Interview with Trad Attack: ‘Estonians believe that ladybirds are oracles and magical creatures’

Estonian rock folk band Trad Attack brought out their latest album, Make Your Move, earlier this year, which draws on historic recordings and folklore, giving it a fresh and edgy makeover.

‘We’ve taken old folk archive recordings and used them for inspiration,’ explained Trad Attack’s frontwoman Sandra Vabarna. ‘So, we may have taken a snippet of the melody, or some of the lyrics. Some of them didn’t actually have any lyrics to start with. So some songs will have bigger bits of the archive recordings in them than others.’

The band also comprises Tõnu Tubli (drums) and Jalmar Vabarna (guitar). Vabarna and her husband are based in Tartu, with Tubli living in Viljandi.

Folklore is woven through the entire album. Vabarna researched the history behind the recordings to find out what they were really about before deciding which ones to draw on. ‘Our song, ‘Armasta mind’, was inspired by a folk song written in the 1930s. At the time, people believed that if they sang the song three times, love would come to them!’

Another song on the album, ‘Tehke ruumi’, is based on an old wedding song for a bride. ‘It talks about her duties as a young wife and all the chores she is supposed to do,’ Vabarna laughed.

Her favourite song on the album is ‘Kus mu süda on’, which translates as ‘Where Is My Heart’: ‘The lyrics are from a children’s rhyme, similar to the one you have ( ‘Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home, your house is on fire
and your children all gone’). Estonians believe that ladybirds are oracles and magical creatures.’

‘We really gave ourselves a free hand because there are no boundaries to archive recordings’

‘It’s the most significant album for us,’ said Vabarna. ‘We made our previous albums quickly but this time, we spent a lot of time in the studio, we really gave ourselves a free hand because there are no boundaries to archive recordings.’

Estonia has a rich musical heritage, according to Vabarna: ‘Apparently, we have the second biggest music archive in Europe,’ she said. ‘We also have so many music schools that are subsidised by the government, which really encourages people to play.

Vabarna is a big fan of Estonian band Ewert and the Two Dragons – ‘they’re very cool’, she said. Growing up, by her own admission, she was ‘totally a folk nerd’: ‘I grew up in an environment where I was surrounded by folk bands.’

She would have loved to collaborate with Michael Jackson. Today, she’d plump for Bruno Mars: ‘He’s a great producer, I really like his vibe. I also love composers like Arvo Pärt (an Estonian composer of classical and religious music), he’s a genius. His music sounds simple but it’s actually not, and it’s very touching. I’d love to work with him, to see how he thinks. He’s still composing at 85! I want to be like that. I hope I’m still playing the bagpipes when I’m 85!’