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root salad Etnosfäär


Estonian folk music gets a makeover from electronica and jazz, finds Chris Nickson.


that brings Tubular Bells or Terry Riley’s In C to mind. This is folk music.


T Oh yes, it really is. It’s folk music for the


21st century, courtesy of Estonian band Etnosfäär and their radical reimagination of the country’s tradition. There’s not a guitar or a fiddle to be heard on their debut, A Mis Tuu Om? Instead, it’s music made with key- boards, electronics, drums, voices – and some Estonian bagpipes and whistle.


“I’m studying folk music at university,” explains singer and multi-instrumentalist Kathi Koch. “So roots are very important to me. “The other two in the band are both jazz musicians. I wanted to create some- thing that would be different, but still hon- our our roots.”


“And that’s why we combined it with electronic music. We’ve grown up with that, we’ve heard it a lot, it’s quite natural to us,” adds Kaarel Kuusk, who handles the synthe- sisers and live electronics.


Deep at the heart of it all are the Esto-


nian runo songs that Koch brings to the band. “I like those in particular,” she says. “They’re meditative, three notes and varia- tions. They appeal to me. I like minor keys, but I look for the melody, even if there’s not a lot there, they’re just short phrases. But the lyrics are also very important. I come with the song and a few ideas. I tell the oth- ers what it’s about, the feel of it, and then we work from there.”


“We definitely always follow the lyrics,” agrees Kuusk, who handles the arrange- ments. “Kathi is the one who keeps the roots side, and we add the new soundscapes.”


Every song is a shapeshifter, the raw material to be altered and transformed. Each person who sings it makes their mark and changes the form, some slightly, some with bold strokes. Maybe Etnosfäär can give the tradition such a radical makeover because they’ve mostly arrived without preconcep- tions that it ought to sound a particular way. What happens comes from what they know and what they feel, even in the case of Koch, who has more background in folk.


And it works. Together, they’ve created something with a complete, unique vision. The three-note melodies are still there, the old words sung, but the framework is utter- ly, absolutely new, whether it’s the erupt- ing, dark, dancing sound of Ostetud Hääl, which bursts into a wild volcano on the bag- pipes, or the ghostly, shadowy forest


he new. The future. It comes from unexpected directions, and it’s always a shock. In this case, it begins with keyboard minimalism


evoked by Kiigesepad, where Koch’s singing is like the invocation of a witch’s spell, the feeling of dread growing as the song pro- gresses with the creeping movement of a choir (yes, really, a choir). Then there’s Hälli- tus, ambient, minimalist folk music that casts a late-night spell.


“In Estonia, many people are trying to combine folk music with everything else,” Koch says with amusement. “But people don’t seem to have a reference point for us.”


It’s so accomplished that it’s hard to believe that two years ago Etnosfäär didn’t even exist. “It all began with a competition here, for new arrangements of folk songs,” Koch says. “We had to do songs. It was a success for us.”


“We didn’t even have a demo at that point,” Kuusk recalls, “but they still let us participate.”


Drummer Karl-Markus Kohv became the final component of the band at the start of 2017. “Before that we’d been using elec- tronic rhythms, but we decided we wanted natural drums. Apart from anything else, it was easier for Kaarel – one less thing for him to worry about.”


“From there, we began recording in August of last year,” Koch says, “but some of the songs had been developing from the time we began performing.”


“Most of the instruments and vocals were done in a week,” Kuusk says. “My parts, the synths and electronics, took a lot longer.” “And then we decided we wanted


27 f


a choir,” Koch adds. “We thought a choir on two of the tracks would be cool. So we had to find one willing to work with us.”


And out of it all, A Mis Tuu Om? has emerged. An album with its soul in the tra- dition, but with a sound to anger and terrify every folk purist – and really, that can only be a good thing. “We’re trying to keep it simple,” Kuusk says, “but with the sound- scapes, it just grows. And we do add instru- ments for effects, like the whistle, and some others we don’t really play properly, but use. I use synth pads a lot, and one of the biggest problems has been matching the bagpipes to those.”


o far Etnosfäär have played con- certs and festivals around Estonia, still very much an unknown quanti- ty to many. But they’re gearing up for their first foreign trip, an appearance in Kyrgyzstan, and all the logistical problems involved in that


S


“Our stage set-up is complicated,” Kuusk observes. “We’re figuring out just how little we can manage with when we travel. Kathi and I both use keyboards when we play, and for me, I really need my key- board and all I’ve done to it.”


But they’ll learn, they’ll adapt. After all, straight out of the box they’ve man- aged to make an album that refracts the tradition through a 21st-century prism. That’s an achievement in itself. Who know what lies ahead?


etnosfaar.ee F


Photo: Siiri Kumari


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