Executive Overview
What happens if the sun disappears?
It is an existential question more commonly found in astrophysics lecture halls or speculative climate fiction than on the closing-day stage of a prominent folk music festival. Yet, on a crisp morning at the Viljandi Folk Music Festival, this cosmic inquiry hung heavily over the amphitheater, setting the tone for a breathtaking, boundary-blurring performance. The catalyst was Tell Your Birds, an avant-garde transnational folk ensemble whose very existence challenges traditional definitions of regional music.
For the first time in front of a live festival audience, the quartet performed material from their highly anticipated, yet-unreleased debut record. Their sound is a complex, delicate ecosystem: Kristāne Tukre anchors the melodies with the wooden resonance of the traditional Baltic box zither, the kokle; Vija Moore drives the foundational pulse with dynamic percussion; Kärt Tambet cuts through the instrumental weave with the haunting, serrated tones of the bowed hiiu kannel; and everything passes through the modern, exploratory processing of sound designer Simone Spampinato.
Singing simultaneously in Estonian and Latvian—each artist fiercely retaining the linguistic heritage of their upbringing—the band splices ancient, centuries-old folk traditions into contemporary sonic sculptures. The rest of their repertoire belongs to no established canon at all, written instead on the speculative chance that it might be needed for a future that has yet to arrive.
Directly following their transcendent set, in the final hour before the members scattered to different corners of Europe for the remainder of the summer, we sat down with the quartet. Amidst a temperamental field recorder that cut out every few minutes, our conversation inadvertently mirrored the band’s unique working rhythm: a sudden burst of ideas, a deliberate pause, and another surge of creative dialogue. Tell Your Birds is an exercise in distance and convergence. Tukre and Spampinato reside in Helsinki, Tambet in Viljandi, and Moore in Riga. They operate in concentrated, intense bursts of shared geography—gathering for days at a time to write every note in a single stretch—before returning to their respective urban enclaves.
In that fleeting hour before their diaspora, the band reflected deeply on the mechanics of tradition: what it means to inherit a musical lineage, the rigorous responsibilities of handling ancestral material, the creation of melodies tailored for a time that has not yet happened, and the subtle phonetic decisions that ultimately dictate which language a song decides to speak.
Detailed Chronology: The Geography and Genesis of Tell Your Birds
To understand the sound of Tell Your Birds, one must first trace the physical and geographical map that sustains them. In a modern musical landscape dominated by hyper-localized scenes or centralized metropolitan hubs, this ensemble functions as a decentralized sonic laboratory spread across the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic States.
The Transnational Architecture
The band’s logistical framework is as fascinating as its harmonic structure. The four members live in three distinct cities across two countries:
- Kristāne Tukre: Helsinki, Finland
- Simone Spampinato: Helsinki, Finland
- Kärt Tambet: Viljandi, Estonia
- Vija Moore: Riga, Latvia
This geographical dispersal dictates their entire artistic output. Because daily rehearsals are an impossibility, the band operates on a "burst model." They coordinate rare, intense windows of time where all four members converge in a single room. During these collaborative sprints, isolation from their daily routines allows them to hyper-focus, writing, arranging, and deconstructing material at a breakneck pace. Once the residency concludes, they disperse back to their home cities—Helsinki’s urban hum, Viljandi’s pastoral heritage, Riga’s historic harbor—allowing the ideas to marinate individually before the next convergence.
A Convergence of Box Zithers
The foundational roots of Tell Your Birds can be traced back to an academic and cultural pilgrimage undertaken by Kristāne Tukre. Her musical journey originally began within the rigorous parameters of classical kantele performance. However, her primary instrument of choice at home is the Latvian kokle.
Across Northern Europe and the Baltic region, a fascinating linguistic and organological family tree exists: the Estonian kannel, the Latvian kokle, and the Finnish kantele. While these box zithers share a common ancestral architecture, they have evolved distinct regional identities, repertoires, and playing techniques over centuries. For Tukre, this family resemblance is the primary engine of her artistic curiosity.
"We have a very interesting phenomenon here in the Baltics and in Finland," Tukre explains. "We have these string instruments; they’re similar, but at the same time very different. They have different names, but we, musicians, try to come together."
This desire for cross-border artistic pollination led Tukre to pack up her instruments and cross the Baltic Sea to Helsinki, enrolling at the prestigious Sibelius Academy. It was within those halls that the cross-border dialogue materialized into a tangible ensemble.
"That’s how I got to Finland," Tukre reflects, tracing the lineage of the band. "I got to meet Vija, Kärt, and Simone, and we started the band."
The Viljandi Debut and the Road Ahead
The band’s performance at the Viljandi Folk Festival marked a critical milestone in their trajectory. Having released their haunting single "Pa saulei" in June, the ensemble has carefully cultivated a sense of mystery around their upcoming full-length album, slated for release in April 2027.
Between now and then, the gaps in their schedule are filled with cryptic glimpses, live snippets, and conceptual art shared across their official Instagram channel and Bandcamp page. Their Viljandi set was the first time these studio experiments were tested against the elements, played live in front of an audience that had gathered to celebrate traditional folk music—only to find themselves thrust into an experimental sonic future.
Supporting Context & Metrics: Instruments, Languages, and Modern Processing
The sonic architecture of Tell Your Birds relies on an intricate balance between organic, historically weighted folk instruments and contemporary electronic processing. Analyzing their setup reveals how the band bridges historical preservation with futuristic exploration.
