Arthur Kylander [1]
Born
Arthur Arkadius Kylander

(1892-02-16)February 16, 1892
Lieto, Finland
DiedSeptember 23, 1968(1968-09-23) (aged 76)
Placerville, California
Occupation(s)singer, songwriter, musician
SpouseJulia Varila

Arthur A. Kylander (February 16, 1892 – September 23, 1968) was a Finnish-American singer, songwriter, and mandolin player.[1]

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.[2][3] In 1964 Kylander was named the Outstanding Conservation Rancher of the Year.[4]

Kylander died in 1968 in Placerville.[2][5]

Music

Between 1927 and 1929 Kylander released twenty songs on the Victor label.[6] He also published several songbooks with the title Humoristisia Lauluja (Comic Songs).[7]

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.[7] He sang in a mixture of Finnish and Finglish in a manner similar to his contemporary Hiski Salomaa.[8]

Since the 1970s, Arthur Kylander's recordings have been reissued in both analog and digital formats.[8][9][10]

References

  1. 1 2 Arthur Kylander. fi.wikipedia.org. Retrieved: March 12, 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Arthur A. Kylander". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, CA. September 25, 1968. p. 21. Retrieved August 26, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  3. ↑ Arthur Kylander, Finnish-American Folksinger. Archived 2012-02-16 at the Wayback Machine fingerlakesfinns.org. Retrieved: March 12, 2013.
  4. ↑ Mountain Democrat December 17, 1964.
  5. ↑ "Kylander". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, CA. September 25, 1968. p. 91. Retrieved August 26, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. ↑ Ethnic Music on Records by Richard K. Spottswood, (University of Illinois Press, 1990) Volume 5, pp. 2581–2582.
  7. 1 2 Songs about Work by Richard A Reuss and Archie Green, (Bloomington: Folklore Institute, Indiana University, 1993) pp. 268-271.
  8. 1 2 Siirtolaisen Muistoja (The Immigrant's Memories) (Helsinki: Finnish RCA, 1978).
  9. ↑ Oi kuinka engeliksi mielin (We'll be angels by and by) (Kaustinen: The Folk Music Institute), 1994).
  10. ↑ Stranded in the USA (Munich: Trikont, 2004).

Book excerpt

Discography

Videos

Streaming audio

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