Author Archives: Zuzanna

Lenna Kuurmaa

Lenna’s first book – “Elu Ilmaveerel”

Posted on by Zuzanna
09
May

What happens when you change the course of your life overnight and turn everything you have known and have been familiar with upside down?
The singer Lenna Kuurmaa, who conquered the charts and hearts with her music, during the first corona-spring in Tallinn packed her suitcases and her family – husband Lauri, daughters Ami and Matilda and decided overnight to move before the pandemic to the farthest corner of Estonia, the eastern border of the European Union, to Setomaa. To the house that was not yet ready for year-round living. There are other characters involved in the story of this family, to which the son Kusti was also born – the local community, the fox, chickens and roosters, goats, hedgehogs, birds and many, many others. In this book, the beloved singer tells the story of the growth of her attachment to Setomaa and hopes to inspire you, dear reader.

Book is available for pre-order on Apollo.ee (worldwideshipping) and JES Kirjastus (shipping within Estonia only). The premiere is set for May 13th 2022.

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Interviews, Lenna Kuurmaa

Ilmaveere sündmus- ja majutuskeskus

Posted on by Zuzanna
09
May

The married couple that moved to Setomaa, musician Lenna Kuurmaa and actor Lauri Mäesepp, are transforming the former Obinitsa school-church into the Ilmaveere event- and accommodation centre.
The undertaking is coming to life with the help of the EAS and KredEx joint tourism development fund. One of the recipients of 200.000€ cash injection is a private company JaneDoe Music with its project „Construction of the Ilmaveere Event and Accommodation Centre and related services”.
When speaking about the creation of the name, Kuurmaa mentioned that it carried numerous values: Obinitsa is, in a way, at the edge of the world, and that is the clearest meaning of the name. People come to enjoy nature, beauty and environment to the edge of the world – to Ilmaveere [est. end of the world]. – said Kuurmaa.
We also came to Setomaa: Lenna first, then me. – adds Mäesepp. – We came to the other side of Estonia – to ilmaveere. The distance, the isolation and all the values that are here – that name sums them all up very well. It is not necessary to be somewhere in the centre, sometimes the most valuable things are those most frontier, the farthest.
They are building the center in the former Obinitsa school-church that has been empty for years. This is a completely abandoned, delapidated building, which we now have an opportunity to breathe new life into. – says the musician. The building used to be owned by the church, now, however, it belongs to the founders of the centre.

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Interviews, Kerli Kivilaan, Vanilla Ninja

Kerli’s interview for Raadio2

Posted on by Zuzanna
19
Apr

Last month, Kerli Kivilaan, the new member of Vanilla Ninja, was a guest on Estonian Raadio 2. The information about her joining Vanilla Ninja was announced only at the beginning of March, when the band’s music video to „Encore ‘22” was released. Kerli told Raadio 2 in an interview that she had been a big Vanilla Ninja fan as a teenager and because of that many of the songs from the band’s repertoire belonged to her favourites. However, if she had to choose one, she would have gone with „When The Indians Cry”, which was the first single where her sister’s voice appeared since she had joined the band in the summer of 2004. It was a nice, heartbreaking ballad, where they rode horses on a sandy beach in the video. – stated Kerli.

According to the new Ninja, her sister, Triinu Kivilaan, received the news very positively and was glad to be able to pass the torch to her. The proposal to join the band was made to Kerli by Piret Järvis-Milder. I was quite surprised at first. I knew they had some changes coming. Piret called me and asked what would I think about this idea. It did not take me very long to answer. I considered what were the positives, as there seemed not to be any negatives.  – smiled Kerli. According to her, the band’s plans for the future are great, but she cannot talk about anything yet. However, the new music is coming soon. And also, the music that is coming is of the kind that I deal with myself – a little tougher.

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Interviews, Singles, Vanilla Ninja, Videos

“Encore” story

Posted on by Zuzanna
25
Mar

The newest Vanilla Ninja music video to the song “Encore” was released already 3 weeks ago. To sum up this extraordinary piece of art’s place in the band’s history, we asked the top visual creators of Estonian young generation and the directors of the video, Eskobros, to tell the story behind their latest work and the cooperation with the legendary Estonian music group. Also, you can see exclusive photos from making of the video here.

“Encore” is without a doubt our most epic video (so far). 

I remember one October night Raul rushed into the room extremely excited saying something like: “Romet, you won’t imagine what just landed in our mailbox.” It was an offer from Piret to create a music video for the legendary female band “Vanilla Ninja”. We were sold instantly.

I have to admit, we have never been the biggest listeners, however we have been super fans of the Vanilla Ninja ice cream since childhood. If someone had told us then that one day we would be directing a video for these women, we would never have believed it. This iconic aura guided the whole process and we fully cherished every single moment. It still took a while to realize that we were actually working with such icons.

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Interviews, Kerli Kivilaan, Vanilla Ninja

Kerli Kivilaan about joining Vanilla Ninja

Posted on by Zuzanna
19
Mar

Vanilla Ninja announced on March 4th that joining them as the new ninja was singer Kerli Kivilaan. Kerli says that as a child she was a Vanilla Ninja fan herself – after all, Triinu Kivilaan, band’s former member, is her older sister. I was a big fan, of course. I remember that when Triinu joined the ninjas, it was a huge sensation in our hometown of Viljandi. At that moment she was our window to the big world of entertainment – we could only listen with amazement to how awesome her life was. – Kerli tells Õhtuleht.

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Singles, Vanilla Ninja

“Encore”

Posted on by Zuzanna

Vanilla Ninja’s new music video reveals the band’s refreshed lineup

Tonight at 5 p.m., Vanilla Ninja’s music video to the song „Encore” will reach YouTube, revealing the band’s new lineup.

Last week, Vanilla Ninja reported there were important changes happening among their members. Singer and bass player, Triinu Kivilaan, and keyboard player, Katrin Siska, announced their departure. Instead, a recognized Estonian singer will take their place in the band. Her identity will be revealed tonight, at 6 p.m., when the new video premieres on YouTube.

If you cannot wait till the evening, you can already listen to the song on Spotify, for example, and try guessing by the voice who this mysterious new member is. – suggests Piret Järvis-Milder, the band’s vocalist and guitarist.

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