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EESTI ELU reedel, 26. novembril 2021 — Friday, November 26, 2021
We’re Listening with EMW: Translating the untranslatable in music
Luik: Ukrainian army and western unity could prevent Russian attack ERR, November 2021
Vincent Teetsov It’s often said that certain words are “untranslatable” from one language into another. Consider the word “gigil” in Tagalog, which en compasses the “overpowering feeling that comes with seeing something unbearably cute” as the BBC explained in a 2017 educational video. Or “schadenfreude”, which is derived from “schaden” (“harm”) and “freude” (“joy”) in German – defined by the Cambridge English Diction ary as “a feeling of pleasure or satisfaction when some thing bad happens to someone else.” One of the most well-known untranslatable words – from an English-language perspective, that is – is “saudade”, which comes from Portuguese. We can actually find an equivalent in Estonian with the word “igatsus.” Saudade is a feeling of longing for someone or some thing that is gone, seemingly reserved for the cultures of Portuguese-speaking nations. At least, that’s what I thought until I watched Estonian singer and guitarist Vaiko Eplik perform at Tartu College for the final con cert of Estonian Music Week in November 2019. An exemplary entertainer, Eplik’s dramatically translated version of “Bohemian Rhap sody” had the audience wheez ing with laughter. Yet, it was his then-unreleased song “Kamoon
Photos: Valeri Svintsov and Aureelia Minev
Uno”, a bossa nova style tune with Brazilian flair that band, Eesti Raadio Meeskvartett knocked me over completely. (the Estonian Radio Men’s Just him and a caramel- Quartet). The songs performed coloured acoustic guitar, shift by the quartet show the styles ing through reams of rich open of music from abroad received chords like the best of them: in Estonia during the early Antonio Carlos Jobim, Rosinha 1960s. de Valença, João Gilberto. From here, listen to Marju The recorded version was re Kuut and Uno Loop’s joint leased in May 2020 as a 90th album from 1971 (https://www. birthday tribute to late musician youtube.com/watch?v=jLX (and athlete) Uno Loop and a mO4AlE38), especially tracks tribute to the late composer like “Sa tantsi sambat” (similar Uno Naissoo. It’s accented with to “Só Danço Samba”) and wispy backing vocals and cross- “Las kõlab bossa-nova” stick drumming. But Eplik’s (“Desafinado”). The lyrics live solo performance held up, don’t exactly line up to the too: the true test of whether a original songs, but music can composition is strong. translate the overall sentiment The sway of this song put us for us. Case in point is the in a state of reminiscence, like album’s instrumental track an evening spent leafing “Kauge rõõm,” which is a through an old photo album. rendition of “O Grande Amor.” That sensation connects to the The weeping saxophone is im artwork of the song, which mediately recognizable. In fact, shows the two Unos playing much of the album connects jazz together in a club in 1950s back to the best-selling Getz/ Estonia. Eplik communicates Gilberto album from 1964. the vigour of a past time as he Loop and his musical collabora croons and calls out the name tors broadened the reach of Uno. samba, and its descendent bossa To get a sense of what nova, among Estonians. moved a songwriter from the The love for jazz and related central Estonian village of Pae, genres found in this album in Rapla County, to present his grew, as shown by albums like own take on this style of music Kadriko by Collage (1974). from another hemisphere, it’s Uno Naissoo, mentioned above, highly recommended to listen released a swaggering funk to archival recordings of Uno album titled Mälestusi Kodust Loop, including his earlier in 1978. Is it possible that life
Estonian Embassy in Canada moves into new Ottawa building ERR Estonia has a new home for its embasssy in Ottawa. “The embassy has worked in the new building symbolically since July 1, which is Canada Day. The official opening depends on the situation in Canada, since Covid restric tions are still very strict,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Angelika Lebe dev told ERR. She said the building is located in the historic Sandy Hill region and was built in 1875. Sandy Hill is a popular
location for multiple other embassies, such as those of Austria, Brazil, Croatia and Poland. The University of Ottawa is also located nearby. The foreign ministry pur chased the building in Sep tember of 2018 for €868,000, renovation works cost €1.83 million and furnishing cost €135,549. The building’s sur face area is 309 m2 and it sits on a property of 611 m2. The new embassy building is located at 168 Daly Ave. in Ottawa. Foreign ministry Britta Tarvis explained the acquisition
