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Villu Veski (saxophone)
Tiit Kalluste (accordeon)
1998 Orbital Vox Studios
In 2000 I went to visit the World Expo 2000 in Hannover. While I am not often going to big events, I did never regret having spend all the time and travel to get there. It was marvellous.
My favourite place turned out to be the pavillion of Estonia (Estland). At first sight it might look boring, just being a large cuboid, looking like an unusually large sea container. Almost black on the outside, a glossy smooth surface. But this simple "box" had a number of surprising addons.
On the roof a set of beams was mounted. They were connected to levers in such a way, that their ends would move in circles perpendicular to the beams overall direction. Neighbouring beams would move with well chosen delays between each other and from one end to the other: forming a 2-dimensional wave. Along each beam seven cone shaped containers were attached, each one had a pine tree planted in it. So the pines were tracing the exact wave of the beams, too. From the pointed end of the cones a wire rope was hanging down vertically through the inside of the building all the way below the building. The building was resting on stilts, so there was maybe a metre of space underneath. Metal frames were attached to each rope, and blocks of white limestone (chalk?) from the baltic sea were sitting on these frames. Needless to say: the stones were replicating the wave induced on the beams on the roof in eternal motion. I stood there with my mouth open for a long while.
Inside the building, dimly lit like inside a pine tree forest, one could learn about Estonia, of course. And there I met Villu Veski and Tiit Kalluste with the Sounds of the Nordic Islands. Again I stood for a long time. I even went back the next day, because they were announced to perform. Very nice!
Apparently my posts about music are tied very closely to the events or places, where I listened to this music for the first time.
Ok, ok, not what you want to read. Let's see. How would I describe this music? This album features a number of Traditionals, music by scandinavian musicians and the performers' own pieces. The saxophone is played much like a crystal clear singing voice. The accordeon lays the carpet. The music is mostly quiet, very clear, chamber orchestra like.
Interestingly this music is not available on youtube. So somewhat close is The Arrival with the voice of Eivør Pállsdóttir, Villu Veski on saxophone, and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STE155Qh6Ac
And a Tango featuring Tiit Kalluste, a bit more on the jazzy side.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY38sto_8P4
Happy listening,
~ew
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villu_Veski
Two images of the pavillion I found on the web:
http://www.jaik.de/2010/test_est/eest_exp.php
http://graeschke.de/dbitworx/expo/pages/Pavillion%20Estland.htm