I wish I had left Tallinn yestersday, not because yesterday wasn't an awesome day wandering the city, but because the way the final concert I saw Wednesday night ended practically demanded I leave immediately; it was that poetic. To my mind anyway. You can decide for yourself, as I'll get there eventually.
I'm going to write about my time in Tallinn in three parts. This first part is about the music. I'll leave you guessing on the next two.
What really nailed it for me coming to Tallinn when I did was Jeremy, one of the couch surfers I met in Stockholm, telling me about Credo, the Orthodox Sacred Music festival that happens here, across Estonia, and a few other places like St. Petersburgh. I like music, and I especially love choral music, so yes, good opportunity.
Now, I think Estonia likes singing more than any other country in the world. I say this because, well, they had the Singing Revolution, This started in 1989/90 and was when Estonia finallly became independent of the then still Soviet Union. Estonia originally declared independence in 1918, however this was short-lived. Estonia has spent a great deal of its time as an occupied country. In 1939 when Germany and the USSR signed an agreement that essentially had them splitting up eastern Europe between themselves, and with all the world watching Germany invade Poland, the USSR essentially forced Estonia to join the Soviet Union, so that they could put military bases there. When things started getting messy in Russia though, the focus became on stablizing Moscow, and Estonia took advantage of this, asked the soviets to leave, and amazingly enough I would imagine, they did.
And that's when Germany came in and occupied Estonia.
Brutal as it was, and with repercussions that continue to this day, that only lasted a short period of time as Germany then started retreating.
And in comes the Soviet Union again, and this time for a good long time. Well, not so good, but certainly a long time.
And then in the late 80's, with all sorts of interesting things going on in Russia, and the USSR in general, Estonia starts working towards their independence. And how do they this? Well, they meet and they sing. Yep, they sing. They gather and they sing traditional Estonian music that had been banned under the Soviet Regime. I mean, they gather more than once of course, and they do way more than sing, but essentially yep, this is what they do, and eventually it peacefully leads to Estonia becoming independent in 1990.
So they love their music. And they love festivals. And I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to get to hear some of this. Not only did I go to a couple of the Credo concerts, but Wedneday October 1st was essentially National Music Day in Estonia, and there were over 140 free music related events going on throughout the day. So naturally I spent the day bouncing from venue to venue listening to all sorts of music. Heck, I even almost sat in on a lecture at the music school, and would have, if it weren't in Estonian. But this is what happens when you can't read the guide and are just picking stuff randomly based upon proximity and timing. It worked for me though.
So that's pretty much what I've got to say. Unfortunately I did not record the various concerts so I do not have 14 hours of live music to provide you. Instead you get pictures of everyone, and you can imagine what it sounded like.
The first evening I was there I attended the gala concert that was part of the Credo festival.
It began with the Children's Choir from Raduga.
There really is something magic about a good childrens chorus.
Then came MAM, aan all women's group, and okay, but not my favourite.
And then came Choir Art Sonus. If you can, then find this group online and listen to them.
Okay, not that they sung this at the concert, but here's a sample. I actually haven't listend to it yet, so if it sucks I'm sorry, go find another. (It's a being on the bus thing and not having quick access to the earphone jack in my tablet when I'm writing kinda thing.)
This is Choir Leti, from St. Petersburgh. Also worth a listen.
Oh, it seems that in preview mode on my tablet that the plugin for whatever format this youtbue video is in is not supported. Hopefully it works for you. Let me know if it doesn't.
This is the Female Choir of St. Petersburgh Diocese. Nice.
And this is the Philharmonic Choir Yaroslavia.
Ever get one of those full body shivers when listening to music? That's how I guage how good I think it is. I mean, I like lots of stuff that never gives me shivers, but if I get the shiver, then I know it's something special. They gave me two.
Oh, and this is the Tallinn Concert Hall where all that happened. It got the heck bombed out of it, along with much of Tallinn, in one big night of bombing during WWII. Rebuilt, restored, and all good.
