My Christmas wish list included only one item this year: a kantele.
A kantele is a traditional musical instrument from Finland. It’s a psaltery type stringed instrument. When I was in Finland the last couple of times I looked for one without success. Now through eBay I’ve found a company, and I have the most basic version, a little 5 string, on its way from Melodia Soitin of Finland! If you visit their site, you can hear the sound of a larger kantele. The wire strings make a sound quite different from my harps which are nylon strung.
Here is a youtube video of a lesson on how to play and tune this size of kantele:
Shawn L. Bird 