Shrove Tuesday in Estonia — vastlapäev — carries a specific belief: the longer your sled runs, the longer the flax grows that year. “Vastlalaul” is a song about that ride, written from the inside, the run-up, the long slide, the lever lodged, the snow winning, and it brings together two of Estonia’s most distinctive folk duos to tell it.
Duo Ruut‘s Ann-Lisett Rebane and Katariina Kivi have built their sound around a single kannel, the Estonian zither, standing on either side of it, one plucking, one strumming, both tapping its body for rhythm, rooted in Estonian folk tradition with their own contemporary songwriting woven through it. Puuluup‘s Ramo Teder and Marko Veisson add the hiiu kannel, or talharpa, a bowed lyre rooted in Baltic and Finnic folk tradition, and the four of them move through a mix of traditional vastlapäev verse and new writing by Teder and Veisson. The track sits on Duo Ruut’s album Ilmateade (The Weather Report), released on 12 June 2025.
To accompany the release, the four musicians shot a DIY alongside Mark Joonas Artma, Argo Vessmann and Marili Jõgi on a snowy Estonian hillside, and said it was as much fun to make as it is to watch. Recording came from José Diogo Neves, Teder and Veisson, with Neves on mix and master.
Duo Ruut have played Glastonbury, Womex, Celtic Connections, Trans Musicales and the Elbphilharmonie, and their upcoming dates take them to Stereolux in Nantes on 25 March, Antipode in Rennes on 26 March, Petit Bain in Paris on 27 March, Union Chapel in London on 4 June, and Haapsalu White Nights Festival in Estonia on 2 July.
“Vastlalaul” appears on Duo Ruut’s Ilmateade, you can stream and listen to the single HERE