Friday, February 21, 2014

On Estonian Artists and Artists in Estonia

So the ever-adorable Rachel wanted to know what kind of artists pass through Estonia. Since our country is so very tiny and, again, with only 1,3 mln people it's pretty hard to get the extremely famous bands and musicians to perform here, but for some unknown reason a few of them find their way here. Today's post will be about which artists have found their way here and since I'm already at it, I'm going to share some of my favorite local artists with you:)


My first ever famous foreign artist's concert was 50 cent. Haha. It was wayyyy back and my dad has his own little transport company and some of the things his company transport include include sound tech. Sometimes he gets free tickets like an extra for his help and work. Sometimes they're these huge artists. So yeah, that was my first experience with a foreign artist.

I, whether with an invitation (read the paragraph above) or with a ticket bought with my own pocket money (or, well, now wage), have gone to concerts for artists like Good Charlotte (which was pretty darn amazing back when I was a teenager. I think I was like 15-16 or something and I thought it was the best thing ever.), Kylie Minogue and Lady Gaga. Speaking of, the Lady Gaga concert? I like her music I guess. My dad gifted me two tickets for my birthday last year and I took my sister with me. We were basically in the are in front of the stage and I saw Lady Gaga like 10-15 meters from me. Though, I didn't really care. What I cared about was seeing Mark Kanemura--one of my all time favorite dancers. Kind of had a freak out moment when I saw him. Hooooly crap people! He is just beyond amazing and the dancers were all, in fact, so darn fantastic! I haven't been to that many concerts, to be honest with you. I always want to go, but for some reason I don't. Ehhhh.. gotta change that!

My favorite moment by far is the 2 day festival I went to with 3 of my friends where Dub fx performed. I got an autograph, a picture and be behind the stage for a little while. It was just freaking amazeballs! I will never eveeerrr forget that day. (If you're not familiar who this artist is, the vid below is basically the song that made him famous.)


Then there is um, 30 Seconds to Mars (who will be performing here again this year), Rihanna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sting, Enrique Iglesias, um.. Hurts has been to Estonia many times. Mika, Metallica, Madonna. Robbie Williams performed here last year in August. It was Estonia's re-independence day and my mom's birthday. Dad bought her a ticket and she loved the concert. Who else? Ellie Goulding, Tinie Tempah, LMFAO. Um, Nelly will be performing here pretty soon. So yes, even though our country is so small and, supposedly filled with emotionless people *laughs*, we still get some pretty cool artists every now and then to perform. Here's a video from the last 30 Seconds to Mars concert showcasing Estonians' "emotionless" nature:


So I know you're all wondering what in the world is that behind the crowd? Heh, the concert took place on Lauluväljak (which is internationally called the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds) and the people are all crowded under the big Singing Arc. Estonians like to consider themselves a singing nation and in every 5 years we have a big Song Festival where the choirs across Estonia come together and sing under the arc and the people come to listen and sing along. It's one of the biggest events of the year whenever they take place. (We also have Dance Festival where the um, folk dance groups (I don't know how to explain it) dance and you get to watch it etc. I'm not very familiar with it, because I haven't taken part of it, rather watched it on television, but I have sang during the Song Festival under the arc when I was in a school choir in MS.) There's this big parade you have to walk through during the morning and people greet you on the streets etc and then you reach the TSFG and start singing. There are different Song Festivals, the one I talked about before is the Overall Song Festival, then there is the one for school kids which I took part of, then there are the ones for college kids (ever fall and spring) and even Night Song Festivals. It's pretty amazing. And here are some videos for you to enjoy :)



Also, if you plan on coming here during the summer, try to adjust the trip to the time period where the festival takes place, because it's going down again this summer during from July 4th to July 6th. You won't regret it. If you're looking for more information or want to know the history of it etc, click here.

So Estonian artists? Um, I don't actually listen to that many of them, but I do like some. I think that if you have heard of one, it's probably Kerli. She lives in L.A. and she's pretty famous for Estonian standards. The last time I saw her performance was during one of the live shows of Dancing With the Stars 17th season where she performed 2 live songs during Corbin & Karina's and Amber & Derek's dances. She also co-wrote Demi Lovato's Skyscraper I think.


Also, there are about 4-5 Estonian artists I listen to and one of them is the latest Estonian Idol winner with his band Facelift Deer. This song (below) is most definitely one of my favorite songs from any Estonian artist in a few years. Their tune kind of reminds me a young Kings of Leon sometimes and considering that KOL is one my favorite bands? Yeah, safe to say I like their music.



And the last one is Ewert and the Two Dragons. Remember the concert I talked about before? The 2 day festival where I got to see Dub fx? Well, the Dragons were there as well and me & my friends were in the front row and it was an amazing show. So heartfelt and enjoyable. Here's their most famous song:


AAAAND that's it. This was long, wasn't it? ;) Well, music is one of my true loves so I can't talk about it and just shut up all of a sudden. I always find myself talking for hours. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed and let me know about some of your favorite concert memories and artists you love:)

8 comments:

  1. That's so interesting Siiri, it's great to hear you talk so passionately about music. I guess lots of artists do visit Estonia for concerts! Very eye opening, I love how you guys have a Song festival as well. Sounds like it would be a lovely thing to take part of.

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  2. Woah, this post is seriously the awesomest! I love learning new things about other countries and listening to the music is even better!

    Thanks for sharing, Siiri! I haven't heard of these before but I'm listening to them right now. :)

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  3. Wow, you've had some huge bands travel through Estonia Siiri! I don't even think most of those people have come to Ohio. We're not usually on the tour stop list, though every once in a while I'm surprised by who we get. How cool that you got to see your favorite dancer at the Gaga concert! Mark was one of my favorites on So You Think You Can Dance too, especially when he was paired with Sonja as a choreographer. Epic:)

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  4. What an interesting post! You get a lot more concerts than the state I live in. I almost feel like I saw that 30StM concert on television.
    Thanks for sharing, Siiri!

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  5. Another fabulous post Siiri! I loved learning about all the famous concerts that you were able to attend and also the great Estonian artists that you have, I don't think I've heard of any of them before, but can't wait to listen to the their music through the links that you've left for us. Also I'm a massive Kings of Leon fan, so especially look forward to listening to Facelift Deer!

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  6. I'm loving these posts, Siiri! I don't know much about Estonia, but I'm glad that I have you to learn more. Plus, I know who I can go to now when I decide to visit Estonia. ^^
    That's very cool that you actually get concerts over there. In MU, we never had an international artist come. It's frustrating and I'm kind of sad to admit that I've never been to a concert in my entire life. :(
    Now that I'm in Denver though, we have some pretty awesome concerts, but they are either way too expensive for my broke college student wallet or they are too far from where I live.
    Anyways, keep these posts coming! Loving them!

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  7. Oh Kerli looks interesting really :D I am going to have to look at that video again. Thank you for sharing. It seems like you get quiet a collection of bands passing through. Plus you got 30 Seconds to Mars so I think that is epic on itself.

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  8. I missed this post, Siiri! I was on a cruise when this came through so I'm sorry I'm late to read it! This is fantastic that you get so many amazing artists coming through, especially when you're a big fan of music! I get quite a few as well, but you'd expect that for the area I live in (north Los Angeles). I'm fairly close to Hollywood so I see a lot of bands in small venues which is my favorite way to see a band. I hate big concert venues.

    I hope you get to see 30 Seconds to Mars, Jared Leto is so very scrumptious! I've been a fan of his since My So Called Life. It was a TV series with Claire Danes a while back. *sigh*

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