VenlaSykäri

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 material and the creation of commentaries for the digital runosong database (SKVR) during 2001–2014. More recently (2018–2020, 2022–2023, 2025), I worked in the production of the Avoin Kalevala (“The Open Kalevala”), which is a digital critical edition of the 1849 Kalevala, funded by the Kordelin Foundation, SKS, the Kalevala Society, and the Finnish Cultural Foundation. In this project, completed with the publication of the fourth part in February 2026, I analysed how Elias Lönnrot used the runosong sources in the compilation of the Kalevala. Currently, I participate in the analysis of the Finnic runosong recurrent units in the FILTER / IKAKE project. 

2026: Hämäläinen, Niina & Kati Kallio & Hanna Karhu & Tuukka Karlsson & Marika Luhtala & Juhana Saarelainen & Venla Sykäri: Avoin Kalevala. Kansalliseepoksen digitaalinen, kriittinen editio. Osa IV. Helsinki: SKS.

2025: Runolaulajan innovaatiot Uuden Kalevalan lähteenä. Elore 32(1), 65–92. https://journal.fi/elore/article/view/156195.

2024 Eeepisen runolaulun skeema, aihelmat ja luova muuntelu. Elore 31(2): 168–189. https://journal.fi/elore/article/view/143850/100561

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