Areas of expertise
Research field: folklore studies
- performance, composition and aesthetics of oral poetry
- lyrical improvisation in contemporary cultures (freestyle rap, contest poetry)
- 19th-century Finnic runosong data (SKVR)
- Elias Lönnrot’s use of the oral poetry sources (runosong) in the Kalevala
I am a folklorist specialised in the study of oral poetry, and I hold the title of docent in folklore studies at the University of Helsinki. My doctoral thesis (2011) was based on long-term fieldwork and discussed the performance and composition of rhyming couplets in Crete. Subsequently, my research projects funded by the Academy of Finland (2013–2016) and the Kone Foundation (2020-2022, 2024) focused on contemporary Finnish and other European genres and registers of oral poetry, including improvised rap (freestyle).
I have participated in the analysis of the runosong material and creation of commentaries for the digital runosong data basis (SKVR) during 2001–2014. More recently (2018–2020, 2022–2023), I worked as a runosong data specialist in the Avoin Kalevala (“The Open Kalevala) project, which is a digital critical edition of the 1849 Kalevala, funded by the Kordelin Foundation, SKS and Finnish Cultural Foundation. In this project, I analysed how Elias Lönnrot’s used the runosong sources in the compilation of the Kalevala. My current research on the 19th and early 20th century’s Finnish rhyming couplets, the rekilaulu, is funded by the Kalevala Society.
Keskeiset julkaisut
2023 Sykäri, Venla, Heidi Henriikka Mäkelä & Kati Kallio (eds): Sanojen luonto. Kirjoituksia omaehtoisen ilmaisun poetiikasta ja ympäristöistä. Helsinki: SKS.
https://doi.org/10.21435/skst.1487
2023 Kakssanasen sanat. Rekilaulu suullisen komposition ja variaation mikrokosmoksena. Teoksessa: Venla Sykäri, Heidi Henriikka Mäkelä & Kati Kallio (eds) Sanojen luonto. Kirjoituksia omaehtoisen ilmaisun poetiikasta ja ympäristöistä. Helsinki: SKS.
https://doi.org/10.21435/skst.1487
2022 Sykäri, Venla & Nigel Fabb (eds): Rhyme and Rhyming in verbal Art, Language, and Song. Studia Fennica Folkloristica 25. Helsinki: SKS. https://doi.org/10.21435/sff.25
2022 Rhymer’s Microcosm. Variation and Oral Composition of the 19th Century Finnish Rekilaulu Couplets. In Venla Sykäri & Nigel Fabb: Rhyme and Rhyming in verbal Art, Language, and Song. Helsinki: SKS, 172–196. https://doi.org/10.21435/sff.25
2021: Hämäläinen, Niina & Luhtala, Marika & Saarelainen, Juhana & Sykäri, Venla: Avoin Kalevala. Kansalliseepoksen digitaalinen, kriittinen editio. Osa III. Helsinki: SKS. http://kalevala.finlit.fi
2020: Digital Humanities and How to Read the Kalevala as a Thematic Anthology of Oral Poetry. Arv: Nordic Yearbook of Folklore Vol. 76. 29–54. [online].
https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/10138/333500/3/VenlaSyk_ri.pdf
2019: Interactive Oral Poetry: Resources and Strategies of Oral Composition in a Finnish Freestyle Rap Battle. Journal of American Folklore 132 (523): 3–35
2019: Venla Sykäri, Inka Rantakallio, Elina Westinen ja Dragana Cvetanovic (eds): Hiphop Suomessa: Puheenvuoroja tutkijoilta ja tekijöiltä. Helsinki: Nuorisotutkimusseura.
2017: Beginning from the End. Strategies of Composition in Lyrical Improvisation with End Rhyme. Oral Tradition 31/1.
2014: Sitä kylvät, mitä niität. Suomenkielinen improvisoitu rap ja komposition strategiat. Elore Vol 21 – 2/2014, 1–39. http://www.elore.fi/arkisto/2_14/sykari.pdf
2011: Words as Events. Cretan mantinádes in performance and composition. Studia Fennica Folkloristica. Helsinki: SKS. http://dx.doi.org/10.21435/sff.18
