Meet the Mother of Jazz in Estonia: Anne Erm
For a small(ish) music festival like us to be given the opportunity to chat with Anne Erm, the mother of all things jazz in Estonia, sounded both daunting and exciting. This is after all the woman who started, and has run, the number one jazz festival in the country 21 years and is connected with the whose-who of the jazz world.
To get to our meeting we journeyed across Tallinn’s old town - by foot, of course, inspired by Anne who walks everywhere - as the tourists slowly filed into it’s colourful streets. We walked through Freedom Square and past the Palace Hotel where we chatted with Lucy Woodward the day before. We climbed the stairs of a nondescript low-rise building and knocked on the door. Anne soon opened and welcomed us in. We soon realized that the Mother of Jazz moniker also referred to her nurturing and patient demeanor that no doubt shaped jazz in Estonia. The offices of Jazzkaar are filled with beautiful posters from festivals past, thousands of jazz CDs and books, and not one, but two pianos. This is the office of music lovers. As we began to chat, Anne brought out a few past programs and then eventually the whole stack. Leafing through, the names of jazz heavies leapt off the page.
Photo by: Riina Varol
Estonian Music Week (EMW): Jazz for many is hard to get into… What was that moment or experience you knew you were a fan?
Anne Erm (AE): “Music has played a big role in my life and been important to me right from the beginning. I went to Pärnu Children’s Music School and learned piano because my brother was already there ahead of me. He played piano superbly, my dad played piano and violin as well and my mom sang.” Anne focused on music theory in music school. During breaks in school, improvisation took place in secret since jazz was prohibited at the time. “My love for jazz deepened when I went to study composition at the conservatory. I was asked to join a musical group called Collage…we [did] traditional folk song arrangements that were 30 years ahead of their time, this was from ’66 to ’75. Raivo Tammik was a classmate of mine who went to live in Germany, he was able to perform abroad and came here with an ensemble called “Estonia”… he brought along jazz records from abroad so we could listen to them.” As soon as Anne finished her studies at the conservatory, she started work in radio. This opened up many doors for her, including being able to travel to jazz festivals in the USSR and broaden her love for the genre.
“I’ve had a jazz show on the radio for a many years as well but before that I had a show for 20 years or so called “New Records,” I featured any music that was available in the Soviet Union. I had a really good overview; I had Russian jazz, from other socialist countries, and even some American jazz as well… a lot! [Laughs] If I needed information on something, I would talk to Valter Ojakäär, our “father of jazz.”
Anne was involved with her group Collage in the first Estonian jazz festival in 1967 which put Tallinn on the map as the “jazz city.” Her love for jazz grew over the years and the need to revive the original ’67 festival became imminent in 1990 but financial, political, and promotional issues had to be overcome first through her own and volunteers’ savvy and skills. Despite all of these obstacles, the first Jazzkaar had an overwhelmingly good turnout. Anne came up with the name for the festival by how Estonians pronounced the word “jazz” as “yah-ts.” “The love of jazz grew even more when Jazzkaar came to be [in 1991], during the time of Collage we would sing along with the jazz records we had as well… over time I’ve grown [increasingly] interested in the genre.”
“If [music] has charisma and passion then it doesn’t matter whether the music is complex or not; you’re just taken along on its journey and it makes its way into your heart, that’s when you start to truly love music, in my case, jazz.”
EMW: When Estonia regained its independence and with the “opening of the iron gates,” what are some changes you noticed in the music industry?
AE: “In the music world in general, the biggest change was that our musicians couldn’t really travel to Russia anymore, they were largely out of work and very good musicians at the time were forced to play in bars for a menial fee to make a living. Some of our [Estonia’s] jazz musicians like Tiit Paulus, Tõnu Naissoo and Lembit Saarsalu were still at the top of the charts in Russia when Estonia regained independence… At the time, there was no Estonian Jazz Society nor the availability to study jazz on an academic level, no jazz clubs.”
“In terms of Jazzkaar and changes, things really started improving in 1994, the headliners filled the seats. 1996 was the best year thus far, the New York Voices sang fantastically; they sold out the seats. The 1997 festival was the 30 year anniversary so we invited the musicians that had performed [at the first festival] to come back.” Anne had also explored the possibility of getting famed pianist Keith Jarrett, who was performing with Charles Lloyd, to be a solo performer. “After that, Jazzkaar really took off; we became members of the European Jazz Society at that time. When we moved into the 21st century, new rhythms, electronic and minimalist music emerged… The Estonian audience really took to that kind of music. Over the years, design also became and increasingly important aspect of the festival. In principle, we have very good performers and over the years we have added night concerts, children’s concerts, special events… Our strength is that we don’t only focus on performances, we also have hands – on workshops and lectures. Jazzkaar provides a place for performers to reach their true potential, …Kadri Voorand, Maria Faust, Erki Pärnoja… all of those well known Estonian musicians have grown from Jazzkaar. The younger musicians who are just starting off participate in our Cityspace project, that includes involvement in music schools, Ellerheina choir and others, the Viljandi Culture Academy…”
“Due to the pandemic last year’s festival had to take place in October on a smaller scale but some international artists could still come, from Spain and Norway for example.”
Photo by: Riina Varol
EMW: Artists often get conflicting advice: listen to the greats, be yourself, focus on the music, social media this and that… For artists finding their path, looking to stand out to programmers like yourself and maybe one day grace your stage: what is your advice? (What do you look for in an artist?)
AE: “In every country it’s hard to find performers who are individuals and can move so easily between genres. Some musicians have that certain something, that spark; others are just really good performers but lack that uniqueness; be unique and stand out. Every artist is responsible for expanding upon the basic knowledge and skills that they have learned and are born with; figuring out who they are as an individual. Some performers are just dull, they’re fantastic technically speaking and everything sounds right, but it doesn’t touch you. Every writer, composer or musician has to find their own way; it doesn’t have to be a highway, it could be a very interesting path through the woods or even a ladder that reaches towards the sky. I also give advice to artists in general, that they should write their own music, find their own niche and path through the music scene. Sometimes I’ll just approach an artist and ask something along the lines of “when will the album be ready?” [Laughs] Anne is proud of how she convinced renowned performers Maria Faust and Reigo Ahven to pursue writing their own music and releasing it.
And just like that our hour with Anne was up. She sent us home with her latest compilation albums, Estonian apples and plums, and full dose of inspiration. Anne has her sights set on the next festivals we can’t wait to the artists she has in store for us!
Written by Kati Kiilaspea, Sebastian Buccioni and Elis Jaansoo