KANTELE, the Finnish national instrument, originally a five-stringed zither with strings of twined horsehair tuned diatonically to the first five notes of a major, minor, or neutral scale, according to the nature of the melody it accompanied.
The kantele is at least as old as the rune melodies (see RUNE MELODIES), approximately 2,000 years old. Besides accompanying poetry, it was also used for playing dance music and for free improvisations. The Kalevala relates that the bard Väinämöinen fashioned...