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EESTI ELU reedel, 10. septembril 2021 — Friday, September 10, 2021
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EMW at Jazzkaar Festival Part Three: the Understated Fusion of ELLIP Vincent Teetsov Jazzkaar Festival is over now, and as you’d want from any good music festival, it has left attendees with an engaged musical brain on multiple levels. There was a session of morning yoga soundtracked by double bass player Mingo Rajandi. Performers and composers discussed the fate of big band jazz. Singer Stig Rästa, of Eurovision fame, sang his hits alongside a song to get kids excited about brushing their teeth. And, as shown in the last two parts of this series, bands from across Europe and the US got to the core of jazz. The curation of a jazz festi val’s lineup is an interesting thing, isn’t it? Jazz at Lincoln Center – a key cultural institu tion in New York City – describes jazz as “a metaphor for Democracy. Because jazz is improvisational, it celebrates personal freedom and en courages individual expression.” While not every artist was swinging on the ride cymbal, had saxophone or trumpet solos, or walked to the scale of an upright bass player, the artists who played spoke to the freedom and individual expres sion of the genre. Perhaps jazz has broadened itself through its own fundamental, democratic components. I certainly find those ideas – along with unconventional rhythmic patterns and front and centre bass parts – in the music of ELLIP, a six-piece band that played at Fotografiska in Tallinn on Friday August 27th, as well as a solo terrace concert the following afternoon with lead singer and songwriter Pille-Riin Karro. Take a listen to “Shivers” and “Fool”, from ELLIP’s 2020 EP Four Words, and you’ll come across stylish moments of glitches and skips in the drum beat. And then there’s that earworm of a chorus in the latest single “Square One,” that moves like a swift left and right stomping dance routine. I’m apt to pry for a cause
ELLIP live.
Photo: Martin Ahven
We’re hiring! behind artistic techniques like this, to find a correlation. However, Karro says, “I don’t overthink it too much. When I hear a beat it is mostly clear in a couple of minutes if it speaks to me or not. And I just follow what the beat does and what is naturally in me. Or with ‘Square One’, I just had that main melody in my head and started building around it.” This propensity for easygoing music-making fits with her fea ture on jonas.f.k’s disco inflected track “LondonParisChicago.” Then there’s Mikk Siemer (AKA Nzea), with whom she worked on Four Words. Having met through a friend (and sharing the same star sign, which she insists is very im portant), Karro recounts how she and Siemer “went to the countryside with a hope to just feel good in music and maybe create something, and before we knew it, in nine days we had around 10 songs that were for us something magical.” She talks about the magic that ensues when someone loosens up with a collaborator and doesn’t exclusively push their own creative agenda. This ex perience gave her confidence to take the lead on production for “Square One” and beyond. Nevertheless, there were more individual evolutions that had to take place early on. Several years ago, Karro took part in an exchange program at Edge Hill University in England, which she has talked about as a prompt for pursuing music. As an artist, she says, “Having like-minded people around me – the community, the growing together, the musical conversations, the con cert visits and talks afterwards, the collaborations and so on and so forth – I wouldn’t be here without it.” Even in moments of off-time. One night, when a local jazz quartet was playing on campus, the quartet asked if anyone wanted to come up and sing a song with them. Shaking with nerves, but encouraged by her friend, Karro came up to sing “Fly Me to the Moon.” It was an experience of “self transcen dence” as she puts it. Working as a Raadio 2 DJ (in addition to being a performing musician), her favourite m usic to spin is the “easy, fun and happy” music of rapper and singing drummer Anderson .Paak, especially his partnership with Bruno Mars, for the duo Silk Sonic. Being a DJ has re-ignited the act of listening to music, which doesn’t get much attention when in creation mode. Karro admits that English language music has shaped her more than Estonian language music, with the latter not being part of her listening as a child. Though she does enjoy old Estonian jazz, I can see how this connection to English
