Artists

What could be a better fit for a summer evening that a jolly dance party with reggae and ska rhythms? Young musicians from Southern Estonia bring warm southern winds with them and sing their jolly songs in their mother tongue.

Using the reggae and ska style which started in Jamaica, the musicians promise that they’ll provide a sunny, bright and invigoratingly energetic experience. They’re definitely not playing music just for themselves, they’re creating an intoxicating mood amongst the audiences. Their fiery Afro-American rhythms and humanely warm feelings which are expressed both verbally and musically won’t leave anyone cold. Take off your shoes of prejudice and enjoy dancing under the sky with an open heart!

Everything has to be given back

Juhan Uppin, best known as an Estonian accordion player, presents his new solo album at this year’s festival. The new album focuses on one of the most original Estonian traditional instruments: päkarauakannel. It is Juhan Uppin’s hommage to Aksel Tähnas (1911-1997), the most outstanding maker and  player of päkarauakannel, whose music has been the greatest source of inspiration to Uppin. Uppin is probably the first modern player who has managed to truly understand, follow and evolve  the unique technique and style of Tähnas.

Lena Jonsson’s ability to balance a deep knowledge of traditional Swedish folk music with innovative artistic sensibilities, sparkling joy of life and a charisma of a rock-star have made her one Sweden’s most visionary musicians. She has created a unique style inspired by traditional Swedish music as well as rock, pop and the american old-time and bluegrass traditions. This world-class musician is coming to Viljandi with her amazing trio that was nominated for a Swedish Grammy this year for best Folk album.

Lena Jonsson- fiddle
Erik Ronström- guitar
Kristofer "Krydda" Sundström- bass

The creation of an instrument

MandoTrio is a group of three young mandolin players who play traditional music and their own compositions. In addition to the husky sounds of double strings they are also using stomp-box and octave to spice things up with bass and drum.

MandoTrio’s mission is to infect people with mandolin madness. Hans is from Tallinn, Kristjan from Liimala and Tanel from Jõgeva, they were brought together by Viljandi Cultural Academy and by the love of mandolins in traditional music.

Kristjan Kuusmik is describing the band: “MandoTrio’s concert is made special both by our soundscape and repertoire. We play traditional dance tunes and songs but also our own heartfelt compositions. We like to communicate with people and we hope our music will give them a wish to take up the mandolin as well.“

These happy fellows will present their second studio album in Viljandi and they’ve invited along their most inspiring friends and fellow musicians, to make it truly memorable.

Nagy Bögö plays post-traditional music. The pillars of their musical creation are the folklore and the traditions, their source of inspiration the nature, home and friendship. Nagy Bögö starts with our own roots and ends up in Hungary, Bulgaria, in a fascinating symbiosis between the modern and old times or possibly in some completely unexpected place. The band is not afraid of putting together the opposites, crossing the boundaries and experimenting with traditional tunes on their musical journeys. The sizzling synergy between Nagy Bögö and the audience charges everyone with positive load that will last for a long time.

Tailwind takes the group PÄRI, PÄRI for a ride on different paths across the Runo song landscape, swirls them clockwise in a flurry of a dance and catapults them through time and space, rhythm and harmony. When PÄRI, PÄRI introduces the old traditional songs to the contemporary society, it turns out that people still worry and smile about the same things. You’re taken on this journey by three musicians Maarja Soomre, Jaan Varts and Tanel Ruben.

RIFFARRICA (ex-Duo Malva & Priks) started in 2016. Kulno Malva and Kristjan Priks, both experienced folk musicians, joined forces to make vigorous and masculine folk music, drawing inspiration from centuries-old folktale songs. The combination of Kulno’s raspy vocals, dynamic accordion grooves and the sound of Kristjan’s distinctive drum set gave birth to a fresh and exciting sound –"Folk with muscle" as Baltic Music News so accurately named it.

“Accordion, vocals and percussion create a sound that you’d never associate with just two musicians – with a little help from some electronic gadgets, the accordion starts to screech like a hard rock guitar or obtains a tonal ambience as rich as that of a grand piano. It helps to emphasise the strong groove which is an unmistakable trademark of the duo.” 

Dani Heyvaert, Rootstime

Rüüt is a dynamic, playful and bold ensemble in which different worlds of an actress, jazz-musician and two Estonian diatonic accordion players meet and become combined into one. As a result Rüüt’s music is a good listening to folk lovers, those interested in technical intricacies and also to wonderers of mellow musical landscapes.

Sam Lee is Mercury Prize nominated folk singer, song collector, award winning promoter, broadcaster, animateur and naturalist. As an artist Sam traverses many worlds, challenging and pioneering folk music in diverse places and ways. Not just an award-winning singer with two highly decorated albums to his name and a sound incomparable to his contemporaries'; his work fostering live music in the UK has been instrumental in the explosion of folk in the last decade. Sam reinvents not just the way these ancient songs should sound but how they can be sourced, exist and thrive, from conscientiously gathering them in Gypsy Traveler camps to singing them for the Hollywood big screen.

“Ambitious, eclectic but, ultimately, dedicated to the enduring passions that resonate through this treasure trove of great songs.” 

