Biography Helin-Mari Arder

"Helin-Mari Arder is one of the few singers helping to soothe the drought in Estonian jazz-singing," wrote the Estonian music critic Joosep Sang in December 2002. Then Helin-Mari had just started her take off as a jazz vocalist. By now she is considered one of the most outstanding young Estonian jazz-singers. Her roots are in classical music as she started her music studies playing the violin, singing in choirs and in a children's music theatre. She was drawn back to music after her studies of French language and literature at the Tartu University, but this time it was jazz and pop music.

Helin-Mari sings in several languages and also composes the songs of her own. The most known is her song "Väike päike" (Up Above). In addition to Estonian, English and Finnish, she sings in French, Italian and also Portuguese. Although jazz standards are closest to her heart, she also loves French chanson and Brasilian bossa nova and samba. After receiving a nomination of the best jazz-singer at the Nõmme Jazz Festival (2001), Helin-Mari was invited to the Pori Jazz Festival in Finland. Since then she has toured with many celebrated musicians in Europe, Russia and USA.

Together with Teet Raik on the acoustic guitar and Ara Yaralyan on the double bass, a trio was formed in 2001 and in December 2003 they released their first CD "Hetk vaikust" ("A Moment of Silence") where many Estonian tunes were interpreted with a gentle bossa nova touch. Quite shortly their second CD "Su aknast näen" ("From Your Window") was released, this time in co-operation with the saxophone player Siim Aimla and the drummer Ahto Abner. It containes a collage from jazzy Estonian tunes, jazz standards and bossa novas in Estonian, Portuguese and English.

The next albums have been “Mu süda ärka üles” ("Wake up My Heart")- the jazzy interpretations from Estonian religios and folksongs and "Kuulates Legrand'i" (En ecoutant Legrand) - a CD with interpretations of the songs of the great Michel Legrand. The last CD was released in February 2008 with a title "I'm Starting to Like You", together with an American singer-guitarplayer Andy Fite.

Creative Commons By-SA License