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EESTI ELU reedel, 25. märtsil 2022 — Friday, March 25, 2022
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Estonian Music Week brings jazz pianist Kristjan Randalu back to Toronto on April 12th Vincent Teetsov Spring is here, and with that return of vitality, Canada is getting back two year’s worth of events that were cancelled as a result of the pandemic. In late March 2020, Grammynominated Estonian pianist Kristjan Randalu was sched uled to play two nights at Toronto’s Jazz Bistro with saxophonist Mike Murley and then singer Geneviève Marentette; followed by a show at Hamilton’s Cotton Factory, alongside Terry Clarke, Reg Schwager, and Neil Swainson. Now, at long last, Randalu will be back in North America for a string of dates. On April 1st, he will perform with bass vocalist Ain Anger and bassoonist Martin Kuuskmann at New York City’s Estonian House. This performance – part of the 50th Estonian Cultural Days held by the Foundation for Estonian Arts and Letters – has an emphasis on vocal pieces. It includes two compositions by composer Tõnu Kõrvits, Randalu’s “Kolm ohvrikivi laulu”, and selections from Franz Schubert’s song cycle “Winter reise” (“Winter Journey”). Randalu will then proceed to Brooklyn, San Antonio, and finally, to the historic Heliconian Hall (35 Hazelton Avenue, M5R 2E3) in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood. This particular show, taking place on the evening of April 12th at 8:00 PM, is being organized by Estonian Music Week for their 2022 interim programming. The festival, which is a project created
by Estonian Museum Canada (VEMU), is continuing the momentum generated by the successful hybrid concerts they put on in the autumn of 2021. In contrast to Randalu’s other North American shows this spring, his Toronto show will mostly consist of solo piano, with accompaniment on a few songs by Mike Murley. Once again, the festival is curating Estonian and Canadian talent like they do best. The cancelled 2020 shows aside, Randalu played with Murley back in 2019, making for a cohesive pairing that Sebastian Buccioni (EMW’s Artistic and Executive Director) has called “a natural fit.” As a band leader and member of numerous combos, including notable Canadian bands such as the Shuffle Demons and Metalwood, Murley has par ticipated in 14 Juno Awardwinning records. It’s easy to see why: his approach to the sax is smooth, melodious, and responsive to all that comes his way. The larger part of this concert will feature songs from Randalu’s 2018 album Absence, recorded in Provence, France. Producing the album was ECM Records founder Manfred Eicher, who has worked closely with jazz artists and contemporary Estonian classical com posers alike. These artists include Pat Metheny, Jack DeJohnette, Arvo Pärt, and Erkki-Sven Tüür. Before the concert, readers
On the Wall: the ceramic zeitgeist of Shary Boyle and Kris Lemsalu Malone Vincent Teetsov It was already theatrical before going inside. The fog hung like in a noir film around Queen’s Park and the entrance to the Gardiner Museum, where Shary Boyle launched the public celebra tion night of her latest exhibi tion Outside the Palace of Me. This museum – part of the Bloor Street Culture Corridor along with VEMU (Estonian Museum Canada) – is chock full of surprises seemingly any time one wanders in, even on a normal weekday evening. It’ll reset your system, recharge your batteries. The excitement of enjoying art with other people was back, like a long lost friend. The room was dressed up and ready, vibrating with anticipation of the exhibit. Boyle, who grew up in Scarborough, was there to
share in this excitement and talk with the public. After her opening statement and cheers from the crowd, guests went through a velvet curtain, through a door and out onto the runway-like platform into the room that holds the special exhibition. The only text present on the walls of the exhibition are the ones that greet you at the beginning, in which Boyle invites you “to assume the role of performer – as yourself.” Her art “asks us to both honour and challenge those parts of ourselves and each other that we present to the world, and those we keep hidden within.” What awaits you inside is a carnival of human figures, made in porcelain, stoneware, and terracotta, with glazes and enamels, accessories of metal, textiles, gold leaf, and the odd motor breathing life into what
For two years the members of the Toronto Estonian Men’s Choir have had to sing alone – at home, while driving, in the shower, one occasion while zooming, wherever. But finally they’re together again. On March 17th, at Estonian House, they warmed up their vocal cords and tuned up their voices, preparing for their next concert – not virtual. Photo: Andres Raudsepp
are recommended to seek out Absence; above all, the track “Partly Clouded.” If Murley joins in on this composition live on saxophone, emulating the role of the guitar in the recording, it will be a sound to behold. This lead part harmonizes Randalu’s thunderous, growling piano and goes astray vividly, like a dinghy on the open sea. Also listen to “Sisu.” The intro is meditative and airy, which is deceptive, when presented with descending chords and a tantalizing lack of resolution in the middle part of the song. These stimulating components of Randalu’s signature style have also been felt in the cinema world recently, as he contributed to the score of The Matrix Resurrections. His playing (such as in the piece “Meeting Trinity”) added to the sinister, self aware dynamic of the film, through alternating instances of off-kilter chords and sparse, soft notes. Kristjan Randalu’s name is appearing more and more in the music world, so it’s an honour that he is dedicating the concluding stop of his tour through North America to catch
you could call the “cast” of Boyle’s exhibition. In The Painter, a faceless woman gazes into a round mirror, looking at the face she drew onto the mirror in makeup. It appears that she is preparing herself for a show; on the stage, or simply around scrutinizing peers, friends, or family. On the left wall is White Elephant, a nine foot tall sculpture of a drastically elongated, seated woman, in bright white and off-white tones. Black eyebrows, eyes, lips, buttons, and the dark soles of her brogues mark out her expression and outline. Her physical proportions recall the transformations of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, but are also reminiscent of distortions and inequality with regard to people’s skin colour. Between the full rotation of the woman’s head that viewers witness at unpredictable times, and the dark, concentric Looney Tunes circles that radiate outward behind the woman, we observe a woman who is fraying. In the third segment of the
up with Estonian Music Week’s audience. ••• To leap on this live music opportunity and start this next era of arts and culture on the right foot, get your tickets ($20 each) from estonianmusicweek.
ca. For the safety of concert-goers, Estonian Music Week will continue to require proof of vaccination to be shown and masks to be worn upon entry to the concert. Please let us know if you require exemption by contacting emw@vemu.ca.
room, “The Star”, one finds Centering, a coin-operated pottery wheel that spins five spheres on a post, twirling fabric that’s attached to it. The spheres look like planets in an astronomical model. Except, this is not a display of heliocentrism, but rather, anthropo centrism. Boyle suggests, “we are all at the centre of the universe.”
thematically-tied drawings and paintings and a miniature, sculpted parade of characters that includes praying hands, drummers, flag bearers, and a mermaid advocating for the urgent causes of the world. As this all unveiled itself and each viewer formed their own impression of the rich symbolism of the artworks, four musicians came into the room, sat
Elsewhere on the walls are
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White Elephant by Shary Boyle and So Let Us Melt And Make No Noise by Kris Lemsalu Malone. Photo: Robert Glowacki
