lina elulugu from KANNEL by Sille Ilves

Lina Elulugu (Linen' Lifestory)

Traditional. Additional music and arrangement Sille Ilves. “Linad liulaskjale” learnt from Liisa Kümmel, “Lina elulugu” traditional from Karksi.

This song is put together from two separate songs concerned with and in praise of linen.
The first song is sung on the “sledging day” (Shrove Tuesday), accompanied by the vurr (a toy instrument, made out of a pig's toe bone and a thread pierced through the bone to spin the bone around.)The sound of vurr is supposed to scare away the bad spirits.
This song is encouraging the sledging folk to slide down the hill as far as possible, as then in the Summer their flax will grow well and they'll be able to make linen as tall as the trees in the forest.
The second song describes all the work necessary to make linen. In the song linen is addressed as if it was a living creature, saying: “Linen, you chickling, you have to live through thousand deaths...”

KANNEL captures many worlds into one free from political borders, referencing historical influences in traditional music but confidently eschewing populist expectations; it is natural, focused and fresh music: rooted but free.

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