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EESTI ELU reedel, 22. mail 2020 — Friday, May 22, 2020
ESTONIAN CULTURE LINKS by Vincent Teetsov
We’re Listening with EMW: Tuulikki Bartosik’s Metsakontsert / “Forest Live” The accordion is an instru ment that ties together the musical traditions of many countries, not least Estonia. May 6th happened to be World Accordion Day, and to mark the occasion, accordi onist and composer Tuulikki Bartosik put on a live show for everyone on Facebook, so we could enjoy music in the depths of nature from the comfort of home. The video was set, as alluded to in the concert title, in a forest, with thick moss covering the forest floor. This verdant con cert hall was sparsely arranged with two microphones and a bright red chair where Tuulikki sat and performed. She brings many dimensions
to her show for the audience to enjoy. There’s always deep and telling expression in her face when she plays, which you may find yourself reflecting when you listen. It’s all sincere and believable. Take a moment to close your eyes though, and imagine just where you are in the songs. To balance the chords from the left hand side of her freebass accordion, she implements energetic attack in the right hand, creating striking syncopa tion and explosive turns during moments of register changes and refrains. I couldn’t help but let out an audible “wow” when Tuulikki warbled the notes with manual vibrato, presumably through the bellows of the ac
Thank you Andrus Viirg! In case you are not aware, May 31st, 2020 is the last day that Andrus Viirg will help build Estonian business work ing for Enterprise Estonia, Silicon Valley. Since the summer of 2007 Andrus has helped guide hun dreds of Estonian Start-Ups in cluding Transferwise, Fortumo, Guardtime and Veriff just to name a few. When called on he has also helped presidents, prime ministers, ministers, and business people when they came to visit the USA within the last 14 years. The beauty of people like Andrus is they work hard, give service and love to Estonia and its people without any big massive payday in the end. That is why it is more than important to give a big thank you to Andrus for all his dedi cation to Estonia. We all benefit is some way by his work. A personal note, we moved to California around the same time and we met at the Estonian Ski Days in China Peak around 2010 over the late night gather ings at the lodge restaurant. Since then we have worked to gether in many fields weekly and sometimes daily. Andrus is an excellent team player and always supports the craziest ideas and because of this spirit he makes things happen, even when others were negative and did not believe it would be pos sible. This spirit of Andrus is what we need in every field as a small country and community like Estonia. Here our my two favorite crazy ideas that so many were doubtful could happen. 1) Estonian Prime Minister visits Los Angeles. Seems so
Illustration: Laani Heinar
cordion. This is an effect that would otherwise be produced by an effects pedal. It seems obvious to call her a virtuoso, as she is clearly a master of this instrument. In her first song, there were stark tonal changes between gently sweeping, reed instru ment evocative right hand flour ishes, to growling chords and extra air pushed through the in strument, resembling the force of love and igatsus (longing). Tuulikki is a one-woman band, with the ability to connect to universal musical feelings. Her description on Instagram even starts in Japanese first, showing that mutual apprecia
Estonian Health… (Continued from page 8)
simple, but Estonia is almost 100 years old and there has never been an official govern ment visit to Los Angeles and it happened in 2017 when Prime Minister Jüri Ratas visited Los Angeles. The truth is when this idea came up very few support ed this. Andrus did. 2) The Estonian Consulate should open an office on the West Coast of the US. Again seems natural now, but the truth is many were against this idea. This year the Estonian Con sulate will be opening in San Francisco. Andrus again gave great support when others did not. Everyone that knows Andrus sees a great team player – they play great and it does not matter who is the coach or general manager. Just to think about how many times in those 14 years Enterprise Estonia has changed their leadership and also the government changes – many times... and Andrus has always been there to support them all. Andrus is also a co-founder of Estonian Start-Up conference Latitude 59. If you see him there, make sure you thank him. I want to personally thank you for everything you have done for Estonia. I am sure Estonians around the world and Americans and the international network in Silicon Valley feel the same way I do. Thank you again and have fun with you next endeavor. See you soon! RENEE
ESTONIAN LIFE
this goal was met. “At the same time, we must understand that the coronavirus does not think too much about the legal order and will continue to spread rapidly, where it gets the chance. This means staying sick at home, good hand hy giene practices and maintaining a polite distance from others must become the norm in society,” she went on. Jürilo had in late April faced political pressure from Prime Minister Jüri Ratas (Center), who hit out at the board’s handling of the crisis. Coronavirus primarily spreads from an infectious person to a healthy one through close contact, where the latter is considered to be a situation of people getting closer than two meters from one another for a period of 15 minutes or more. COVID-19 is a droplet infec tion caused by human-to-human sneezing and coughing, as well as the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which propagates via contaminated surfaces and unwashed hands, the board says. Merike Jürilo noted the Health Board is to definitely continue co-operation with [chief of its crisis team] Dr. Arkadi Popov and Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) doctor, Lt-col. Ahti at least until the beginning of June. The Health Board will also continue to work closely with researchers. Jürilo also thanked the public for its behavior during the emergency situation. “The Health Board appre ciates and thanks both those responsibly-behaving citizens, and our partners, who have supported us in the fight against COVID.”
