Pelimannitalo

Konstantie 8 Kaustinen

The Kaustinen Pelimannitalo, originally called Aapintupa, was built around 1800 in the village of Pulkkinen in Veteli. The house went uninhabited in the 1940s, and it was moved to Kaustinen in stages. There it has served as a venue for folk music performances and meetings as well as provided premises for the Folk Music Institute. President Kekkonen inaugurated the building in the summer of 1974.

The layout of the Pelimannitalo represents a special type of Ostrobothnian peasant house called ‘sivukamaritupa’. These kinds of houses were built in the southern parishes of Central Ostrobothnia as farmhouse main buildings from the mid-1700s to the 1850s. In them, the rooms were built on both sides of a large kitchen-living room area, not at both ends of the house. The house is furnished in an old rustic style, and the kitchen-living rooms feature traditional arched open fireplaces. Today the Pelimannitalo is in private ownership, and it is hired out for different events and family occasions.

For folk music enthusiasts, the Pelimannitalo is the legendary heart of the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival: countless memorable moments have been experienced in its intimate atmosphere since the times of Konsta Jylhä ja Purppuripelimannit. Concerts are organised throughout the year, and the performers include, for instance, the professional folk music ensemble Tallari and various artists of the Kaustinen Chamber Music Week.

From the front stairs of the Pelimannitalo, you can see the festival park dominated by an amphitheatre-shaped festival arena, built in 1985, with its auditorium for about 3,000 people. During the festival, the arena is covered by an open-sided marquee with a 24-metre-high central pole, designed by the architect Roy Mänttäri. This yellow-striped, umbrella-formed marquee has become the symbol of the Kaustinen festival. It has received the nickname “Ville’s beanie” after an important figure in the Folk Music Festival, Viljo S. Määttälä (1923–2016).

Just down the slope in front of the Pelimannitalo stairs and to the left, you can also see a monument dedicated to folk music (Kansanmusiikkimonumentti). The monument, by Armas Maasalo, was unveiled in 1982. Its base features the profiles of important music influencers and composers from Kaustinen.