Playing...

Russian writers Maxim Gorky (left)
and Stepan Skitalets, ca. 1900. Skitalets
is playing playing the gusli
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Gusli is the oldest Russian multi-string plucked instrument.
Its exact history is unknown, but it may have derived
from a Byzantine form of the Greek kythare, which
in turn derived from the ancient lyre. It has its
relatives throughout the world: the kantele
in Finland, the kanklės and the kokle
in Lithuania and Latvia

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Nicholas Roerich (1874–1947):
Boyan playing a gusli, 1910
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'Gusli Musicians' by Victor Vasnetsov, 1899

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Jehkin Iivana in Finland playing the
kantele, Muuanto, Suistamo 1895
Gallen-Kallelan Museum
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Väinämöinen and kantele. Väinämöinen is the central
character in the Finnish folklore and the main character
in the national epic Kalevala.
Artist unknown to me

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Johan Blackstadius: 'Väinämöinen plays the Kantele,' 1851
'Väinämöinen kiinnittää kielet kanteleeseen' -
my translations is bad...so the title in Finnish as well
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Pekka Halonen: 'The Kantele Player', 1892

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Pekka Halonen: 'The Kantele Player and the Girl', 1895
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I found a Finnish kantele shop
named Melodia Soitin - you can purchase
hand made instruments there - they ship
worldwide - but also much more about the kantele

'Old Woman Playing the Kantele'
by Albert Edelfelt (1854-1905)

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The Finnish kantele played by Iivana Lösönen

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