These are sensitive and beautiful settings in a gentle Western style of an exotic strain of folk music written by a leading Japanese composer. Michio Mamiya was born in 1929 in Asahikawa on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. He developed a strong interest in music, but was not able to receive any musical training until after World War II ended in 1945. He studied with various teachers in Japan, including Tomojiro Ikenouchi, who was known for his strong French academic musical training. Mamiya started transcribing Japanese folk songs early in his career. His interest in music on a worldwide scale has led him to treat a wide variety of ethnic music in his music, including African music, jazz, and music of some of the smaller ethnic groups. His music follows the examples of Debussy and Poulenc, particularly in his song settings and in his songlike instrumental music, including the Finnish Folksongs (5) (which are considerd here based on only the third and fifth parts of the group). Composed for cello and piano, the Finnish Folksongs are in a thoroughly Western idiom. It is unlikely that someone listening to them "cold" would occur to ascribe them to a Japanese composer, although after being told, one can fancy hearing a certain Japanese esthetic in the clean, delicate application of the melodies to the harmonies and the delicacy of the note placement for both instruments, which strives to make a maximum effect with spare means. The folk songs set here originate from Finland, as the title indicates, but not with the main Finnish culture. Instead, these are melodies of the Saami people, also known as the Lapps (a term now often considered to be derogatory), who inhabit the northern regions of Finland and Scandinavia called Lapland. Their language is considered endangered and is in the Urgic branch of the Uralic-Altaic group. Mamiya's island is the main home of the Ainu people, considered by many the indigenous stock of Japan—or at least of Hokkaido and the Russian-held islands and peninsula north of it. The similarities between the two groups (and speculation of a linguistic connection) led Mamiya to visit Saami people in Finland, where he notated the songs he used in this set. The third song is called "Miero vuotti uutta kuuta." It is a gentle, lullaby-like melody. Mamiya's setting is fairly Impressionist in style. The fifth, "Joiku," refers to a traditional form of narrative chant in Saami. The song is divided into sections, alternating between a slower melody that mirrors speech cadences and a faster pattern that sounds as if it should be a drum chant. The slower texture includes luscious added-note chords in the treble of the piano, only distantly related to the main harmonies.

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