Wednesday 14 August 2013

THE KALEVALA, A MUSICAL TOY


In 1835 was published the first version of the Finnish national epic, Kalevala. It is a story about the creation of the world and adventure of witches and nature, collected and compiled from oral folklore by physician and philologist Elias Lönnrot.


He made eleven field trips to collect the stories from people. Väinämöinen is one of the main characters of the epic, singing magically and playing a kantele that he built of the jawbones of a pike. There are also a bear, a swan, boats, the god of the sky Ukko, singing contests, a magical talisman and many great journeys.


In 2010 my friends Oliver Blank and Kalle Karjalainen had the idea about making a small musical toy and interactive painting about this great story. It took a little while. This summer we received a small fund for it, thank you for that Kalevala Korun Kulttuurisäätiö! Today you can finally see the app and download it for free for your iPhone or iPad.

Hopefully you enjoy it! 

Happy melodies of a rainy day. 


The Kalevala, an interactive painting and musical toy
Concept and music by Oliver Blank
Illustrations by Anna Emilia Laitinen
Programming by Kalle Karjalainen

(The photos are by Mr. Oliver Blank.)

...

Heippa! 

Pieni sovelmamme, The Kalevala, on viimein saatavilla täältä.

Onnellista sateenropinaa!

18 comments:

  1. Anna Emilia, this is amazing. Your drawings are wonderful and I'm fascinated by the whole concept. Congratulations, this is truly a good work!

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  2. you are such an inspiration! Lovely, breathtaking work. Happy week!!

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  3. Oh Anna!
    I have been googling this repeatedly since you first mentioned it! How wonderful, I cannot tell you how excited I am, storytelling with music and wonderful illustration is my idea of heaven. Congratulations to you...I'm off to download....but will be saving the premier until bedtime :D
    --x--

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  4. this is amazing :)
    especially that bear is so cute, love it!

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  5. this is beautiful, and has made me very curious to know more about finnish folklore. and as mentioned by a commenter above, this will be perfect for me to relax before bed! :)

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  6. it is beautiful. i have played it several times now, and bear is definitely still my favourite bit.
    i've been wanting to read the entire kalevala for years.. i just went back through my notebooks to check.. 2008 i copied out the verses about louhi stealing the sun and the moon. it's about time i should probably get myself a copy of the book!

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  7. What an amazing idea! And what beautiful artwork. A Google search for "Kalevala" brought me here. I'm currently writing a fantasy story inspired by The Kalevala, so I'm always excited to find other people who are inspired by the tales and see their unique interpretations. I think I will now be following your blog. :)

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  9. I downloaded it this weekend, so beautiful, you must be really proud :)

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  10. Your work is absolutely stunning! I looked through your whole collection and I adore your style and I love your biography in your shop section. Just lovely!

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  11. this is lovely!! great idea!

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  12. I love your illustrations for the Kalevala, such a nice project!

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  13. SO AMAZING!! What gorgeous art.

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  14. Dear All,

    So glad that you like it <3

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