These songs were written in response to the Folk music Institute of Kaustinen, Finland who were looking for new material for the 5-string kantele to use in schools etc. Some of the songs featured on this album may be too advanced for beginners, but have already got some good response from buyers. What's remarkable is that the 5-string kantele only has 5 strings, which are played unstopped, meaning there are only 5 notes to use for a melody. That's why the composer has invented new tunings for kantele, gapped-scale, etc. Thus this CD sounds a bit different than traditional kantele music, and that's also where the "Runaway" part of the title came from: Here the kantele sort of runs away from its traditional territory. The Runaway Kantele has performed at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival, The Mariehamn Winter Jazz Festival, The Geta Vis- och Poesifestival (song and poetry festival) and has done a 5 day tour of the Faeroe islands. A book of sheet music is planned. No time-table for that part of the project has been established yet. (See feedback below). SOME FEEDBACK: "Thanks for the CD full of touching nuances! Very beautiful, and it made me feel good!" (Pasi Koivu, Psychedelic musician, Jyväskylä, Finland) "Dear Stani, A thousand thanks for the CD! I am very sure that you are an elf reborn in a human body. There's something special and fantastic about this music - I felt like I was moved into Nordic forests alive with trolls elves and brownies." Gitte Broxø (Singer/songwriter, Denmark) "Nice album with double overhead sun cats!" (Bjorn Anderberg, Auto industry engineer, Sweden) "Stani, you have a really odd and crazy sense of humor that comes through your music. really outside of the box! I like it and it's funny. However I also really like your more mystic sounding melancholy stuff too. I liked the River Shore Song, The Tapeworm's Lament, Insect Adventures, Sun Cat, Spruce Song and your crazy Pluus. Sitting back with a bottle of wine and listening to your album is a nice time. a lot of your musician friends did very well along with your kantele playing. Some of yours reminds me of a mellow hammered dulcimer [There IS a hammered dulcimer on "The Tapeworm's Lament" - Stani ]. Anyway, I really liked it. (Bill Thurman, Multi-instrumentalist, Arkansas) You have made a fantastic record! Personal, rich in ideas, beautiful, funny, surprising, very well recorded, clear and concise. It is a great art to limit one's material and make it durable. Many classical composers would envy you for how you've limited the melodies to congenial 5-note combinations and throughout the whole song keep to just that and yet be able to create attractive and varied compositions Can you hear Arnold Schönberg turning in his dodecaphonic grave? He tried to use all 12 notes quite unnecessarily! No, but seriously: Congenial, Stani! Beautiful clear arrangements too. Everything works. I especially like Insect Adventures, Honeymoon Sunset, Spruce Song, The Sun Cat (Both versions!) River Shore Song, Pluus, Karjaa Seuraava etc. (Carita Holmström, Singer/Songwriter/Pianist/Teacher at the Sibelius Academy [Piano Improvisation]/Guitarist/Composer/Arranger etc) "Even if you have heard Stäni Steinbock's musik via the band KRA [CD available at CDBaby.com] or some other constellation you will once more be surprised by the variety of sound and the songs recorded with a humorous seriousness on the new CD "The Runaway Kantele". Stäni, who nowadays lives on Åland has for some time played the kantele, and on the CD he presents songs where the melodic material is limited to just five notes. For variation he uses six differently tuned kanteles. The results could have been monotonous (sorry pentatonous!) in the long run, but fortunately it's a playful and professional team of musicians on every song. Cello, violin and guitar abound, likewise the early music instrument krummhorn. The latter is played by Jonte Knif (known from the early music group Oliphant) and contributes to many a splendid sound, for instance in "Insect Adventures" or "Karjaa Seuraava" (where the sound effects are as many as they are mischievous)" (Ingmar af Hällström, Åbo Underrättelser [Daily Newspaper], Turku, Finland) (Translations from Swedish, Finnish & Danish: Stäni Steinbock)