Mingo Rajandi „Werewolves“

Always fascinating the audience with her intriguing creative ideas, composer and double bassist Mingo Rajandi does not adhere to any specific style or genre in her work but determinedly seeks her own path. This year’s Jazzkaar is not an exception either: she will present her new programme Werewolves, sharing the stage with distinctive Estonian musicians Tobias Tammearu, Erki Pärnoja, Andres Kaljuste and Ahto Abner.

As a creator, Mingo Rajandi always approaches music conceptually. While her previous major production Beastesses explored the archetypal twists and turns of a woman’s life, Werewolves is inspired by questions that have no simple answers. “People are driven by fear of the unknown and incomprehensible. When faced with uncertainty, our first reaction is to attack. Witch-hunts carried out in mass hysteria and the dehumanisation of certain individuals even today, either by ignoring their suffering or denying them their basic rights, have grown from the same root. The werewolf has been a symbol of an unknown, seemingly different and incomprehensible stranger since ancient times. A mythical figure whose shape varies slightly across millennia and different cultures still carries the same basic features everywhere – it is a dark and wild creature coming from an unknown place, failing to blend into the mainstream, fighting for their own life and threatening ours with their untamed otherness,” Mingo Rajandi describes the theme of her new project.