Rosburg sisters Vanessa Steppe, Serena Travis and Cherilyn Phipps got together in 2020 with costumes and historical kantele instruments to try to recreate an image of Kreeta Haapasalo that is among items in Finland’s musical archives.

ROSBURG — Sibelius is Finland’s most beloved musician, but ask Finns to name others and Kantele-Kreeta would come to mind.

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A Naselle High School graduate has made a movie about Kreeta Haapasalo, a musician who traveled Scandinavia and western Russia in the 1800s earning money to supplement her family’s meager farm income.

The connection is deeply personal for filmmaker Serena Travis: Haapasalo was her great-great-great-great-grandmother.

Her movie “A Song Beyond Sorrow,” is entered in the 168 Film Festival. It premieres Thursday. (Nov. 18)

The Christian-themed festival, which attracts entries from around the world, is based in Los Angeles, although it is being held virtually this year because of covid restrictions.

‘Hardship visits’

Travis is the daughter of Robbie and Marilyn Johnson of Rosburg. The 1990 NHS graduate once worked at The Daily Astorian during the pre-computer era when paste-up artists used wax to attach stories onto page layouts.

She moved around the country until the movie industry lured her toward Los Angeles in 2013.

Now 49 and based in Orange County, she works on multiple media projects, as well as marketing for real estate businesses.

Her 7-minute film highlights Haapasalo, a singer and kantele player who lived from 1813 to 1893. The storyline: “When hardship visits a peasant farmer’s wife, she utilizes music to help her family survive and ultimately sustains the spirit of her nation.”

‘A huge family effort’

The idea began years ago when Travis sought to display a picture of her Finnish relative in her East Coast home. “I wanted to create a music room that would be inspirational,” she said. “I looked for a documentary — there was nothing. I thought, I’m supposed to make it! It was just a desire to learn more about her.”

Pull Quote

‘She was a 1800s’ traveling lady musician. It was unusual and gutsy.’

Serena Travis

Filmmaker

Trips to Naselle-Rosburg and elsewhere to record interviews with relatives and two to Finland came next.

“It was a huge family effort to put this together,” she said, noting her film’s credits are voluminous. A university professor from Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy, named for the nation’s greatest composer, contributed significantly. Much had to be translated. While not fluent, Travis grew up singing songs in Finnish so she is comfortable recognizing words.

Media coverage of her project in Finland fastened on a common theme: “following in the footsteps of your ancestors.” Travis chuckled at the inevitability. “That’s what a Finn would do!”

Heavenly harp

The “sorrow” element from the title refers to Haapasalo seeing two crosses in a dream. She returned home from performing to learn two of her children had died in an epidemic and were being buried that day. In Finland, a relative helped Travis film two crosses in the snow.

Haapasalo’s faith is a natural element for the 168 Film Festival. Travis noted that she is associated with the quote, “‘My harp will sound beautiful when I play it in heaven.’ I think she had a belief that there was a brighter future.”

Haapasalo family links run deep locally. Travis’ father, Robbie Johnson, recalled the distinctive sound of the kantele at family gatherings. Finland’s national instrument, pronounced “cant-a-lay,” has multiple strings which are plucked.

“We grew up with it,” Johnson said. “It was part of the family history.”

‘Gutsy’ traveling lady

Finns cherish the saga of Haapasalo, known as “Kantele-Kreeta.” As a 6-year-old, she learned the kantele, encouraged by her musical grandfather and uncle. Her first instrument had just six strings. In her teens, she earned money for her family as a seamstress.

She married a farmer, Joonas, and they had 11 children. She supported them by playing the kantele and singing folk songs at public performances throughout Finland, for Russian royalty in St. Petersburg and at the Swedish capital, Stockholm.

Finland, for years part of Swedish territory then later ruled from Russia, endured significant downturns including a devastating famine on its way to independence in 1 917.

Family farm income was never enough. “I believe it was an issue of necessity why she had to travel around,” Travis said. “She was a 1800s’ traveling lady musician. It was unusual and gutsy.”

Honored with statues

Robbie Johnson is the son of the late H. Robert Johnson and Mae Johnson Adair. His mother’s brother, Wilho Saari and his wife Kaisa, were profiled by Cate Gable in the Observer in 2010.

Kreeta Haapasalo’s background was highlighted in that article, which was rich in historical and musical detail. It highlighted how the Saaris had traveled the world playing the kantele, including at the White House in 2006 when Wilho earned a National Heritage Fellowship.

Haapasalo was Wilho’s great-great-grandmother.

“Her playing is documented in poems and songs of the times — she was born in 1813 — and she has been honored by two statues in Kaustby and Veteli, Finland; she and her music are also commemorated on a Finnish postage stamp,” Gable wrote.

A patron, the poet Zachris Topelius, suggested Kreeta take the surname Haapasalo, after the house she was living in, when she told him she had no surname, Gable’s article added.

Film premier

“A Song Beyond Sorrow” premieres Thursday, Nov. 18. Winners will be announced at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 21. It will be available for viewing for nine days after the festival.

Afterward, Travis is hoping to secure funding, perhaps through grants, to create a longer version.

She will be returning to Naselle to watch the premiere with her parents. The family has another creative project in the works. She, her mother, Marilyn Johnson, and sisters Vanessa Steppe of Federal Way and Cherilyn Phipps of Eatonville, are creating a singing group for the next FinnFest.