Aivar Mäe says Jaak Joala influenced his vocal style

Musician and theatre director Aivar Mäe said he once modelled aspects of his vocal style on singer Jaak Joala, ERR’s Vikerraadio reported. He also acknowledged that he had been too lazy in his youth to develop his abilities, relying instead on what he saw as natural talent.

Born in Pärnu on May 12, 1960, Mäe said his parents had no connection to music. His father was a driver who received “25 plus five” from Stalin, while his mother worked as a personnel manager.

Teachers discovered at school that Mäe had a strong voice, and he joined a boys’ choir. “They took me to Tartu, Tallinn and everywhere else. I had to sing ‘Õrn ööbik’ everywhere,” he recalled.

After his voice broke, Mäe played volleyball before returning to music. He said his teacher Evi Kõrre, who has since died, encouraged him to continue pursuing music.

Mäe attended a music school from the age of 12 and later entered a music secondary school in Tallinn. Although he had completed only one year at a children’s music school, he passed the difficult entrance examinations. He studied the clarinet, saying the instrument had simply been placed in his hands.

Mäe said Jaak Joala was everyone’s idol in the late 1960s, including his own. “I think that even later in my career I used some of Jaak’s techniques in my vocals,” he said.

According to Mäe, Joala was exceptionally musical and benefited greatly from the work his mother did with his voice. “Jaak received a classical foundation from his mother, which later helped him give four or five concerts a day in Russia,” Mäe said.

Mäe recalled appearing on the Estonian Television programme “Suvi lauluga”, where he won. He was then invited to the singing competition “Kaks takti ette”. He described the experience as extremely difficult because the songs selected for him were too demanding vocally and he had only recently gone through a voice change. He appeared on the same programme as singer Anne Veski.

While studying at the music secondary school, Mäe worked at the Pärnu beach building and sang there throughout his summer holidays. Later, he performed in taverns, including in Viitna, where parties could continue until the early hours, unlike in Tallinn bars, which closed at a fixed time.

Mäe said young singers today were highly talented and worked hard to succeed. Compared with his generation, he said, young people, including himself, had been too lazy and relied on their talent instead of putting in enough effort.

He said the three years he spent with the ensemble Vitamiin had provided experience that could not be learned at any school. “Sometimes there were five concerts in one day,” Mäe recalled.

Mäe also remembered stadium concerts in Russia where everything was played from tape because there was no amplification capable of covering a large stadium.