Director of Tallinn Music Week Helen Sildna on the role of music in the country's image
Last weekend The seventh Tallinn Music Week ended in Tallinn, an international festival dedicated to new European music, which was attended by 205 artists from 26 countries, 853 delegates and 180 journalists from around the world, and more than 25 thousand people attended the concerts. It was possible to listen to stars of various sizes and genres - from the British folk legends Vashti Banyan to the talented Russian conductor Mikhail Leontyev and the On-The-Go group. A team of 25 people (plus a dog) and several dozen volunteers are working on the festival. Wonderzine talked with the founder and director of TMW, Helen Sealdna. In Estonia, Helen is a figure comparable in role to Sergey Kapkov for Moscow: her initiatives support both the state and the Tallinn people; during TMW, her portraits adorned every third magazine cover; She is friends with the President of Estonia, a frequent guest of her events. We asked Helen about gender stereotypes, the role of the female leader, the Russian music scene on the international stage and, of course, about the dog Pipar.
I grew up in a family of musicians: my father was a trumpeter in a symphony orchestra, and my mother was a soloist in the national opera house, I followed in their footsteps and from childhood I played the piano. I grew up a real music fan - I was constantly searching for and discovering new bands for myself, reading music magazines, buying tons of records. At some point, my passion and passion became my job, so I'm really lucky. I came to the music industry in 1999: I became a secretary at the biggest concert agency in the Baltic countries, then I became an assistant, and soon a manager of my own projects. I have always dreamed of promoting really interesting projects. So a few years later my own company Musiccase appeared and work began on Tallinn Music Week.
Six years later, Tallinn Music Week is responsible for Estonia’s cultural image internationally. This is not only my responsibility and merit - this is the work of the whole team. TMW began with a group of people who think, feel and act in the same direction, united by one goal. Before us, no one purposefully worked with local musicians. We were tired of whining around and every time, looking in the mirror, we realized that someone had to do this - and we took it. Since then, I have clearly understood: everything that happens or does not happen around depends only on our own initiative or our inaction. There was so much beautiful, different, interesting music around that simply demanded attention. Then, in 2009, the international music festival seemed to us the most obvious opportunity to change something - and we made Tallinn Music Week. We started only with Estonian music, but now the festival has become international.
I manage a large team, which includes a lot of men. Sometimes this is not an easy job - both within the team and with third-party opponents. I firmly believe that society needs equal rights for men and women, if we are not talking about hard physical work - the only area in which men, thanks to natural data, are superior to women. If we are talking about work in the intellectual, creative field - there should be no differences, and it’s enough to discuss it.
My personal heroes in business, in the life of mostly women; they are wise, they are good politicians, negotiators, but at the same time they can be tough and principled if the situation requires it. In my opinion, women are good strategists - they see the big picture better than men and work better with people. True, to achieve the goals set, women more often have to work twice as hard as men. When I started my career at the age of twenty as an international concert booker and led deals with big agents and world stars, mostly my partners and contractors were men over sixty. Despite the fact that I was already an independent manager, the first thing they always asked me was whose assistant I was.
When I started my career at the age of twenty, my partners were men over sixty. First of all, they always asked me whose assistant I was
In professional terms, I never rate people on the basis of gender, I value professionalism. The women on my team are super professional, but I also work with great men. Among men there are chauvinists, over-faith in their position, which sometimes does not coincide with their skills and knowledge. But in fact, I am glad that today the business environment is so dynamic that the most intelligent and talented market participants survive and win in it - the floor no longer has a fundamental importance. And if some women have to work twice as much to occupy a position in business and society on a par with men, this means that they are twice as smart.
I can proudly say that TMW has opened many artists to the world. For example, Maria Minerva, which is now released on the Los Angeles label Not Not Fun. Estonian producer Syn Cole is one of the stars of the international EDM scene; You can find out his signature sound in the Avicii hit "Hey Brother". The young talented violinist and singer Maarja Nuut is the first Estonian actress in history to join the most important festival of world music WOMEX. Estonian folk-metal giants Metsatöll. I can list for a long time.
For six years, TMW has grown to the scale of a comprehensive urban event with a bunch of very different concert pop-ups, round tables, conferences, and even a mini-festival of cooking and art. We prove that creativity is an integral part and the engine of a successfully developing economy, thanks to which cities, countries, private companies and industries flourish. We also declare that the basis of creativity lies in such values as equality and freedom of speech - fundamental human rights. This year we made another important decision and dedicated one of the lecture panels of the festival to the best female managers. It would seem that this is only possible in Sweden? But no, the Swedish experience has no territorial boundaries. We have tried to unlock the potential of women in society. Agree, it is foolish not to use the skills and talents of half the world's population for the sake of success.
