TARTU - I met the young but experienced members of the Estonian blues band "Bullfrog Brown" for the first time a couple of summers ago. We embarked together on a road trip that summarizes the essence of the Blues: a shabby car, a group of young musicians that hardly got enough money from the gig to pay for the gasoline or buy new strings for the guitars, on the dangerous and devious road that links Tartu with Tallinn. This combined with the final ecstasy of sharing a stage with a truly American blues legend from the Mississippi delta: David "Honeyboy" Edwards.
Impressed by their skills and guts, "Bullfrog Brown" is for me the best example of how it does not matter your origins or how big is the music scene in your native country when there is the will to play real music that comes from the heart.
It is certainly difficult to talk about the native Estonian Blues scene. As Andres Roots, guitarist and founder of "Bullfrog Brown," tells me "The blues scene in Estonia is such that the nearest seven days a week blues club is the Bites Blues Club in Riga, Latvia, and we have no blues magazine or even a web site in Estonia either. But there is a Baltic blues scene as far as the musicians are concerned."
Although they are not totally focused on blues, it is still possible to enjoy the pleasure of listening to good blues music from time to time in venues like "Clazz," in the heart of Old Town in Tallinn, or "Illegaard" in Tartu. Though the list of top Estonian blues bands is far from impressive, there are a few that remain strong 's "Compromise Blue," "Ultima Thule" and "Kolumbus Kris" are still a major attraction with a devoted group of followers.
"Our Estonian audience is not the audience that normally considers itself a blues audience - we have people of all ages, all hairstyles, and all tastes of music, we have played in churches and even headlined the punk-oriented Soodoma Rock festival in Elva," explains the leader of Bullfrog Brown.
Another person who knows the Baltic blues scene well is journalist Edgars Galzons, who also plays the bass in the Latvian blues band "D11 Blues Band." He said the lack of a Blues music scene is partially the fault of artists themselves.
"It's always easy to say that nobody is listening to the Blues nowadays and there are not enough clubs for the Blues music in the Baltic States. Partly I can agree with this statement. But from the other hand what we (the Blues musicians) have done to popularize the Blues music?"
"We have to find out a way, maybe sometimes using the same means as pop music uses, to break the stereotypes and keep the Blues alive as equal style of music today and not only the antique reptile from ages ago," he said.
All in all, the blues scene in Estonia is far from dead. A good example is "Augustibluus," an annual blues festival started and run by Rommy Sultangirejev in Haapsalu since 1993. Raul Ukareda, a member of "Compromise Blue" and considered by many as the best blues guitarist in the country, said the festival is what keeps the music scene alive.
"Augustibluus is the thing that keeps Estonian blues alive. Even though it is a very low budget festival, it always has some good foreign performers and of course is a great opportunity for local bands; on top of that it is held in a spectacular ancient castle ruins," he said.
For most of these bands, playing is their passion but not always what puts bread on the table. "Yeah, we have other jobs, some might even consider them 'real jobs,' but looking at our 2009 concert schedule, I've been wondering how long we'll be able to hang on to them," said Andres from "Bullfrog Brown."
The band will certainly be wandering around Europe extensively during the next few months. They will be releasing a new album with English musician Steve Lury on Feb. 13, then they will go on tour in Finland, Estonia and Latvia, and on March they will visit France to play at the Festival Le Blues Autour du Zinc.
The band also has scheduled concerts in Scotland with Dave Arcari and will be paying their first visit to Poland to play at the Suwalki Blues Festival. No pain no gain. Even though blues musicians often end up playing just in exchange for some free food and beers at the venues after exhausting trips, there is a feeling that goes far beyond the money or the recognition. Andres eloquently summed up the passion for the Blues that keeps the music alive in Estonia: "I cannot imagine myself not playing music, even if I live to be 102 years old. Performing in public may be another matter, but making music is not just a joy, it's an addiction, and I'm too far gone…"
