Customer Reviews

Things of Beauty

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

You read that Vainamoinen, hero the the Finnish epic "Kalevala" worked great feats of magic and charms by playing the Kantele (Finnish harp) as no other could. You will be a believer when you hear Loituma's "Things of Beauty." I was amazed at the wealth of undiscovered beauty that has been brought forth by Baltic Finnish culture. For example, the exquisite "Kolme Kaunista" 'Three Things of Beauty'. It captures the essence of that surge of joy one feels on a beautiful summer day. "Valamon Kirkonkellot" 'Valamo Cloister Bells' is exceptional in its conveyance of Karelian Orthodox bells. Timo Vaananen delivers a beautiful vocal performance in "Kultaansa Ikavoiva" 'There is My Lover' alongside Sanna-Kurki Sounio's (now of Hedningarna fame) lovely "Eriskumainen Kantele" 'My Kantele.' This album is a gem.

Spoken Finnish not required - the harmonies and rhythms produced by Loituma are outstanding. Their use of the Finnish Harp compliments the super vocals. You'll be shaking your head - tapping in time - enthralled!

The quality of the music for normal ears may be 3 to 4 stars but the linguistic and historic value of these ancient suomic music and the delicateness of the voice , resembling the softness of Alison Krauss , to me , an old glottologist , is immense for the insight in the word and communication sytem formation it supplies

One of my most listened to artists of all time. On my Itunes both 'Missing Him' and 'Three Things of Beauty' are in the top three of the 25 most played list (Missing Him being number one most played). The harmonies are absolutely entrancing, the language is fascinating (or maybe that's just the Linguistics Major in me talking), and the lyrics to the songs are some of the most wonderful I've ever heard and tell the most amazing stories.
I rarely buy physical CDs anymore since the dawn of the digital music age and ipods, but this is so totally worth the money to hold the actual CD in my hand.

While I did not like it quite as well as the first one, it is an excellent sampler for Scandinavian music, and would be worth the money at twice the cost. My favorite track is #15, by Värttinä, but they are all good.

I bought this CD because it has the song "Ievan Polka" in it. I listened to "Ievan Polka" online, at Google Videos. This is one of the most amazing songs I have ever heard. It is full of life, joy, energy, happiness and enthusiasm. It is Finish folk music. Loituma sings the song with no instruments other than their voices. This one song is one of the most beautiful songs ever in my whole life. I really didn't care at all for all other items in the CD. I copied "Ievan Polka" to my computer, I burnt an 80-minute audio CD with nothing in it other than "Ievan Polka" over and over and over. The full CD I made has only "Ievan Polka" repeated time and time again. I listened to it in my car for three full weeks before changing the CD.