Photo Reijo Koirikivi / Studio P.S.V.

Säilyn pelimannit folk music group brings to public knowledge seldom performed repertoire from the southern parts of North Ostrobothnia. Some of these pieces have never been publicly released before. The group is also recording the violin style characteristic of Raudaskylä village, featuring double stops, embellishments and the use of different positions.

Säilyn pelimannit consists of Erkki Säily (guitar and vocals), Tapani Säily (clarinet, bass clarinet and vocals) and Helmi Järviluoma (violin, vocals and cowbell.) These siblings were born into a musically talented family in Raudaskylä and are descendants of violin folk musician Knut Säily.

The group has slightly arranged the pieces and also written lyrics to two instrumentals.

Translated by Tarja Säily

The members of the Säilyn pelimannit band bring to the fore a rarely performed, previously unheard-of repertoire from the southern region of North Ostrobothnia. At the same time, they record the Raudaskylä village style of fiddling with its double notes, ornaments and use of stops.

The Säily Players, Erkki Säily (guitar and vocals), Tapani Säily (clarinet, bass clarinet and vocals) and Helmi Järviluoma (violin, vocals and cowbell), are siblings born in Raudaskylä to the musical family of their Raudaskylä-born grandfather's father, violinist Knut Säily. All their lives they have heard their relatives play and tell stories about the musicians. On the album Ilonen polonen they have played and sung about this special tradition of playing. Also recorded is the broadside ballad about the departure to America written by the Raudaskylä born Nietti-Jussi. New lyrics have been written for two instrumental tunes. The tunes have been carefully adapted.

As recently as a hundred years ago, the musicians in Finland played in different styles in different regions. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a few important fiddlers, whose virtuoso style of playing is not heard today, played in Raudaskylä. Their repertoire is partly being forgotten, although it has been studied and recorded to some extent. In their day, Knut Jaakonpoika Säily (1871-1948), a stone contractor, and his cousin Frans Mikonpoika Säily (1874-1929), a farmer and carpenter, were very popular wedding musicians, so-called 'sleigh-driven' musicians, who were booked for weddings even before the priest.

According to genealogical records, a son-in-law named Kettu (Fox) from the Kaustinen direction joined the Säily family in the early 19th century. Without searching, it seems likely that the "son-in-law" would have had a violin and violin-making instruments with him, especially as famous musicians like Konsta Jylhä and Kaija Saarikettu are found in the Kaustinen branches of the Kettu family from later times.

The attitude towards dancing in Ylivieska has been controversial due to the religious, revivalist movements. On the one hand, playing was a sin, on the other hand, the 'pelimanni' folk musicians were very necessary. Frans and Knut Säily were the last fiddle players in Raudaskylä to experience the time of the dance wedding institution. Frans Säily in particular was an active wedding musician in the late 19th century and could stay on a playing tour for up to a week. At other times he worked as a farmer, carpenter and on building sites around northern Finland.

Knut Säily made his living as a stone worker and contractor. He built stone beams and laid paving stones from Kiuruvesi to Oulu. He lost one eye and injured his leg in the stonework. The stonework did not affect his violin playing skills, and the stonemason's fingers skilfully skipped on the strings of the violin. Descendants describe Knut and Frans' playing as 'terribly polyphonic'. The partials were not unintentional, but were mostly created by deliberate double notes. The Säily fiddlers' style was distinctive and differed in many respects from the rest of Finland.

Their repertoire was extensive. Knut was said to be able to play a three-day wedding without playing the same piece twice. Knut's children Toivo, Väinö, Ville and Martta (Juola) were also players, as were Kyösti and Joonas among Frans' sons. Other well-known players in Raudaskylä were, for example, gunsmith and two-row accordion player Syrjälän Aarne (Aarne Isokoski 1889-1965), two-row player Eemeli Pylkkö from Nivala, Aapeli Nälli and Junnu-Kusti.

The album begins with Säilyn Nuuti's waltz, which Knut often played. It is also remembered as the Loilo-waltz. The waltz may have been hummed at small party dances, unless a player was present.

The Sing Cockerel, Laula Kukko, tune was well known in Raudaskylä. It was played in the first half of the 1900's by Knut, Frans and Toivo Säily, for example. On the track, the song is played first in the manner of Frans Säily, then in the manner of Kivi-Erkki. The combination originates from Viljo Junttila (b. 1911), who learned the first version while attending Ransu's music school. He learned the familiar polka in the style of Kivi-Erkki in the 1920s when he listened to gramophone records imported from America, played by Erkki Kiviranta, born in Alastaro in 1881.

