Photo by Andres Teiss
I CREATIVE ESTONIA
Avi admits that his music blows all genre borders: ‘I always struggle to define my music in terms of genres. I use elements from all of pop culture history – past, present and future. I mix them and combine them. As a person interested in culture you consume music, film, theatre, arts – so it’s inevitable that while creating something you’ll discover influences of this whole environment. Sometimes there are of course conscious quotes. I don’t believe in the concept of inspiration. A person creating something always uses the whole field of information he has been surrounded with during his life. It’s a mix of different information that is being combined into new formulas. I don’t believe in divine inspiration.’ In 2016, Estonia’s most influential end-of-year album list, compiled by 55 music critics and melomaniacs for the weekly Eesti Ekspress culture pages Areen featured an all-time high percentage of Estonian music: Mart virtually killed ‘em all – ending up at #2, just behind Bowie’s Blackstar. ‘Rogue Wave’ also won the best electronic album title at the Estonian Music Awards 2016. Yet, Avi is never content with what he has achieved as a musician: ‘One has to keep a certain edge. At the same time I don’t have great ambitions. Maybe I need to break out of this. I haven’t consciously tried to promote my music a lot. So far I’ve been riding the wave. Maybe I need a bigger jump at one point.’
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LIFE IN ESTONIA #45
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2017 SPRING
The daily Postimees writes about “Rogue Wave”: ‘These are some of the most easily accessible Avi tunes ever, that in some parallel universe could be the radio hits of the highest rotation.’ Avi himself hopes to create a niche for his music one day: ‘It’s an autonomous stand-alone vocal pop. I would have to build this niche by myself. I have no idea where this is going. It’s not just electronic, not just jazz, each album is very different and mirrors where I am in my life at the moment. It can easily happen that in a few years time I’ll be part of a niche or a movement that doesn’t exist today. And maybe I won’t be alone but part of a movement. Today this movement doesn’t exist. This could be quite exciting. Future music. Counterculture.’ Ever since 2009, Mart Avi has been part of Tallinn Music Week either as a visitor or a performer with Badass Yuki or with the legendary reverend of leftfield house - Ajukaja. This year, Avi will make his debut as a solo artist at TMW, performing at the festival’s opening party and at the showcase curated by Estonia’s Üle Heli festival, the British indie label Nonclassical, and Japan Sound Postcard project by BBC 3 DJ Nick Luscombe and film director Neil Cantwell. ‘It’s a great, fun fair for the Estonian music scene each year. You get a very good overview. It’s kind of a small season of its own. The city changes a lot and while TMW takes place it feels like you are in a different city. A lot is going on and it’s an exciting time with many exceptional characters dropping by. In the era of post-everything, discussion panels with authors such as Simon Reynolds can be more captivating than some of the music and serve a great need. ‘