In Review: Finnish Fiddler from Lake Worth

As I was perusing FloridaMemory.com, the FL State Library and Archives, I discovered a gold mine!

In 1981, 88-year-old William Syralia, a Finnish-American resident of Lake Worth, was recorded and photographed playing the fiddle. Unfortunately, the recording of his music has not been digitized yet and resides on cassette in the Tallahassee archives.

But there is also a full nearly 2-hour interview recording with him from 1981 available at this link.

In it, he discusses his music and his life in Finland and in the United States.

William Syralia was born in 1898 and left us in 1996. What a treasure to have these archives to keep alive the vibrant cultural heritage of Finns in America!