Ilonen polonen pohojan poika is a lively polka. It was learned from Vilho Säily and Viljo Junttila, who played the rhythm in different ways: what we hear here is a compromise between the two versions. The title suggests that the song may have been sung. Leivonen liverrys polska is considered to have been written in Raudaskylä Säily by Knut and Frans Säily, the players. The third part of the polka is remembered by Frans' son Joonas Säily. Knut played the beautiful Leivosen liverrys polska a lot. Vilho Säily heard the Drowned Boy's Waltz (Hukkuneen pojan valssi) from Knut Säily in the 1920s and 1930s. Vilho has recalled the first reprise of the song and Joonas Säily the second reprise. Knut Säily's daughter Martta Juola has said that villagers who came to Knut's house 'to play away their troubles with Nuuti' often asked him to play this particular waltz. Juola has played a slightly different version of the waltz on the kantele, in which the similarities with Bellman's Häämatka (Sä neitonen kaino, armainen) are clearer. Helmi Järviluoma wrote lyrics to the waltz a couple of years ago.

Säilyn Ransun polkka (Frans Säily's polka) polka was especially part of Frans' active repertoire, but also Knut Säily's. The polka can be found, with ornaments and double notes, in the book by Helmi Järviluoma Musiikki, liikkeet, hillikkeet.

Pelimanni's Homecoming (Pelimannin kotiinpaluu) is a minor version of Säilyn Nuutin valssi, lyrics and arrangement made by Erkki Säily. The lyrics tell the story of Knut Säily's life and the lives of musicians in general, in the crossfire between music, musicianship, family and religiosity.

Untitled Matuska (Nimetön matuska) is a mazurka played by Frans Säily, accompanied by a story told by Joonas Säily. Frans was in the USA between 1902 and 1906, working in construction and mining. His wife Hilda took him home. On the return journey on the boat, Frans' 'nails itched because he had no violin'. The dark-blooded violinist lent his violin a little scornfully, but Frans wowed the whole ship's company. When Frans played the matuska, his wife and another Finn showed him how to dance: 'Everyone had gone off the floor and stood up on benches to flap around. The song was rallied by Joonas Säily, Vilho Säily learned to play. The song has been played, for example, by the Ylivieska kantele girls under Sinikka Kontio.

In the "Going to America" poem (Ameriikkaan lähtö), Raudaskylä-based Nietti-Jussi criticises American immigration in strong words. There are slightly different versions of the words.

Rankka-vainajan polska is a local version of polska, which tradition tells us was the favourite polska of Petter Krank, who was chaplain in Ylivieska between 1845 and 1861. Krank insisted that it be played as the first polka at a wedding. After the priest's death, the tune became the polska of the 'Late Rankka' in the mouths of the people. The people have also preserved the reason for the death of this pleasure-loving priest: he choked on a piece of meat. Folk musician Frans Säily taught the song to Viljo Junttila.

Paikkala's bells is a tune remembered by Martta Juola. Knut Säily had made a five-stringed kantele out of bird's yarn on the lid of the coffin and played the tune that had come to him while listening to the cow's brass bells in Paikkala. It is said that the Raudaskylä minstrels often drew inspiration for their compositions and music from nature. Knut's son Toivo was fond of imitating the sounds of birds in the forest with his violin and other instruments.

The villagers have created the lyrics to the mock song 'Tolppa' or 'Säily brothers' (Tolopan veljekset). The album ends with the old, jaunty Koppelovitun waltz, which has been played in Ylivieska both under this ribald name and as Morjensta Manta.

The Säilyn Pelimannit

Erkki Säily (b. 1946) has played acoustic and/or semi-acoustic guitar all his life, especially jazz. He has a MA in Finnish Language, and he has taught mother tongue to secondary school students in Kemijärvi for forty years. The most famous of the ensembles, of which he was a long-time driving force, is the AAHO orchestra.

Tapani Säily (b. 1955) is a special class teacher and school director (retired) from Oulu, who plays saxophones, clarinet and bass clarinet. He has conducted and recorded with the Raahe Laulutoverit choir. He has also played in several wind orchestras and served as vice-conductor of the Tervakaupungin puhaltajat.

Helmi Järviluoma (b. 1960) is Professor [now Emerita] of Cultural Studies at the University of Eastern Finland. She has a PhD in ethnomusicology, the subject of folklore, especially folk music, from the University of Tampere. In the 1980s, Järviluoma studied the violin playing style of Säily's pelimannis from his uncle Viljo Junttila, who had learned it directly as Frans Säily's apprentice. He has also studied the life and playing style of Säily's players. He has played and sung in bands such as Slobo Horo and Enkelimankeli.

text Helmi Järviluoma

15.3.2024