letkajenkka

The tradition & historical record

Letkajenkka (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈletkɑˌjeŋkːɑ]), is a Finnish dance. ²

Letkajenkka / letkis is a music genre and a general noun as well as two songs by the same name ("Letkajenkka" and "Letkis") as proper nouns, after which the genre got its name; jenkka, on the other hand, is a general noun, a music and dance genre like waltz. The popular music genre and the ensuing dance craze were at their hottest during 1963–1965. Letkajenkka is based on the idea of performing Jenkka music using non-traditional instruments. Traditional instruments for playing the jenkka, a Finnish traditional folk dance, are instruments such as the violin and accordion. In the early 1960s some composers thought of writing jenkka tunes for more contemporary bands with more modern instruments, such as wind instruments (for a more swing-like jenkka) and amplified instruments like electric guitars, basses, and drums (a more rock 'n' roll or boogie woogie-like sound). The form of the letkajenkka songs is consistent with traditional jenkka, but where the music is distinctively jenkka, the dance steps are not. Both dances are based on a lightly bouncing and skipping step. A rhythmic component that contributes towards the feel of a letkajenkka and distinguishes a letkajenkka from a regular jenkka tune is a distinctive pattern of either three crotchets / quarter notes followed by a quarter rest or two crotchets / quarter notes followed by a third dotted one in the end of its musical phrases that more or less coincide with the three consecutive hops of the dance steps. Regular jenkkas do not typically feature this rhythm pattern, at least not repeatedly. Erik Lindström introduced the genre with his song Letkajenkka. A Swedish band called the Adventurers recorded it, and it immediately topped the charts in Finland. ²

The steps of Letkajenkka are like the steps of Bunny Hop, a novelty dance from the 1950s. It has been proposed that exchange students returning from the United States to Finland would have imported the steps of the Bunny Hop to Finland, as they had seen them on the TV show Bandstand. Whereas the Bunny Hop starts with a right foot lead, the Letkajenkka / letkajenkka transformed into a dance based on the same step, but starting with a left leg lead. This can be seen from the early recordings for TV and in some movies made during the hottest craze. Also many translated lyrics include advice on the steps: "left kick, left kick, right kick, right kick, forward jump, backward jump, hop, hop, hop". ²

The people participating in the dance form a Conga-like line (that can also be a circle) so that everyone holds the person in front of themselves by the shoulders or the waist. The steps go as follows (everybody does the same thing): ²

kick to the left with the left foot & step back into the middle, kick to the left with the left foot & step back into the middle, kick to the right with the right foot & step back into the middle, kick to the right with the right foot & step back into the middle, jump forwards with both feet together (for only a few inches), jump backwards with both feet, jump forwards three times with both feet, (repeat). 1–4 may be enhanced by bouncing with the leg opposite to the kicking side. ²

The music genre became popular, and many composers around the world started writing letkis music. Examples of non-Finnish letkis music include "La Yenka" (performed by Johnny & Charley Kurt, 1965), the Kessler Twins' Lasciati Baciare Col Letkis, "Leaf Fall" (Russian: Листопад) by David Tukhmanov and Ploem Ploem Jenka by Pieter Goemans. Lehtinen's Letkis was translated and covered in Japanese as Retto Kisu (Jenka) / レット・キス（ジェンカ）, performed by Kyu Sakamoto. ²

In Finland, the most well-known letkajenkka songs include ²

Letkajenkka by Erik Lindström Letkis by Rauno Lehtinen Doin' the Jenka (trad.) At the Jenka Show by Georg Malmstén Helsinki-letkis by Toivo Kärki Minne tuuli kuljettaa by Toivo Kärki Puhelinlangat laulaa ²

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Letkajenkka”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ²

letkajenkka is Finnish dance; international dance craze, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ¹

The source record links this tradition to 2 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ¹