It was also home for the first concert I attended on Wednesday, as part of the Day of Music. Jeremy, who I attended the gala with, and I had decided to meet up for a day of music together, and this was our rendez-vous point.
Turned out to be a rehearsal for the symphony. Strauss. They played the piece through once and then got down to focussing on various parts.
Was not expecting a full orchestra. The morning was off to an excellent start.
Next was off to the Russian Cultural Centre for I didn't know what, but what turned out to be a dude in tails, in a very nice room playing a mustard yellow grand piano. I like variety, and really, was happy spending 45 minutes listening to anything, but I will say that, were I to get a chance to see this gentleman in concert again I would likely take a pass. Very heavy hands.
But like I said. Free live music, and I can't read the festival guide so I have no idea what I am walking in to.
Then came the music school where the first event I entered turned out to be that lecture I mentioned. About face, and back into the lobby of the building to kill twenty minutes reading Game of Thrones.
Twenty minutes later I got thirty minutes of guitar.
Some classical, some jazz standards. I got to hear Fly Me to the Moon, and who doesn't like that one. Hudson Hawke anyone?
And this is the school where all of that happened.
And then off to Reval Cafe for this string quartet. I missed the first few numbers and walked in on "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" followed by some Cold Play.
Now, what I don't know is how cool people think that sort of music is when played by a string quartet. I'm personally not a big fan, but I don't know about others, and I don't know about Estonian others. It very well could be.
The Reval Cafe itself is a great venue that I got to go back to the next day with my new Australian friends Ian, Jane, and their four daughters. More on that another time though.
And then it was off to Cafe Wabadus to meet up with Jeremy for lunch (he had had to split for a bit). Lunch was a yummy chicken mango thing and a glass of Saku Tume. Saku is an Estonian brand of beer, and Tume is their dark lager. Pretty tasty. This was all accompanied by Wigla, a klezmer band. They were awesome. The energy these guys gave out was just amazing.
Also on Freedom Square is Jaani kirki. They were having an assortment of performances for the next few hours so it seemed like a good place to pull up a pew, sit back, relax, and listen.
Tenor and organ.
While very nice, and he definitely had a great voice, the problem with sitting back, relaxing and enjoying the music after lunch is the tendency one has to want to snooze.
Luckily along came a trumpet fanfare to put an end to that.
And then a lovely group with three flutes, cello, and harpsichord,
Again, getting dangerously close to wanting to snooze. But then this.
This picture, in fact no photo, could do justice to this particular piece of music. It doesn't even begin to describe what happened. Yep, you've got your basic soprano. What couldn't be seen (or else I would have taken a picture of it) was whoever was working all the electronics gear that made this incredible soundscape. Like something out of Alien. Big. Spooky. Weird.
And her wailing away for her demon lover over top of it all.
Yes, I've said that before. I happen to really like that reference.
Oh, and look, it's the string quartet from Reval come to play here. And this time I got to hear the whole set. Oh goodie. Sadly though it was the same set. Did you know that Elton John's middle name is Hercules?
For the record, "Viva la vida" does not work well in a cathedral.
Oh look, and them again too. They didn't sound to great in the Cathedral either. But who cares, it's klezmer.
Band.
My god these people were good. One shiver.
And this is where that all happened.
And this is Jeremy, as we had dinner before going to the 7pm Credo Festival concert that was to cap off a wondefully solid day of music.
No English programme for this concert, so bear with me.
Four choirs, all quite lovely.
The first was Segakoor from Russia.
Then came Naiskoor Viva Musica.
And last but not least was Tallinna Kammerkoor.
Oh, and this is Kaarli kirka, where all of that joy took place.
So why did I wish I was leaving the next day?
Well, the final concert was all sacred orthodox music. As advertised I might add. All, but the very last piece. Now, the below is not Tallinn Kammerkoor performing An Irish Blessing, but it's a good version, and the same arrangement, so maybe you'll hear in it what I heard when the choir performed it at the end of a beautiful day of music, and understand how the most poetic thing I could have done would have been to grab my bag and be on my way.
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