Instrument Matrix & Roles
| Band Member | Primary Instrument / Role | Regional Heritage / Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Kristāne Tukre | Kokle / Vocals | Latvia / Studied at Sibelius Academy (Finland) |
| Vija Moore | Percussion / Rhythmic Foundation | Latvia |
| Kärt Tambet | Bowed Hiiu Kannel / Vocals | Estonia (Viljandi) |
| Simone Spampinato | Live Audio Processing & Electronics | Italy / Based in Helsinki |
The Linguistic Mosaic
One of the most striking elements of Tell Your Birds is their approach to vocals and lyrics. Rather than adopting a lingua franca—such as English, which dominates the global folk-pop crossover market—the band embraces linguistic duality. Songs are performed with members singing simultaneously in Estonian and Latvian.
This is not a forced stylistic gimmick, but an organic reflection of the band’s identity. Each member clings to the cadence and phonetic texture of the language they grew up speaking. According to the band, the choice of which language a song ultimately settles into is often determined by organic factors: the natural rhythm of a syllable, the emotional weight of a vowel sound, or the historical origins of a borrowed folk motif.
The Electronics-Tradition Equilibrium
While instruments like the kokle and the bowed hiiu kannel are deeply tethered to agrarian history, pagan folklore, and pre-industrial Baltic life, Simone Spampinato’s real-time audio processing acts as a modern bridge. By running the acoustic instruments through digital delays, granular synthesis, and atmospheric reverbs, the band strips away the museum-piece sterility often associated with "traditional revival" acts. The ancient wood of the zithers vibrates, only to be caught, fractured, and multiplied by algorithms, creating a soundscape that feels both ancient and deeply futuristic.
Official Statements & Artist Perspectives
During our interrupted, rhythmically fractured interview behind the Viljandi festival stage, the members of Tell Your Birds articulated a profound philosophy regarding folklore, cultural heritage, and artistic responsibility.
On the Burden and Responsibility of Tradition
In contemporary music, the word "folk" is frequently thrown around as a marketing buzzword—a shorthand for acoustic guitars, rustic aesthetics, and nostalgic longing. For Kärt Tambet, however, engaging with traditional music requires immense rigor, awareness, and respect.
When discussing where their material comes from—ranging from direct transcriptions of ancient folk melodies to myths and standalone lyrical fragments—Tambet emphasizes that creation is an act of translation rather than mere theft.
"Most of the music is actually original music that we have composed together, or separately, but brought it to this group," Tambet notes, explaining the source material of their growing songbook.
However, when traditional elements do bleed into their compositions, the approach shifts from casual borrowing to analytical preservation:
"There’s a lot of using a tradition in music. But when doing so, you have to be aware of it, and be able to translate it to others," Tambet asserts, her voice competing with the buzzing field recorder. "It’s highly important that we’re aware where the tradition is coming from and what the original intention behind that is, so we can put it into our own musical language."
This philosophy separates Tell Your Birds from standard folk revivalists. They do not seek to preserve folk music like insects trapped in amber. Instead, they dissect its original intent, understand its societal and historical context, and then violently—yet lovingly—reassemble it within a contemporary Baltic-Nordic vernacular.
On Melodies for an Unwritten Future
Perhaps the most evocative theme emerging from the band’s collaborative ethos is their willingness to write music for scenarios that do not yet exist. As captured by their stage banter introducing the song about a sunless world, Tell Your Birds treats composition as an act of speculative imagination.
The songs that do not belong to any historical repertoire are written under the premise that music can serve as an emotional survival kit for future crises—whether ecological, political, or psychological. By fusing the ancient drone of the hiiu kannel with ambient electronic manipulation, they construct sonic shelters for the unknown.
Future Outlook: The Road to April 2027
As the summer sun sets on the current touring season, Tell Your Birds will return to their respective hubs in Helsinki, Viljandi, and Riga. The momentum generated by their Viljandi Folk Festival performance and the ongoing rollout of their early singles has positioned them as one of the most intriguing acts to watch in the contemporary Baltic and Nordic music scenes.
Upcoming Milestones
- Ongoing Digital Releases: The band will continue dropping teasers, live session videos (such as their striking live recordings at Roberts Books and localized performance spaces), and studio snippets via their Instagram channel.
- The Debut Album (April 2027): The focal point of the band’s immediate future is the culmination of their years of trans-national songwriting sprints—a full-length debut record scheduled for release in the spring of 2027. Fans can follow their progress and pre-order updates via their Bandcamp page.
- Expanded Touring: Following the album’s release, the ensemble plans to scale up their live operations, bringing their unique cross-border dialogue, bilingual vocal harmonies, and electro-acoustic zither soundscapes to broader European festival stages.
In an era defined by geopolitical fragmentation and cultural siloes, Tell Your Birds offers a compelling alternative model of collaboration. By recognizing the shared roots of their regional instruments while boldly embracing digital processing, speculative songwriting, and linguistic pluralism, they prove that the past is not a rigid monument to be guarded, but a living, breathing landscape from which to build the future.
And if the sun ever does disappear, we can rest assured knowing that Tell Your Birds will be there, playing acoustic frequencies into the dark, translating the ancient world into a language we haven’t learned yet.
