Meeting the Friends of the Kalevala in Switzerland

In October, the Board of the Kalevala Society Foundation made a trip to Switzerland at the invitation of the Geneva-based association Les Amis du Kalevala (Friends of the Kalevala). We had the pleasure of meeting, among others, Swiss-Finnish and Swiss Friends of the Kalevala in Geneva, the Finnish Ambassador to Switzerland Valtteri Hirvonen in Bern and Fennica Library librarian Mirja Lanz in Zurich. During the trip we also explored the winegrowing culture and the magnificent alpine scenery near Montreux.

The Kalevala Society Foundation is working to network in Europe, especially now that Kalevala as a living epic has been awarded the European Heritage Label. The Swiss-Finnish Tuula Annala and Mika Jouhki from Les Amis du Kalevala gave us a unique insight into Swiss society, language cultures and life in the heart of Europe.

The Friends of the Kalevala in Geneva

Les amis du Kalevala association was born out of the interest that Mme Juliette Monnin-Hornung (1912–2019), a Genevan literary scholar and Doctor of Philosophy, had felt in Finnish culture and the Kalevala since she first read it at the age of 16.

Les Amis du Kalevala was formed from a working group that organised the 100th anniversary celebrations of Finland in Geneva. Among the members were Dr Monnin-Hornung, known as Madame Juliette, who was already 100 years old herself at the time the celebration preparations started, and Tuula Annala. In addition to the celebrations of Finland’s 100th birthday in 2017, other events were also organised in connection with Finland and the Kalevala in particular. Today, the network includes around fifty active cultural enthusiasts: translators, teachers, researchers, musicians and others who are interested.

The Kalevala in French

Madame Juliette’s favourite translation of the Kalevala was the 1930 French translation by the Swiss Jean-Louis Perret (reprinted in 2008). At the Soirée du Kalevala et de la Litterature Finlandaise in Geneva in October, the Kalevala connoisseur and reader Alexis Koutchoumow had chosen to perform to the audience the second runo song of the Kalevala from Perret’s translation.

This is how the poem about Sampsa Pellervoinen and the great oak tree sounds in French.

The event also featured a musical performance by Swiss yodeller Nadja Räss, Swiss-Finnish tuba and kantele player Annika Granlund and Finnish folk musician Maari Kallberg, who specialises in Viena Karelian poetry and yoik. The result was an impressive 20-minute performance that intertwined European musical traditions in a new, improvisatory way. Here are a few excerpts.