Photo: Photo: Graham Belle
Between October 5 and October 16, Trio Estonia+1 (Arvo Leibur- violin, Aare Tammesalu,- cello, Norman Reintamm- piano, Arete Teemets- soprano) were on tour in Canada and the Caribbean. This tour was in celebration of two important national anniversaries, Estonia’s 100th and Barbados 50th, and one upcoming anniversary- Canada’s 150th.
Barbados and Estonia have much in common. Both have stable democracies, a high standard of living, are seafaring nations, and have gained their independence from foreign powers. Some would say, and maybe most importantly, these two nations have a great love of music- especially choral music.
Norman Reintamm (the pianist for Trio Estonia) started building a relationship with Barbadian musicians four years ago, asking one of the Island musicians if he could participate and experience local culture. Over the past years, Norman and Julian Bowen (a former high civil servant and now musician) have worked on projects bringing an understanding of Estonia to Barbados.
The most extensive project to date has been to bring Trio Estonia+1 to Barbados to co-celebrate Esto 50 and Barbados 100. This was an historic visit, as this was the first visit ever of an Estonian musical ensemble to Barbados featuring Estonian music. (Pikemalt Eesti Elu 21. okt. paberlehest)