East of Tallinn: Orient music festival Part III - concerts

Ensemble Indra from Japan, Orient Music Festival, Tallinn - photo credit Hilary Glover

After the first day of the Orient music festival, organised by Tiina Jokinen (from Estonia Record Productions: ERP) and composer Peeter Vähi, with its ethnomusicology conference, film premiere, and after show party in the Latvian Embassy, the music could really begin.

The first concert was the spectacular Indra, Taiko drummers from Japan. Ensemble Indra (Ishizuka Yū, Ishizuka Eri, Inoue Nanase, Ōkawa Masashi, and Motoyama Yūhei) are a family-based group founded in 2013 by Ishizuka Yū (the eldest son of a well-known noh musician (hayashikata) Mochizuki Saburō).

In Hinduism, Indra is a heroic god, who slew the stone dragon and freed the seven rivers. He is the King of gods as well as being the god of rain and thunderstorms – quite apt for this group of cheerfully fierce drummers. Indra are as much about show and choreography as they are about music and have incorporated hayashi and buyō styles into their routine as well as noh and kabuki.

Extra atmosphere was added to their performance by the venue. The weather was fortunately dry enough for the audience to sit outside (with cushions and blankets provided) so that the concert could take place in the Japanese gardens of Kadriorg Park.

East of Tallinn: Orient music festival Part II - Workshops and masterclasses

Orient Music Festival workshop - picture credit Hilary Glover

Orient Music Festival; Tallinn, Estonia
Reviewed by Hilary Glover on May 25 2015
Star rating: 5.0
An immersive exploration of the music and cultures and the East

The Orient music festival (25-31 May 2015) began with an ethnomusicology conference. But the rest of the week-long festival focused on workshops, demonstrations, and concerts. With the mornings free to explore Tallinn (or to gone one of the free tours run by local young people who bring 800 years of history to life) and the evenings full of concerts, the afternoons could be devoted to an more immersive approach to culture.

The afternoon workshops, held in a huge tent next to the President’s Palace in Kadriorg Park, included a tour of Taarab music by Mitchel Strumpf and demonstration of quanun playing by Samir Ally Salim (both from the Dhow Countries Music Academy in Zanzibar). Here, although there are thousands of maqam, we were showed the difference between a few of the nine most commonly used such as rast (major scale), hijaz, bayati, and Kurd. Since Taarab orchestras contain instruments with fixed tuning such as accordion, and maqam involve microtones, either the orchestra has to limit itself to playing a few maqam or players have to learn to miss notes out. This workshop was given in English, and for the Estonian people in the audience there was a translator. Samir took people through a song and taught them to sing the chorus while he played.