Biography

The tradition of playing the kantele with the stick was at risk of disappearing during the 20th century, but through her artistic and research-based work, Syrjälä has helped to bring it back as a living part of contemporary kantele music. She has developed new playing techniques and approaches for the Saarijärvi kantele and composed new repertoire based on them. In her work, researching tradition, playing, composing, and improvising form an inseparable part of the creative process.

Improvisation is central to Syrjälä’s compositional process as well as to her artistic practice more broadly. She composes through playing her instrument and improvising: musical ideas emerge in dialogue with the instrument, with improvisation serving both as a starting point for compositions and as an integral part of the creative process. The compositional process unfolds through experimentation and intuition in close dialogue with the instrument, with musical textures and playing techniques evolving side by side.

Experimentation is an essential part of Syrjälä’s interactive relationship with the kantele. She constantly searches for new timbres and also experiences the instrument as something that offers them to her. She has collected a wide range of playing tools from hardware stores, among other places, and her toolkit has come to include paintbrushes, knitting needles, chains, and other objects whose original purpose she does not even know.

Syrjälä’s third solo album, Sydänmaat (in English the Heartlands) was released in 2026, following monet nävöt (2005) and Lunkula (2016). Across these albums, her musical expression has expanded towards increasingly layered timbres and a broader exploration of the possibilities of the kantele. Lunkula was named Kantele Album of the Year in 2016. In 2018, Syrjälä received the Kalevala Society’s Kekrinpäivä Award in recognition of her mastery of tradition.

Syrjälä has also worked internationally, including with Norwegian hardanger fiddle player Ragnhild Knudsen on the album Talende Strenger / Kertovat kielet (2023). In Kaustinen, she worked as a resident artist with the folk music ensemble Tallari in 2023, resulting in the collaborative production Tikulla tahtia. As a lecturer in folk music at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, Syrjälä brings together the perspectives of performer, composer, researcher, and pedagogue in her work.