Mari Kalkun (born 1 April 1986) is an Estonian singer and musician who specializes in contemporary

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

. She has performed at home and abroad with the ensemble Runorum, releasing several recordings since 2007. In 2013, she was voted the best singer at Estonia's Ethno Music Awards. Her widely acclaimed 2018 album ''Ilmamõtsan'' consists of the songs inspired by Estonian traditional folk music, especially that from the villages of Kalkun's native

Võru Võru (; ; ) is a town and a municipality in south-eastern Estonia. It is the capital of Võru County and the centre of Võru Parish. History Võru was founded on 21 August 1784, at the request of the Empress Catherine II of Russia, by the o ...

in south-eastern Estonia.

Biography

Born on 1 April 1986, Mari Kalkun was brought up in the Võru district in south-eastern Estonia where since her childhood she has been inspired by the surrounding woodlands, birds and bogs. Her cousin is musician and folkorist

Andreas Kalkun Andreas Kalkun (born 28 April 1977) is an Estonian (Setos, Seto) poet, musician and folklorist. In 2003 he finished his master studies in University of Tartu, studying Estonian and comparative folklore. In 2011 he finished his doctoral studies a ...

, with whom she has also collaborated. She first studied cultural management at the

Viljandi Culture Academy University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy () is an Estonian institution of higher education, situated in the provincial town of Viljandi, central Estonia. The UT Viljandi Culture Academy merged with the University of Tartu in 2005. The UT VC ...

, followed by music studies at the

Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre The Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (''Eesti Muusika- ja Teatriakadeemia'') began as a mixed choir of the Estonia Society Musical Department (EMD) on the eve of World War I. The assembly of the Estonia Society created the Tallinn Higher Musi ...

. She was an exchange student at the

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy (, ) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It also has an adult education centre in Järvenpää and a training centre in Seinäjoki ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Finland, graduating with a master's degree in traditional singing. She has developed her specific style of combining folk music with jazz. Kalkun not only sings but composes her own music and plays several instruments including the Estonian zither, piano, accordion and guitar. She released her first solo album ''Üü tulõk'' (Arrival of the Night) in 2007. Thanks to its success, she was invited to concerts in France, the UK, Finland and Russia. In 2009, she performed in Japan together with the Estonian artist Pastacas where a recording of her music was also released. Later recordings include ''Dear Rain'' (2010), ''Tii ilo'' (2015) together with her Finnish band Runorun, and ''Upa-upa ubinakõnõ'' (2015) in her native

Võro language Võro ( ; , ) is a South Estonian language. It has its own literary standard and efforts have been undertaken to seek official recognition as an indigenous regional language of Estonia. Võro has roughly 75,000 speakers (Võros), mos ...

. ''Ilmamõtsan'' was released in November 2017. It consists of 12 songs in Estonian and Võro, most of them written by Kalkun inspired by local poets.

References

External links

Mari Kalkun's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalkun, Mari 1986 births Living people People from Võru 21st-century Estonian women singers 21st-century Estonian women musicians Sibelius Academy alumni Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre alumni