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. Arthur Kylander, Finnish-American Folksinger. fingerlakesfinns.org. Retrieved: March 12, 2013. In 1964 Kylander was named the Outstanding Conservation Rancher of the Year.Mountain Democrat December 17, 1964.
Kylander died in 1968 in Placerville.
Music Between 1927 and 1929 Kylander released twenty songs on the Victor label.Ethnic Music on Records by Richard K. Spottswood, (University of Illinois Press, 1990) Volume 5, pp. 2581–2582. He also published several songbooks with the title Humoristisia Lauluja (Comic Songs).Songs about Work by Richard A Reuss and Archie Green, (Bloomington: Folklore Institute, Indiana University, 1993) pp. 268-271.
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.Siirtolaisen Muistoja (The Immigrant's Memories) (Helsinki: Finnish RCA, 1978).
Since the 1970s, Arthur Kylander's recordings have been reissued in both analog and digital formats.Oi kuinka engeliksi mielin (We'll be angels by and by) (Kaustinen: The Folk Music Institute), 1994).Stranded in the USA (Munich: Trikont, 2004).
References
External links Book excerpt A Passion For Polka at the University of California Press. Arthur Kylander in A Passion For Polka. Discography Arthur Kylander on Victor Records. 1978 LP with four songs by Arthur Kylander 2004 CD with two songs by Arthur Kylander Videos Arthur Kylander Streaming audio Finnish Wobblies at the Internet Archive. Finnish songs at the Library of Congress.