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tion between Japanese and Nordic culture. In her forest concert, she featured her most recent album “Torm veeklassis” (“Tempest in a Teapot”), includ ing a song that was delightfully performed live with Japanese accordionist Kanako Kato during Tuulikki’s tour of Japan. In between songs, she speaks in both Estonian and in English to briefly tell the stories of her songs, so listeners can imagine and adventure in their minds’ eyes. Some songs pull us to the forests of Rõuge in Võrumaa, Tuulikki’s home county, where she composes and records in the summer months. For Tuulikki, however, spring is a special time of year to play music outside, because this is when the birds come out to listen. They’ve been known to tweet and sing along to the accordion. Or otherwise fly away. At one point, the camera tilts up to the treetops where they chitter chatter in response to her song. In the forest, you just need to observe. The sea is also a source of inspiration for Tuulikki, as in her third song, about taking a
long journey by boat and returning home. Tumbling melodies rise up and flow down like waves. When these melodies move more calmly, her voice sings in synchronicity with the accordion.
She also noted that a second wave could be forthcoming in the autumn, adding that the country was better prepared than it had been for the first wave from the end of February. “In the autumn, we will de finitely be smarter both in Europe and Estonia, than we were in the spring of this year.” “I sincerely hope that the habits of people during the crisis in terms of infection safe ty and hygiene have come to stay,” she added. The Health Board has been supported in solving the crisis by, among others, employees of the Ministry of Social Affairs, the EDF and the volunteer Defense League (Kaitseliit) and its women’s corollary, Nais kodu kaitse; the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA), the Rescue Board (Päästeamet), the
State Chancellery, the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences (Sisekaitseakadeemia), hospitals and ambulance service pro viders, medical staff, the health insurance fund (Haigekassa), local governments, private sector firms SYNLAB Eesti OÜ, AS Medicum and Adovici OÜ, the family doctor’s advice line (1220) and the crisis help line (1247).
The live concert also has s uperb multi-camera perspective with panning shots that capture the swaying music sensitively, for thousands of viewers to enjoy. It was a pleasant pause in the day to bask in the warm, layered music. Tuulikki’s music can be found on Spotify and Apple Music, with CDs available for purchase on Amazon. ••• You can see talented artists like Tuulikki Bartosik perform right here in Canada as part of Estonian Music Week, in prime venues and in collaboration with high quality Canadian artists. Follow @estonianmu sicweek on Instagram (or @ EstonianMusicWeek on Face book) to keep up to date on future shows.
I am interested in purchasing Estonian art that was created prior to WW II. Artists of interest include: Ants Laikmaa, Eerik Haa mer, Konrad Mägi, Oskar Kallis and Eduard Wiiralt. If you wish to discuss a possible sale, please write to me at laurihillar@gmail.com or Hillar Lauri, 9 Baker Ave., Toronto, ON M4V 2A9.
in partnership with CANADA SUMMER JOBS is looking for 5 youth: • Student in Nursing • Student in Activation, Gerontology or Kinesiology • Student in Hospitality, Nutrition or Dietary Studies or similar • Administrative Studies (business, accounting, etc.) • Environmental Services or Maintenance Applicants must be between 15 and 30 years of age and be legally entitled to work in Canada. Please forward resume to info@ehatare.ca or fax 416-284-5595 Only qualified candidates will be contacted.