Uncut

“This Mercury prize nominee continues to shake up the folk scene with drama and surprise. Surely one of the albums of the year.”

Guardian

In ancient Latvia, the name “tautumeitas” was given to young women at marriageable age but today it stands for all women dressed in national costumes.

Tautumeitas's music is created by six voices and six pairs of hands owned by Latvian girls, who believe that music makes the world a better place.

The principal interest of the group is traditional singing, especially multipart singing. The particular voice resonance created by this form of Latvian traditional singing provides enjoyment not only for the audience but also for the performers themselves. In order to portray traditional music from their own perspective and to show how the modern day 'Tautumeita' thinks and feels, the members each incorporate different instruments into this traditional a capella vocal music. The majority of the band's members have studied ethnomusicology, which is why there are many traditional music influences from different parts of the world.

Timbral variety, fresh ideas and eclectic musical taste all fuse together to give Tautumeitas its unique sound.

Curly Strings, a four-piece from Estonia, and the April Verch Band, a trio lead by Ottawa Valley (Ontario, Canada) native, April Verch. The beginnings of this collaboration were simple. A mutual respect for each others music, a couple of brief chance meetings, and most importantly, the discovery of their mutual passion for the early traditional music of their homelands.

The set list for The Heritage Projekt begins by presenting the oldest form of music from both bands’ traditions, builds into medleys that highlight songs and tunes from Estonia and the Ottawa Valley that sound like long-lost cousins, then melds into selections both bands have composed together that fit within these traditions. It’s a journey of their roots and influences from history into present day. It is an opportunity to preserve and continue this heritage music all at once.

Both bands grew up rooted in the music of their specific region, honed their musicianship, and began to draw inspiration from other sources in forging their own brand of roots music. For Curly Strings that included blending inspiration from American bluegrass with their Estonian cultural space, and for the April Verch Band, fusing Old Time American, Scandinavian and classic country influences with regional Canadian styles.

While standing in a long line together at a burger joint in New York City, the bands entered into deep discussions and comparisons about their homelands and musical traditions, and quickly discovered that they had a lot in common. Both Estonian and Ottawa Valley traditional music styles grew out of a mixed pot of cultures and people, and included dance music from the various immigrants who settled in each location. A question emerged amongst these young musicians from opposite sides of the globe. What would a collaboration sound like that honored these timeless traditions and celebrated the common ground of these unique ethnic styles? Thus began, The Heritage Projekt.

This partnership is also an opportunity for both bands to revisit the roots that their music comes from, without concerns for having it fit their current band sound. Eeva Talsi of Curly Strings says “it’s something that both our bands have wanted to do for some time, and it’s been even more fun and exciting to do it as a team.” April Verch agrees, “by combining our efforts, we’re able to present our ethnic styles to each other, and to more and different parts of the world than we would be able to just on our own.”

Tintura and Arno Tamm have got together for the 27th Viljandi Folk Music Festival, to create a special production dedicated to Estonians who’ve been force to leave their homeland.

Songs, that have been brought along from the home country, songs, that have helped to retain the memory of the long lost home, stories behind these songs, and the tunes that have managed to survive despite everything and found their way back home - all this creates a truly powerful story worth telling and remembering.

The heritage of Siberian Estonians has inspired many musicians lately, but this is a first  concert dedicated especially to the music of Siberian Estonians. Tintura, a band playing with folktronic, trip-hop and worldmusic, and Arno Tamm, the frontman of Paabel, will bring you their contemporary vision on how to bring back the tradition and move forward within it.

Trio Durand Millet Raillard comes from a mountainous region of Morvan in Burgundy. The members of the trio have been surrounded by traditional music of the region from early childhood and today they are one of the best ambassadors of the traditional music of  Morvan region. This inspiring trio is doing a wonderful job at keeping the purest and the oldest function of folk music alive - they play for dancing and for delight of the community. They explore a repertoire of traditional Morvan music from which they create modern, dynamic and original arrangements for an energetic performance. This is a real treat for everyone who loves to dance the night away!

In the early 80s, Tuup, an aspiring drummer and performance poet, started to move into performance caribbean dub-poetry and was recognized by a small guyanese publishing house, run by Jessica & Eric Huntley, called Bogle L’Ouverture Press.

Tuup joined the famous West London Storytelling Unit, run by artistic-director, Ben Haggarty and assistant-director, Georgiana Kebbel, a challenging innovative arts group looking at performance storytelling for adults.

In the mid 80s, Tuup formed a storytelling group with Flora Devi called “Tellers of Time" (indian dance & folk tales coupled alongside african-caribbean tales & rhythms). Tuups' breath of experience as a professional storyteller covers 30 years and more. Tuup is working:

This is going to be the 16^th Viljandi Folk Music Festival for Zetod! These lads have been raised in a spirit of folk music since the day they were born. From one stage to another – hardly any folk festivals go by without this band. Although the members are still pretty young, the band is definitely one of folk friends’ all-time favorites and could easily be put in the category of Estonian folk music legends. Today, they are as full of life as ever and keep on going!