Arthur Kylander

Arthur A. Kylander (February 16, 1892 – September 23, 1968) was a Finnish-American singer, songwriter, and mandolin player.^[1]

Arthur Kylander [1]
Born	Arthur Arkadius Kylander (1892-02-16)February 16, 1892 Lieto, Finland
Died	September 23, 1968(1968-09-23) (aged 76) Placerville, California
Occupation(s)	singer, songwriter, musician
Spouse	Julia Varila

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.^[2][3] In 1964 Kylander was named the Outstanding Conservation Rancher of the Year.^[4]

Kylander died in 1968 in Placerville.^[2][5]

Music

Between 1927 and 1929 Kylander released twenty songs on the Victor label.^[6] He also published several songbooks with the title Humoristisia Lauluja (Comic Songs).^[7]

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.^[7] He sang in a mixture of Finnish and Finglish in a manner similar to his contemporary Hiski Salomaa.^[8]

Since the 1970s, Arthur Kylander's recordings have been reissued in both analog and digital formats.^[8][9][10]