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of the building in 2018 and said the previous rental premises did not meet the needs of the embassy and modern security requirements. In addition, the building was depreciated and lacked official rooms. When weighing various rental and purchase options, it was determined that it would be more favorable in the long term to own real estate. In addition, when it comes to an owned property, there are better oppor tunities for adjusting it to meet the embassy’s needs,” Tarvis told BNS. The acquired building was completely renovated and new rooms were created to suit the needs of the embassy. The historic entrance was restored and the yard was also re designed, Lebedev said. The reconstruction works were conducted by Canadian architectural bureau Robertson Martin Architects and Estonian company Pille Lausmäe SAB OÜ designed the interior archi tecture. “The design for the building turned out to be a complicated one, since the residential build ing was changed to suit office spaces. Considering the require ments stemming from heritage protection, the additional re
in Estonia cultivated players who could communicate the moods of these genres from abroad? As Eplik said in a 2018 interview with Raplamaa Sõnu mid, “It is said that pop music is not site-specific, but I would argue against that. The natural views that surround Rapla County are so strongly inside [my] psyche that they have certainly influenced the nature of this music as well. I began to think of songs out of boredom as I walked home from school... I remember it was a very boring and monotonous activity to come home two and a half kilo metres from the train station. At some point, a melody added to the rhythm of the walk, and then I figured out the words, and that’s how it started...” When Eplik sang a song rooted in samba, but in Esto nian, I felt it in my soul. He tapped into the saudade with honesty and reality. Subse quently, it led to a deeper exploration of his intriguing discography. After Eplik’s show, I knew I had to say something, to em phasize to him just what it meant as a listener. For Vaiko Eplik’s transportation of the sway of samba to Toronto via Rapla County, I cheer him on. Kamoon Vaiko! quirements on fire safety and evacuation, security require ments and representational functions, drawing up the de signs was extremely complicated and detailed,” Lebedev said. She added that the Ottawa city government supported the embassy renovation completely, because the facade of the build ing was completely restored. “The results of the building renovation meet the city’s heritage protection requirements and stands out in the city space,” Lebedev noted. She said the construction works were conducted during the coronavirus pandemic, which made the renovation more com plicated. “There were multiple construction objects closed in Ottawa because of the pande mic, the availability of several goods and services was limited. Acquiring construction materials was complicated, there were shipment delays in addition to dock workers’ strikes,” Lebedev noted. Employees at the Estonian Embassy in Canada include the ambassador, consul and a secretary. Estonia also has eight honorary consuls in Canada, see more information on the embas sy’s homepage: https://ottawa. mfa.ee
Estonia’s NATO ambassador Jüri Luik (Isamaa) expressed hope that the increased com bat capabilities of the Ukrai nian armed forces and the determination of Ukraine’s western allies could help prevent Russian aggression. The West has reason to worry about the concentration of Russian forces near the Ukrainian border, but it must be taken into account that Ukrainian armed forces are now much stronger than they were in 2014, when the conflict first triggered, Luik told ERR. “There is no doubt that if the U.S. secretary of state (Anthony Blinken – ed) and NATO secre tary general (Jens Stoltenberg) are worried about the move ment of Russian forces around Ukraine and both have warned Russia very publicly and very seriously, there is reason to worry,” the three-time defense minister said. “These statements are not made lightly and these statements are far from every day.” The ambassador said the West follows what is happening in Ukraine with great interest and is drawing its own conclu sions. “There is reason to do so. The U.S. and NATO are cer tainly very alert and attentive while using all their resources,” Luik said. “When it comes to a possible [Russian] invasion into Ukraine, then it is clear that the Ukrainian army is 100 percent different from what it was in 2014,” the veteran politician said. In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimea Peninsula from Ukraine. This event led to a war in the Donbas region between Russia-backed separatist groups and the Ukrainian armed forces. Luik pointed out that the Ukrainian army is battle-tested, as its units have participated in missions and wars. Secondly, Ukraine now has access to much more modern equipment than it did in 2014, Luik said, adding that Ukraine has anti- artillery radars from the U.S., drones from Turkey and other equipment manufactured in Ukraine. “There is remarkable produc tion of combat equipment in Ukraine, which has now been set in motion,” Luik noted. “And what is most important is that the Ukrainian army has demonstrated its extraordinary will to fight, because it is one of the most important factors for an army.” The NATO ambassador add ed that Ukraine has shown daily what it did not in 2014. “So anyone that is going to face Ukraine, if Russia were to face Ukraine, they must consider that they are facing a very serious military force,” Luik said.
