Olev Muska is an Australian-born composer and multimedia artist of Estonian-Russian heritage. His 1980 single "Tuljak" and 1985 album "Old Estonian Waltzes" have made him the first electronic folk music artist in Estonian music history. Muska has been recording unique arrangements of Estonian folk songs in his home studio since 1979, using innovative electronic instruments that were not available in Soviet Estonia at the time.
Muska’s new album "New Estonian Waltzes" will be released on vinyl on July 9, 2025. 40 years later, it is a playful tribute to his 1985 debut album "Old Estonian Waltzes" which coincides
with his summer tour of Estonia called Sõit Põhja. The new album is issued on the Estonian label Glitch Please. The album consists of 16 songs from the period 1980–2025, including both Olev
Muska’s original compositions and arrangements of Estonian folk songs as well as the work of Veljo Tormis.
“My musical creations live on a conglomeration of storage media, from vinyl, tapes, cassettes, CDs, DVDs, computer hard drives and mobile devices. Equally, the technology I have used closely parallels milestones reached in the general evolution of consumer-level electronic music, ranging from analog synthesis and tape to today’s artificial intelligence. Since 1967, when I first picked up an electric guitar, these works have formed a creative continuum from which I often remix, recombine, reimagine and reshape. Based on my knowledge, but equally as an artist, I intuitively feel the essence of Estonian music. Therefore, some of the songs here can be identified as strongly Estonian, while others have only a fragmentary reference to such familiarity ... and some lack any reference at all. As a visual artist, the album cover design reflects the technology, patterns and colours evident in my music. This visual invention is also carried over into my video work.”
https://olevmuska.bandcamp.com/album/new-estonian-waltzes
https://www.olevmuska.com.au
http://www.olev.com.au
https://soundcloud.com/olev-muska
http://www.kiri-uu.com/veljo.html
Doors 19:00
Start 20:00
Concert is followed by an artist talk.
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS event entries are donation based.