»Have you really never been here before? I’ve played here many times. First time was in 1998. I was still a student at the conservatory,« says Danish drummer Kresten Osgood as he continues swimming in the rooftop pool on the eighth floor, overlooking Tallinn’s church spires, orthodox domes, and smokestacks. The city, one of Europe’s best-preserved medieval towns and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, smells of Estonian cedar from the saunas and bursts with music festivals.
Last night, the Estonian-Danish composer and saxophonist Maria Faust performed a concert version of the theatre piece Rahamaa, or Moneyland – the talk of the town, though impossible to get tickets for. Faust’s group The Economics – consisting of a drummer and three horns – moved like a procession through the dark: marching drums, wailing saxophone, and a trumpet sounding like an open wound, while two actors in stiff suits recited lines about Danske Bank, collapse, and the moral downfall at the altar of the stock exchange.
