Paabel reunites after 12-year break to release new album

Members of Estonian folk ensemble Paabel said on ERR’s “Hommik Anuga” programme that they grew so close during the band’s early years that they were like a family. The group released its new album, “Ajatu,” at the end of August after a 12-year break.

Paabel’s first album came out in 2009, followed by the live album “Meestevägi” in 2014. The band officially said goodbye to its audience in spring 2017 with a final concert at a folk music venue in Viljandi.

Flute player Sandra Sillamaa recalled that she formed the band as a first-year student because she wanted to attend a festival of folk music arrangements in Põlva.

“I thought about whom to do it with. I thought we could approach it differently somehow. I do not remember it myself, but Tõnu said, and that must be true, that I chose the most handsome boys from the Viljandi music house. Those were very well-founded criteria,” Sillamaa said with a laugh.

According to Lauri Kadalipp, the band became very close over the years.

“For a certain period, when we first formed the band, we were like a family. We rehearsed in the form of band camps, spent time together and did almost everything together. That created so many shared roots,” he said.

Tõnu Tubli said Paabel had been “annoyingly democratic” as a band. The members made decisions collectively, he explained, starting with basic material and spending hours exploring what they could do with it.

When the Viljandi folk music festival celebrated its 30th anniversary several years ago, Paabel was brought together for one evening. The musicians then realised that there was more to their reunion than a single concert.

“Before going on stage, you look around and think, ‘Oh my, this is so nice.’ You realise you cannot go wrong. We can do anything. It is not as if the next venue will not book us, because we were not active. We can be so free on stage,” Sillamaa recalled.

That autumn, the members began discussing whether their performance had been a one-night stand or whether they could continue in another form, she said.

Jaan Jaago said an important condition for continuing Paabel was that everyone had to have the time, desire and opportunity to do so. The programme developed for last year’s Viljandi folk music festival eventually became the basis for “Ajatu.”

Jaago said the members had begun considering the project a year and a half earlier, but had planned it patiently because of their schedules.