Reppurin laulu (for Midsummer 2026) || Anneliina Rif, soprano & Tuomas Kourula, archlute

We both have our roots partly in Karelia, a historical eastern region of Finland, divided between Finland and Russia since 1945. This song is taken from a stage play from the year 1900: a traveling salesman sings about his homesickness for Karelia, remembering it fondly. Anneliina has adapted the words slightly, to better fit a female singer. Turn on captions to get a sense of the words - tricky as they were to translate, being in the Karelian language, a relative of our native Finnish. During the Winter and Continuation Wars in 1939-1945 many Karelians were displaced and settled in other parts of Finland. The process was for many difficult, giving rise to longstanding feelings of homesickness for the old homesteads in Karelia. "Reppurin laulu" has become a classic song in Finland, especially among the descendants of Karelians, who are known as emotional (for Finnish) and artistically inclined people. It gives an expression to their feelings of longing for a lost ancestral land. The dress Anneliina is wearing in the video is a Karelian folk dress, called "feresi" or "sarafaani". It has been made by her mother, displaced from Vyborg in Karelia in 1939. Music by Oskar Merikanto (1868-1924) Words in Karelian language by Larin-Kyösti (1873-1948) Performed by Arpa Oscura Anneliina Rif, soprano & tenor recorder Tuomas Kourula, archlute Hanna Kourula assisted as a camera operator