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What should one expect from a concert where male choir singing and rock meet? In any case, we are convinced that it will be an event worth experiencing in person.<\/p>\n
At the end of March, the Estonian National Male Choir, known as RAM or Rahvusmeeskoor, which won a Grammy award for its \u201cSibelius cantatas\u201d among other works, will step before the audience with the pop band Traffic and its vocalist Silver Laas<\/b> for a performance titled \u201cRaua needmine 2.0\u201d. So that sweat and testosterone do not completely fill the air at the P\u00e4rnu Concert Hall on 25 March and at the Estonia Concert Hall in Tallinn on 26 March, musical theatre artist Hanna-Liisa V\u00f5sa<\/b> will also appear on stage as a balancing presence.<\/p>\n
According to the concert\u2019s musical director and arranger Siim Aimla<\/b>, the evening\u2019s programme, consisting of iconic Estonian rock songs from past decades, aims to show just how much male choir singing and rock music actually have in common.<\/p>\n
\u201cIron and metal are elements that suit rock music well, almost like its physical counterparts. Rock\u2019s most important instrument, the electric guitar, produces its sound from metal strings, and rock musicians are, or at least present themselves as, tough as iron both physically and mentally. With this concert we pay tribute to the best of Estonian rock music and its predecessors,\u201d Aimla explains.<\/p>\n
The concert\u2019s name, \u201cRaua needmine\u201d, which means \u201cCursing iron\u201d, is a direct reference to a well-known song by the Estonian choral composer Veljo Tormis<\/b>. In Aimla\u2019s opinion, Estonia\u2019s first rock festival actually took place as early as 1869, when a group of male choirs gathered in Tartu for the first Song Festival. \u201cThere was rock spirit in those songs and in those men! Although, due to the lack of electricity, the ensembles at the time had only wind-powered instruments, in other words wind instruments. The powerful patriotic style of singing and playing already contained rock-like elements.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aimla, known for combining and honouring different musical genres, is in fact a jazz musician whose own choir experience began in the RAM boys\u2019 choir, and continued with choral conducting studies at the Tallinn Music High School. In 2011, Aimla was responsible for leading the so-called rock choir segment at the nationwide Song Festival.<\/p>\n