Album review: Estonian folk music past and present

By Morten Abildsnes
Translated by Lucy Moffatt

ALBUM: Jaan Rand – Katariin Raska, Leanne Barbo, Natali Ponetajev: Lükata-tõmmata, hargiga roobigaa (labajalg)/ Push-pull, with oven fork and poker (labajalg). Helisalvestusi Eesti Rahvaluule Arhiivist: Recordings from the Estonian Folklore Archives HERA 16. 2023.

Katariin Raska, a star of the Estonian Jew’s harp world whose name is already familiar to readers of Munnharpa, is the brains behind this fine album, which focuses on Jaan Rand (1878-1944), a performer from Kirbla in western Estonia.

He was one of those players who “always had a Jew’s harp with him,” but he also played the kannel (the Estonian kantele) and two-row melodeon, often performing at weddings. He was a Jew’s harp maker too.

The album consists of a double CD with liner notes in both Estonian and English.

The first CD brings together all existing recordings of Jaan Rand, made in 1937. All the tracks are dance tunes, either labajalgs – an Estonian dance – or polkas. There are five tunes on the parmupill (the Estonian Jew’s harp), four on the kannel and eight on the two-row melodeon.

Most of the tunes consist of short phrases that are repeated and varied. It’s the kind of music that really sweeps you off your feet even though the tunes are pretty short – one-and-a-half minutes at most.

The second CD contains new recordings from 2023 of all the tunes recorded by Jaan Rand, some of them in two different versions. Katariin Raska plays the parmupill, Leanne Barbo the kannel and Natali Ponetajev the two-row melodeon.

All three have played a lot for dance and it shows – there’s plenty of drive in this playing.

Some tunes are arranged for all three instruments, some for parmupill and kannel, and some for two-row melodeon solos. It’s exciting to hear how well the kannel and melodeon tunes work on the parmupill as well.

In my view, the musicians have managed to preserve the original appeal of the tunes, whose minimalistic character also leaves room for improvisation. Recommended!

You can check out and order the album via Bandcamp.