Olev Muska Featuring Ingrid Slamer – Old Estonian Waltzes

Olev Muska’s Old Estonian Waltzes is an unprecedented electronic masterpiece mixing folk traditions with contemporary synthesizers and DIY home recording equipment of the 1980’s. Muska was the son of Estonia refugees who left their homeland for Sydney, Australia in the 1940’s after World War II. Feeling distanced from his roots, Muska set up a recording studio with his friends and attempted to create his own cultural identity by mixing Estonian folk songs with electronic experimentation. The resulting sound is a sort of once-in-a-lifetime music without borders that exists beyond time altogether. Listen especially to “Tšimmairuudiralla (Tšimmairuudiralla),” which was featured in Stroom’s wonderful compilation of Olev Muska and Mihkel Tartu’s Kiri-uu project, that has elements of industrial dance, avant-garde theater music, and even proto-techno along with the gorgeous Estonian folk melodies.

Recommended – Full Listen