(Video source: cosmicrat)
Introduction to Ievan Polkka
You have probably heard Ievan Polkka performed by Loituma. It has even reached meme status. Twice! To any English speaker, it may sound like gibberish with lyrics like "Salivili hipput tupput tapput, äppyt tipput hilijalleen." and "...dittari dillan ditsdan dulla." But, most foreign languages sound like gibberish to those who can't speak it.
"Ievan Polkka" is a Finnish folk song. It was first written in 1928 by Eino Kettunen. It was made popular by a finnish quartet named "Loituma" in 1996 and again in 2018-20 by a Turkish man named Bilal Göregen.
As we here at Pax Aurora Online Reading don't speak Finnish and found multiple sources saying the same thing, we will let Loituma's Hanni Autere explain what Ievan Polkka is about. The following information was taken directly from this video by Hanni Autere.
An explanation of Ievan Polkka
Lyrics
How to learn Ievan Polkka
This playlist by Hanni is, in our opinion, the best way to learn Ievan Polkka.