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EMW at Jazzkaar Festival – Part One: Funky Business


Audio cables were plugged into tall speakers, instrument flight cases were cracked open, and drum heads were tuned up. Before long, the flights began to touch down at Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport and footsteps started to fall in the hip district of Telliskivi, capping off another summer in Estonia.

Just as we reported on Tallinn Music Week last year, Elis Jaansoo and Sebastian Buccioni have been there as correspondents at Jazzkaar Festival. The festival, running from Monday August 23rd to Sunday August 29th, has boosted the global touring cachet of Tallinn; and as the festival puts it, “combines the avant-garde with the mainstream for a festival of diversity.”
Lucy Woodward. Photo: Elis Jaansoo

Fitting for a nation of singers, this year Jazzkaar invited Lucy Woodward, who performed on Wednesday August 25th at Vaba Lava. Woodward has conquered virtually every musical situation out there for singers, but is playing in a more intimate configuration for her tour stop in Estonia, which she has wanted to visit for 10 years.

Many of her tour dates prior have been with large ensembles. Just prior to arriving in Estonia, she had been playing big band music in Sicily, leading her to remark on how different it is in Estonia. She spent her first morning quietly walking circles around Vanalinn, describing it as “magical.”

(Read more: Estonian Life No. 34 2021 paber- and PDF/digi)

Written by Vincent Teetsov, Toronto


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