The Estonian-Australian folk synthesist featured in The Wire 449 presents an audiovisual work based on Estonian song and round dance
““Vändra Polka” is a quaint little ditty and round dance idealising a sense of place in bucolic pre-war Estonia”, explains Sydney based artist Olev Muska, referring to a 1941 folk song by composer Adolf Vedro, which forms the starting point for this new video work. Muska's music practice often involves citing an immediately familiar snippet of an Estonian folk tune as the basis for an “iterative musical inquisition”, resulting in hybrid electronic choral tracks that take on new meanings.
“I've completely ignored that the original is in waltz time (misnamed as a polka),” Muska continues, speaking about this particular reinterpretation, “and instead have preferred to see it as a sprightly hop, focusing on that part of the dance's phrase that indeed constitutes two quarter note hops. I've reinforced the syncopated jig-like feel further by incorporating filtering to imitate the sound of a traditional Estonian mouth harp after being impressed by Meister Jaan's spontaneous and infectious dance to such an instrument at the Viljandi Folk Music Festival. I quote the first few notes of the original verse and chorus before embarking upon my own melodic flourishes, ramping up the tension with typical prog rock and jazz rock solo synth histrionics to squeeze out the last drop of emotion.”
To find out more about the work of Olev Muska, read Joshua Minsoo Kim's interview in The Wire 449. Wire subscribers can also access the article online via the digital archive. Creak-Whoosh, a compilation of archival recordings by Muska's 12 piece group Kiri-uu, is released by Stroom on 16 June.
