The oldest Finnish genres of song are the lament (itku, ‘cry, weep
’) and the runo (or laulu). The underlying structure of both genres is a tetrachordal or pentachordal scale (C–D–E–F–G) with an unstable third degree, sung minor, major, and neutral, sometimes in the same song. The runo scale is sometimes expanded by the addition of a fourth below the tonic and a neutral sixth, a major seventh, and an octave above it. The runo and lament...
