Review: New CD: Dancing Kannel Tantsib

Alfred Kuus plays traditional Estonian folk dance tunes on the kannel

We can question why use the kannel (Estonian version of the Baltic Psaltery) to accompany folk dancers, considering that ethnographers more often mention the bagpipe in that role, during the 19th century. In the 20th century various types of accordions were used most often. Bagpipes and accordions have a loud sound that carries well. By contrast, the kannel is more quiet, and requires electronic amplification when played at a large dance-ground. But the well-punctuated sound of an amplified kannel is easier for the dancers to follow than, for example, the loud but not very rhythmic sound of a bagpipe. The same comment also partly applies to accordions.

This CD is based on recordings by Alfred Kuus in England, in the 1950’s. These old recordings on magnetic tapes had to be thoroughly cleaned up by digital remastering, which was done by Brock Sound Productions. The publisher is: Behind the Sauna Studios, 1546 Kingston Rd., Unit A-9, Toronto, ON M1N 1R8 Canada, the primary leader is Reet Mae. The cleanup succeeded handsomely. There is no distortion whatsoever of the kannel’s beautiful, mellow sound. This CD fills a significant gap in recordings of Estonian folk music to date.

Alfred Kuus is one of the best players of the Estonian kannel on a global scale. He was born in 1922 in Valgamaa County, southern Estonia and began to play the kannel when he was eight years old. At age eleven he was already playing in ensembles. Later, he made recordings in England, Sweden and Canada. While residing in Toronto, he wrote “Juhiseid kandlemängu õppijaile” (Instructions for Playing the Kannel) which treats playing techniques on both modern and archaic-construction kannels. During the past decade, he also did well at kannel-playing competitions in Estonia. Last performance across the ocean was at the Fourth International Baltic Psaltery Conference in Riga, Latvia in October 2000. There, he was the only performer who was asked for an encore.

This CD is strongly recommended, first and foremost, to all Estonian folk dance groups and their dancemasters. It has 35 folk-dance tunes with the correct tempo and number of repeats for each dance. Total length of recording is approximately 67 minutes. Headings and explanations are in English and in Estonian.

But since the CD is very pleasant to listen to, it is also recommended for a more general audience. The music on this CD is nicely varied. Just when the notion of boredom sets in, the next tune comes up, which is of a different character.

The only negative aspect arose out of the dancemasters’ strict rules at the time of the original recordings, which unfortunately required following a metronome very precisely. (The metronome was behind a window.) This occasionally resulted in a stiff musical style. The majority of the tunes are nevertheless free of such stiffness. Especially likeable are the faster tunes, which Alfred Kuus plays in his own virtuoso free-form style.

A few small mistakes appear in the titles. The correct translation into English of the title of Track No. 4 should be “Old Processional Dance”, not “Old Voor Dance”. The correct name for the tune on Track 10 is not “Voortants” but “Vöötants” (Belt Dance).

This CD will be welcomed by all fans of folk-dance music and by all music lovers.

Andres Peekna
Ensemble “Tuuletargad”

Note: This review was originally published in Estonian, by “Vaba Eesti Sõna” (Free Estonian Word), New York, NY, USA, 1 June 2004, page 4. Translation by the author.