“In the old days, people danced to kannel and bagpipes. Nowadays, we dance to the fiddle and gramophone.”
(Katri Pihl, Rõuge parish, 1936)
In the early 20th century, choreographed social dances were all the rage: dancing Pas d’Espagne, Two-step, Subbota and Kitajanka had quickly become integral to any party, bringing joy to the townsfolk and village people alike. Hailing from popular ballroom culture, these new, international and fashionable melodies soon mixed with Estonian village traditions, creating a new repertoire tailored to the local tastes. Today, we consider this layer in time a part of our dance heritage. With Pas de Grammofon, let’s attempt to travel back in time. Traversing a whole century, we arrive in the apple orchards and low-roofed village houses of our grandparents, where the summer air carries sweet melodies from the humble gramophone – a new type of musician, a whole little orchestra compressed into the shiny-black vinyl, mellowly playing only the most á la mode dance tunes of the day.
Lauri Õunapuu – recordings, forewords, mixing