which it is used today, and to discuss the meaning of heritage community membership for all involved in the process.