Going on a date with Chaka

I have been visiting Stockholm for the past days and at last it hit me: Stockholm is a city with night-life. I hadn't been to the world famous jazz club Fashing for almost 20 years now, so I decided to check on whats going on there.

There was something quite unique taking place in Fashing on this Satuday night. A band called Any Old Sunday, consisting of child-young swedish youth performed Chaka Khan all night with a devotion that I have not been able to witness anywhere else.

The band was excuisite, the arrangements copied exactly the sound of 70's to 80's. It was like going back in a time-machine. On stage there were four girls performing the exact vocal arrangements of Chaka Khans music. The two solists EllyEve and Tina Talajic took turns in singing all Chakas hits with real youth energy. Elly had the high notes, Tina the grounge' lows. If I could find anything missing, then it was the bit of jazz, that we love about Chaka these days. But she is decades older and more mature. The girls sounded honestly like a very young Chaka.

In the mensroom, I was approached by an older man, who asked if I had come to Fashing before and what did I think of the band.. I told him this was my first time in 20 years and I've heard a lot of bad jazz there before, so today was just a pleasure. The man explained that his son is living together with the singer Elly and he was so exited... How nice;)..

Well, to make a long story bit shorter: all my youth I did dream of soul and funk taking hold in Sweden. Looking at that band made me an eery feeling that I had dreamt this all up.. The soul was there and I really connected with that music. So did everyone else, it seemed too..

"Den energiska kvartetten Any Old Sunday blandar finess med attityd och bjuder tillsammans med Misses Papillon på en fartfylld kväll full av dans och spelglädje.

Any Old Sunday: Aleksandar Brdarski – bas, 
Aaron Mellergårdh – trummor,
 David Larson – keyboard,
 Efraim Olofsson – gitarr. Misses Papillon: EllyEve – sång,
 Tina Talajic – sång,
 Marlene Strand – kör, 
Graciela Chin A Loi – kör"

Laulame Eesti võlast vabaks!

Tekst Laulupeol laulmiseks:

Laevutage laenulaeva, viige ära maksuvaeva, tagasi Rootsi randa, Svenssonite kanda,

Siis kõik kroonid kahel otsal lausa löövad laperdama, svenni taskus tokerdama:
eestlane läeb edasije, taretagust kündimaie, vorstiraha teenimaie,
Võlg see mingu võõrale!
küll siis kalev jõuab koju,
eesti rahval õnne tooma,
eesti krooni euroks looma...

Palun täiendage, saab pika värsi valmis. Suured tänud Anneli Niitsoo ja Kristina Märtin;)

How about an Estonian-Finnish Confederation?

I have been watching the cat-fight between the Estonian politicians lately and a mind-boggling idea has laid root in my head.. What if.. ? Estonia would join Finland in a confederate manner, taking over 100% Finnish legistlation, currency, etc. etc.?

Why? Why do companies merge? Why does 1+1 sometimes make 3?

Well, to start with, Estonia and Finland lie very close one to another. A merely 80km of sea separates the two capitals Tallinn and Helsinki. Most of Northern Finland has a very arctic climate, making it quite difficult to deal with agriculture. The Finnish and Estonian languages are merely dialects of finno-ugric. The temperament of the two nations is very similar. There are ca 5-6 million Finns and about 1 million Estonians in their respective countires. Estonia has a lot warmer climate, a lot of agriculture suitable land and very few people. Estonia has a very high governing cost, very young political culture (mostly missing culture) and a very limited leadership potential. Both countries have a russian speaking minority.

The two countries would make one new entity that would resemble Sweden in economy and geograpy. The two countries would finnish off the possibility for Russia to ever expand towards west again.

Why this is a crazy thought? Well, the Finns are a lot more advanced in economy (Nokia etc;), politcs and culture. The Estonians think they have the higher culture and are of course the smartest of all. So this would exclude any direct merger of the countries. But a federation would give Estonia full autonomy. Both countries would join one federal government that is located in Helsinki and the Estonian language would be one of the official languages of the land. The both countries allready share the melody of the national anthem, there will be some conflict about who is the big brother since it is clear that the Estonian establishment will have a weaker starting point in that situation. They would have to compete from a bit weaker position.

But think again. Estonia is too small to ever guarantee its inhabitants a standard of living that suits a European country. The cost of governing is very high from the local to country level. There is just too few tax payers, no matter how high the taxes will be. The political culture has not evolved according to western-european standards. You can clearly see primitive conclusions and simple solutions that resemble the Soviet past. Estonias neighbour Russia is using that weakness every day against Estonia.

Uniting the two countries would give a minimum critical mass of tax payers for the country to raise to new levels. Both countries lie in the EU, Finland has adapted the Euro, Estonia is about to adapt it. The only difference is the Estonias membership in Nato. But that can be corrected.

The purpose of this posting is to create the thought process. Please think with me and maybe there would be a way to proceed?

Yakov Shebelev

a poem / Economic crisis Eastern Europe anno 2009

My Wife says: What are we going to have for dinner tonight?

Me: Memories of Yesterday

My Wife: What about Tomorrow?

Me: Tomorrows Dreams...