Sal-Saller says restlessness fuels his songwriting
Sunday 13th September 2026 on 09:45 in
Estonia
Musician Hendrik Sal-Saller told ERR’s programme Hommik Anuga that a constant urge to travel and be elsewhere runs through his family, and that the restlessness inspires his songwriting.
“There is some inexplicable thing in our family where everyone always has to go somewhere and be somewhere else. Some kind of restlessness. It charges me because you can go to a completely different place, where different thoughts come to you. I have written songs mainly outside Estonia,” Sal-Saller said.
He also discussed an upcoming concert marking his career. Sal-Saller said he disliked the word “anniversary” and regretted agreeing to write “6.0” for the concert.
Asked by host Anu Välba how he had remained “cool” after all these decades, Sal-Saller replied that the answer lay in a person’s own reflection in the mirror.
Bandmate Sven Jannes asked Sal-Saller what he remembered from the days of Generaator M. Sal-Saller recalled a concert at the Turba cultural centre near the end of the punk band’s career. He said he remembered nothing about the concert itself, but did remember what happened afterwards, adding that he could not discuss it publicly.
His friend Jaagup Kreem asked him about the meaning of life. “That is the simplest question. The meaning of life is to live,” Sal-Saller said.
Sal-Saller’s sister, Jana Arendi, asked what advice he had given his son Sebastian when he reached adulthood. Drawing on lines from classic Estonian films, Sal-Saller said: “The best advice for a man is the man himself.”
His father, Tõnu Sal-Saller, noted that Sebastian had gone abroad to study and asked whether Hendrik would still have become a musician if he had had the same opportunity. Sal-Saller said that his two years in the military had given him “lifelong human education”, but that he would probably still have chosen a music school if he had been able to study abroad.
His mother, Anne Velli, asked what made him travel. Sal-Saller again pointed to the family’s restlessness and its creative effect.