Tallinn Music Week: The Style and the Chatter
Tallinn Music Week wasn't just about the music. Well alright, it was. But still, there were some cool people at the concerts, and I had my camera, so I thought, "how about I take some photos?"
A friend of mine was wearing a leather catsuit on Friday, which obviously caught my attention, although sadly the photo I took was of a rather poor quality.
Laura Remmel
Laura Remmel of Carrot Lights continued to show her fine fashion sense, in this flourescent '20s style dress from Ardo Järvsoo's forthcoming collection. "A sneak preview," she said.
Heidi Kiisa
Meanwhile, even the band managers were rocking a sense of sophistication this year. Here's the manager of emerging Tallinn electronic group State of Zoe, Heidi Kiisa. Sadly she'd put away her extraordinary rainbow platform boots when I took this photo, but still, she looks great.
There were many panels for delegates to attend, informing people about everything under the sun from how to market a band on social media, right through to whether there can be a pan-Baltic music market in the future. Toomas Olljum, the manager of Ewert & the Two Dragons and Iiris, interviewed Estonian breakout superstar Kerli, and there was a chance to hear from Russian dissidents Pussy Riot.
By far the most fun talk, though, was the annual demo free-for-all, in which a varied panel of music industry experts listened to random CDs sent in by local bands. My favourite, purely for its "so-bad it's good" hip-hop quality, was a song called "East To West", a Jay-Z-style chronicle of an Estonian's rise from poverty in '90s Tallinn.
The TMW Demo Critics on Saturday