Description:
(2021) Puuluup - Viimane Suusataja
Review:
Two Estonians appear in dark suits and white shirts without ties. One looks like a doctor or lawyer, the other a renegade rocker. But it’s what’s in their hands that completes the picture and makes it unusual: each has a hiiu-kannel, the Estonian variant of the Baltic bowed lyre, close kin to Finland’s jouhikko and also known as talharpa, tagelharpa or in Swedish stråkharpa. All versions have three or four strings, traditionally of twisted horsehair, activated with a small arched bow or plucked pizzicato. The melody is played on the top one or two strings, stopped in mid-air with the finger-joints of the non-bowing hand which passes through the hole in the instrument. The remaining strings provide a drone. And it’s those two hiiu-kannels, looped and processed, that provide the source of all Puuluup’s instrumentation.
***
Ramo Teder and Marko Veisson both sing and play the hiiu kannel or talharpa (an old bowed lyre they’ve revived) in what they call ‘zombie folk.’ Their palindromic name means ‘Wood Loop.’ They use a lot of loops, their instruments are made of wood, and the title of this new album refers to Nordic skiing, so there’s more wood there. If you think two guys with the Estonian version of the Finnish jouhikko might be a bit serious, then think again. The music is playful and full of surprises. They’re two middle-aged men behaving like teenagers. In the vocals there’s usually a wide separation between the voices, Teder singing very high and Veisson very low, which gives it an airy, open quality. Marko Veisson also raps. Some lyrics are in English, but mostly it’s Estonian, although when you see the translations they are mostly word games. The opening track ‘Paala Järve Vaala Baar’ (The Bar of Paala Whale) is more about the sound than the meaning and it clearly sounds better in Estonian. ‘Ülesse’ is a fast-paced catchy song with these high and low vocal harmonies and some nice hiu kannel playing (this spell-corrected to ‘hip’ kannel playing, which is also true). Puuluup are true originals with a cult following. They are doing something pretty unusual, pushing obscure folk material towards the mainstream with a whole lot of panache. — songlines.co.uk
Track Listing:
1.Paala järve vaala baar 03:00
2.Viimane suusataja 03:40
3.Liigutage vastu 03:13
4.Roosad suusad 01:30
5.Üksindus 03:37
6.Kaablid autos veel 01:15
7.Ülesse 03:45
8.Kohtumispaik on muudetud 03:15
9.Kasekesed 03:07
10.TV on the street 03:00
11.Kultuurisaade 00:43
12.Käpapuu 03:35
13.Lambad ei joo 03:17
14.Tsuiis demiis 03:22
Media Report:
Genre: alternative folk, world
Country: Estonia
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits |
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