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Experts: President Kaljulaid’s foreign policy was successful ERR, September 2021 During her five-year term of office, President Kersti Kaljulaid has made over 100 foreign visits, met with dozens of world leaders and partici pated in many high-profile agenda-setting international forums. ERR spoke to experts to see how they assess Kaljulaid’s foreign policy. While the role of Estonia’s president is often ceremonial, they have a big opportunity to impact the country’s foreign policy. Since taking office in October 2016, Kaljulaid has met with 59 presidents, eight monarchs, the pope and an emir. She has made 138 foreign visits, said Mailin Aasmäe, spokesperson for the President’s Office. In addition to working visits, Kaljulaid has made six state visits to Finland, Georgia, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Kuwait as well as seven official visits to Poland, Chile, Germany, the Vatican, Greece, Ukraine and Benin. Before handing over the presidential chain to incoming President Alar Karis on October 11, Kaljulaid will make a state visit to Kenya, an official visit to Sweden, working visits to Italy and Germany and partici pate in the UN General Assembly in New York. Over the last five years, 36 heads of state have visited
language music might be repre sentative of a broader desire in the Estonian music industry to share ideas outside of Estonia. That said, Karro talks about how much Tallinn has to offer. The city’s talent “keeps you on your toes, keeps you wanting to push further and discover more, of yourself and music as well.” And here’s the correlation I was looking for. To her, Jazzkaar, Tallinn’s jazz festival, is an event “where all of the musicians are true professionals, lovers of music...” To perform
Estonia including the presidents of Romania, Latvia, Italy and Lithuania and the King of the Netherlands. Kaljulaid has hosted the leaders of Georgia, Denmark, Croatia, Norway, Austria, Iceland, Sweden, Great Britain, Germany, Kosovo, Poland, Finland, Iceland, Bulgaria and Ukraine – twice. Notable occasions include the Gaudeamus Song Festival in Tartu in July 2018 and the Summit of the Three Seas Initiative in October 2020. “Special mention may be made of the working visit of the President of France Emmanuel Macron, the official visit of the President of Germany FrankWalter Steinmeier, the visit of Pope Francis, the state visit of Sergio Mattarella, President of Italy, the state visit of King Willem-Alexander, the official visit of Alexander Van der Bellen, the official visit of Queen Margrethe II of Den mark and the working visit of King Philippe of Belgium,” Aasmäe told ERR. President Kaljulaid has also received the credentials of 135 ambassadors accredited to Estonia. Data from the President’s Office shows Kaljulaid made a similar amount of visits to for mer President Toomas Hendrik Ilves (2006–2016), who, over his two terms, made 251 visits. These included 16 state visits and 13 official visits. Seventy-
at this festival, having prepared her whole life in that capacity, she says, “I am just so honored to participate and the band and I will and have done all that we can for the people to have an experience to remember.” In the music of ELLIP, listeners can find encourage ment to embrace personal tastes. To not get in the way of ourselves. To not let genres or expectations become a stumb ling block. Through jazz, we can open closed doors.
three heads of state visited Ilves during his decade in office. In comparison, former President Arnold Rüütel (20012006) made a total of 81 foreign visits, including 17 state visits and seven official visits. Thirtythree heads of state visited Estonia. ERR’s Estonian language portal spoke to experts who said Kaljulaid was active in foreign policy and they especially high lighted her contribution to Estonia winning a non-perma nent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Kristi Raik, director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Insti tute said: “Foreign policy is one of the areas where the president can have the greatest influence in Estonia because their role in domestic politics is quite limited. If the president is visible and active, they can do a lot for Estonia in the international arena. Kaljulaid has been active and done a good job.” Erkki Bahovski, daily news paper Postimees’ opinion editor and foreign policy journalist, said: “In general, she did well. The shoes left behind by the previous president Toomas Hendrik Ilves were very big, especially in terms of foreign policy, but in general, Kaljulaid was successful.” Kaljulaid’s term fell during Estonia’s campaign for a UNSC seat and she was very active in the campaign – but not every one was convinced Estonia should run. Raik added: “[Now] It seems that even those people in Estonia who were initially opposed to Estonia running for office now admit that we have gained invaluable experience in world politics there and high lighted our priorities.” Estonia’s longest-serving foreign minister, current MEP Urmas Paet (Reform), agrees Kaljulaid was visible and active in foreign policy. This section of her term was successful, he said. Paet also highlighted Kalju laid’s contribution to Estonia’s UNSC campaign. “However, she also participated in the work of the UN later, when Estonia was already in the (Continued on page 10)
