| Arthur Kylander | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Arthur Arkadius Kylander (1892-02-16)February 16, 1892 Lieto, Finland |
| Died | September 23, 1968(1968-09-23) (aged 76) Placerville, California |
| Occupation(s) | singer, songwriter, musician |
| Spouse | Julia Varila |
Arthur A. Kylander (February 16, 1892 – September 23, 1968) was a Finnish-American singer, songwriter, and mandolin player.
Biography
Born in Lieto, Finland, Kylander immigrated to the United States in 1914 at the age of twenty-two. There he became an itinerant laborer and worked as a carpenter and logger.
In 1925 he met his future wife Julia Varila, a pianist and accordionist with whom he began performing and touring. During the Depression the Kylanders moved to Hollywood, California, where Julia worked as a cook and Arthur was a butler and chauffeur. In 1943 they bought 240 acres of wooded land near Placerville, California and started a tree farm. In 1964 Kylander was named the Outstanding Conservation Rancher of the Year.
Kylander died in 1968 in Placerville.
Music
Between 1927 and 1929 Kylander released twenty songs on the Victor label. He also published several songbooks with the title Humoristisia Lauluja (Comic Songs).
His repertoire included Kulkuri (The Hobo), Muistojen Valssi (The Waltz of Memories), and Suomalainen ja Sauna (The Finn and the Sauna). A member of the Industrial Workers of the World, many of Kylander's songs dealt with the hardships facing immigrant workers while retaining a strong sense of wit and humor. He sang in a mixture of Finnish and Finglish in a manner similar to his contemporary Hiski Salomaa.
Since the 1970s, Arthur Kylander's recordings have been reissued in both analog and digital formats.
References
- ^ Arthur Kylander. fi.wikipedia.org. Retrieved: March 12, 2013.
- ^ "Arthur A. Kylander". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, CA. September 25, 1968. p. 21. Retrieved August 26, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- Arthur Kylander, Finnish-American Folksinger. Archived 2012-02-16 at the Wayback Machine fingerlakesfinns.org. Retrieved: March 12, 2013.
- Mountain Democrat December 17, 1964.
- "Kylander". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, CA. September 25, 1968. p. 91. Retrieved August 26, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- Ethnic Music on Records by Richard K. Spottswood, (University of Illinois Press, 1990) Volume 5, pp. 2581–2582.
- ^ Songs about Work by Richard A Reuss and Archie Green, (Bloomington: Folklore Institute, Indiana University, 1993) pp. 268-271.
- ^ Siirtolaisen Muistoja (The Immigrant's Memories) (Helsinki: Finnish RCA, 1978).
- Oi kuinka engeliksi mielin (We'll be angels by and by) (Kaustinen: The Folk Music Institute), 1994).
- Stranded in the USA (Munich: Trikont, 2004).
External links
Book excerpt
Discography
- Arthur Kylander on Victor Records.
- 1978 LP with four songs by Arthur Kylander
- 2004 CD with two songs by Arthur Kylander
Videos
Streaming audio
- Finnish Wobblies at the Internet Archive.
- Finnish songs at the Library of Congress.