TMW actively supports the Estonian government, especially the Ministry of Culture and the Enterprise Estonia Enterprise Development Fund. In general, the state assumes about 35% of the expenses of the festival - this is part of our budget, without them we would not have managed. For our part, we develop international tourism and contribute to the growth of the Estonian cultural and business industry.
In his opening remarks at the opening ceremony of TMW, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves - a big fan of rock music - touched upon the uninterrupted connection between art and politics in the modern world and cited as an example, in particular, Pussy Riot. To deny it is to lie. The Russian independent scene is unique and strong in its vector of development. The lecture panel, the speakers of which were Russian promoters and managers, gathered a full house, listeners asked experts for a long time about how the touring and music business in Russia was built, what difficulties they had - and without exception, they were impressed by the professionalism and confidence of Russians.
I believe that Russian music is closely connected with the life of society, but at the same time it is made with pure inspiration. There is a big stage of electronic lounge music in Russia, since the days of the Kino group, the line of romantic post-punk has taken root in Russia, the underground electronic scene is much cooler and more interesting than anyone in the world can imagine. In addition, you have a powerful network of the community around indie rock bands, and there are excellent bands that create outside of all subcultural niches, such as Tinavie. One of the main bands in Russia, Motorama, signed a contract with the French label Talitres after performing on TMW - and I believe that such interesting experiences in our practice will be more than once.
Our experience with Russian artists becomes more fruitful from year to year. To illustrate the positive changes in the Russian music market, we called one of the TMW lecture panels "Hope for Russia", where Russian promoters were invited as speakers. The emphasis was mainly on the fact that in recent years more and more internationally prominent artists have appeared in Russia, for whom tours outside Moscow and St. Petersburg are important. The purpose of the panel was to encourage international cooperation with Russian artists and promoters and to draw back attention to European tours in Russia. The idea of this panel seems to me very logical for TMW, the neighboring countries should especially support each other. One of the main goals of TMW is to develop and support cultural international partnership in the common interest.
This year TMW presented a record number of Russian artists, including On-The-Go, Nina Karlsson, Sansara, Neon Lights, Noid, Oyme, young talented conductor Mikhail Leontyev and others. The brilliant brass band ½ Orchestra teamed up with the Estonian team Gorõ Lana for the second time - their first joint performance was successfully held in Moscow in December. Neon Lights unveiled the video "Heaven", reworking the composition of the Estonian folk-project Jagaspace; Nina Karlsson is just a multi-talented actress, and On-The-Go showed the quality of an international level, they are difficult to overestimate. All these performances did not go unnoticed - and I am confident that these artists can achieve recognition in any country.
No matter how talented you are, you still need to work on yourself.
The most difficult thing about working with artists is unreasonable demands and hopes. To understand what to expect and demand from the organizers, the musician must be aware of his place, understand the context and the overall picture of the event. Therefore, it is so important to travel as much as possible, to cooperate with various people and go beyond your own horizons. This makes it clear what place you have in the global context. The more you learn, the better you understand how little you really know. No matter how talented you are, you still need to work on yourself. I appreciate creative people who know that there is no limit to perfection, there is no limit to how many new things you can learn every day of your life. The possibility of continuous development is the most invaluable opportunity that a person has.
Being an emotional person, I have taught myself that the extra emotions are too energy-consuming - they devour valuable energy. In the most stressful periods, you have to maintain your own energy and not waste it on meaningless things. Being too emotional means simply wasting time around you in vain. I learned to focus on things that make sense to me in perspective and move forward. There is such a term - emotional intelligence, I distinguish it most of all, both among women and men.
I work 24/7, but my beagle dog helps her to relax, her name is Pipar. A long walk with Pipar is the best part of my day. She is my trainer and teacher, who makes me break away from work and take care of her and myself. A special time for me is the Sabbath - the days when I have a leisurely breakfast and a long walk in the park with my dog. On holidays, I try to get away from the city, otherwise I will be caught up in work again. As they say, the day off is a day when you can work so that no one distracts you. Pipar follows me everywhere — to the office, to the restaurant, to the meeting — she’s a true friend and companion, and yes, she’s part of the TMW team. She even has her own address [email protected] - you can write her a letter, see what she answers.
photographer: Laura kallasvee