Werewolves Mingo Rajandi

• 1 Eldorado 08:09
• 2 Witches 07:38
• 3 My Lil One 05:57
• 4 Nelja tee ristil (Where Four Roads Cross) 11:51
• 5 Tinariwen 06:07
• 6 Interlude 02:38
• Total Runtime 42:20

Info for Werewolves

Mingo Rajandi’s ensemble features some of Estonia’s finest musicians, each with their unique style. Together, they bring Mingo Rajandi’s compositions to life just as the composer envisioned.

While these musicians had all performed together before, the formation of this ensemble is closely tied to the theatre production “Elajannad,” which premiered in February 2023. Simultaneously with the premiers, the ensemble released their debut album. This album is inspired by Mingo’s soul-searching, exploring what it means to be a woman in today’s day and age and how that role has changed over the centuries.

Mingo’s new music “Werewolves” was commissioned by Jazzkaar festival in 2024. In that program Mingo looks into the concept of the “stranger”. Who is a stranger and who belongs to us. Who is entitled compassion, the right to live and love, who is stamped as an outcast.

The music of this ensemble delves into the paradoxes of life, featuring dark, warm, and deep tones. Cinematic soundscapes are crafted by seamlessly blending together acoustic and electronic elements. The music creates a rich tapestry of shifting tones, with abrupt and unexpected transitions alongside carefully built crescendos. It encompasses beautiful melodies, ecstatic improvisations, minimalist ambience, freeform improvisation, unsettling dissonances, and pure simple beauty.

Mingo Rajandi, double bass
Tobias Tammearu, saxophone, electronics
Erki Pärnoja, guitars, electronics
Andres Kaljuste, viola
Martin Petermann, drums

Mingo Rajandi
is a composer, double bass player, leader of various ensembles and initiator of interdisciplinary projects.

She boldly seeks common ground between refined compositions and improvisation, crossing genre boundaries and experimenting with different art forms. In her works Mingo blends jazz with contemporary music and draws inspiration from socially critical texts and poetry, from both the classics as well as contemporary authors.

Mingo has been commissioned to create several new works by jazz and classical music festivals and she often collaborates with performing arts producers and performers.

Her interdisciplinary works “Creating Gods” (2018, commissioned by Arvo Pärt Day’s) and collaborations “Lingua franca” (2017) and “The strange mirror” (2021) are remarkable examples of this. Among her notable works is the bassoon concerto “Trees Talk” for the Grammy-nominated bassoon player Martin Kuuskmann (2019), a new version of Händel’s oratorio “Messiah” for Veronika Portsmouth’s Choir (2019), and “Erkki-Sven Tüür & Lepo Sumera Rewrite” with Kirke Karja (2019) that was commissioned for the opening of the Jazzkaar festival’s 30th anniversary. In 2019, Mingo participated in the Estonian Drama Theater’s production “Double bass”, for which she received the award for best original music and musical design at the Estonian Theater Awards. In 2020, Mingo was awarded the title of Jazz Composer of the Year.

Mingo’s latest interdisciplinary work, the theatre production “Elajannad“, premiered in Tallinn in 2023, is a stunning example of her composition in a live performance. The album of the same name was also released in February 2023. Mingo’s ensembles, including Ajavares, Heliotroop, Verbarium, Avarus Ensemble, Trio Maag, and Mingo Rajandi Quintet, have performed her works extensively, with numerous albums and singles released. Mingo regularly collaborates with musicians from different genres, actors, visual artists, poets, and choreographers. She has also written for several classical ensembles and soloists and has done a number of special projects both in the theatre and on concert stages.

Mingo Rajandi was born in 1980 and graduated from the Estonian Institute of Humanities (now Tallinn University) majoring in acting. She started her career as a musician at the Georg Ots Music School and got her bachelor’s degree in jazz double bass and a master’s degree in composition from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.

This album contains no booklet.