Estonia's zombie-folk duo Puuluup touring US, cracked talharpa in tow
Genre-bending Estonian duo Puuluup is on a three-week U.S. tour, sharing their "zombie folk" sound and signature bowed lyres with dates scheduled from coast to coast.
Puuluup musician Ramo Teder, who also performs solo as Pastacas, told Vikerraadio that they've toured the U.S. before.
"Three years ago was a smaller run, and a year and a half ago we played one festival," he recalled. This time, the their first stop was in Minneapolis, and their final U.S. date next month is in Seattle.
The duo has now played in 30 countries. Teder said the country itself matters less than the people who show up, and the atmosphere of the event.
"We'll adjust our setlist a bit based on whether it's more of a sit-down event or people want to dance," he said.
After wrapping up in the U.S., Puuluup will head to Kyiv, then on to the Czech Republic, Poland and France. At year's end, they'll tour Asia with stops in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Teder credited their agent Juliana Volož, who also represented Trad.Attack! and continues to work with Mari Kalkun and Sandra Sillamaa's new project Sadu.
"We like traveling," he quipped.
Travel often brings chances to introduce their instrument — the talharpa, a Northern European bowed lyre known locally as the hiiu kannel. Sometimes that happens in unusual circumstances.
Teder recalled arriving late at a hotel once and managing to give the night guard a quick workshop while his bandmate Marko Veisson parked the car.
No backups wanted
Talharpas are built mainly in Estonia and Finland, but also in Sweden. The bow hairs wear out fastest, but years of intense stage use have left deeper marks.
"We have a couple of pretty wild numbers in our live set," Teder admitted.
He recently took his talharpa to Finnish maker Rauno Esa Nieminen, whose instruments Puuluup plays, to have a small crack in the lid glued back together.
"He's a Finnish master with a doctorate in building the talharpa," he noted.
Teder actually owns several talharpas but sticks with his favorite onstage. "I know every last inch of my main performance instrument so well that I'm not swapping it out," he explained.
Puuluup doesn't carry backups on tour, but they do bring spare strings and bows.
On flights, the duo takes their instruments into the cabin. The talharpa itself just fits as a carry-on, but with its case, it's just a few centimeters over the limit.
"We usually still manage to get it on the plane, but once with Ryanair we had to pay a fine," Teder recalled.
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Editor: Annika Remmel, Aili Vahtla
