Historical, Geographical, and Political Implications in Finnish Ethnomusicology

fossilized artifacts from the past. The aim is not only to learn songs but the laws that govern the creation of songs and performances of these songs. The objective is to acquire the recollective musical skills that have enabled the creation of the musical performances heard in recordings. Authentic folk music is, therefore, by no means strictly a historical phenomenon: the contemporary folk musician is every bit as authentic as one of earlier times. The starting points for research methods founded on musicianship are, therefore, unabashed subjectivity, critical non-criticality, quality, and imagination. Notions of how archive material should be understood and inter-