A Finnish traditional plucked string instrument related to the Russian gusli, the Latvian kokle, the Lithuanian kanklės, the Estonian kannel, the Japanese koto and Chinese gu zheng.

The oldest forms of kantele have 5 or 6 horsehair strings and a wooden body carved from one piece. More modern instruments have metal strings and often a body made from several pieces. Modern concert kanteles (as shown) can have up to 40 strings. Modern instruments with 15 or fewer strings are generally more closely modelled on traditional shapes than the concert kantele and form a separate category of instrument known as small kantele. The playing positions of concert kantele and small kantele are reversed, i.e. to the player of a small kantele the longest low pitched strings are furthest away from the body, while to a concert kantele this side of the instrument is nearest and the short high pitched strings furthest away. The instruments have different though related repertoires.

The kantele has a distinctive bell-like sound. The Finnish kantele generally has a diatonic tuning though small kantele with between 5 and 15 strings are often tuned to a gapped mode missing a seventh and with the lowest pitched strings tuned to a fourth below the tonic as a drone. The Estonian kannel has a variety of traditional tunings. Concert versions have a switch mechanism (similar to semitone levers on a modern folk harp) for making sharps and flats. Players hold the kantele in their laps or on a small table. There are two main playing techniques, either plucking the strings with the fingers or strumming unstopped strings (sometimes with a matchstick).