BIOGRAPHY
Tuuli Velling (Taul) is an Estonian singer-songwriter and a poet who has performed her music and poems at festivals such as Jazzkaar, Pori Jazz, Turku Jazz, HeadRead, Prima Vista, Mailaul, etc. She graduated from Tallinn Georg Ots Music College, majoring in pop-jazz singing (2010), and had a follow-up year at the Codarts University in the Netherlands focusing on jazz singing.
Tuuli’s debut album “Kuus ruutmeetrit põrandapinda” (“Six Square Meters of Floor”) was released in 2013 and features many well-known Estonian musicians such as Teet Velling, Marti Tärn, Tõnu Tubli, Raivo Tafenau, Merje Kägu, string quartet Prezioso, Kristjan Randalu, Mai Leisz (Agan), et al. Critics have emphasised the equal strength of lyrics and music in her songs.
STUDIES
Tuuli’s musical studies began at the age of 6, when she started learning classical piano. After finishing basic musical education in 1999 she continued with classical guitar and finished the second education in 2005. Since 8 years old she also studied solo singing under the guidance of Toomas Voll, a renowned Estonian vocal coach. A few years later Tuuli went under the tuition of her mother Eva Taul, who soon discovered her natural talent for improvisation.
It was not only Tuuli’s mother who helped to shape her latter choices for music, literature and arts. Tuuli spent her childhood amidst a creative family: with her mother working as a piano teacher and a choir conductor, her father being interested in photography and linguistics, playing the guitar and the drums, her grandparents engaging in different cultural fields, it was not suprising that after graduating from Pärnu Sütevaka Grammar School Tuuli first opted for Romance Studies at Tartu University, only to switch back to her main interest, music, a year later. She was accepted at the department of pop-jazz singing at Tallinn Georg Ots Music College in 2006 and finished her studies in 2010.
During those years in the epicenter of the music scene, Tuuli was lucky to meet and work with many of the best Estonian music teachers and musicians. Together with her co-students they formed ensemble Tjörk (Tribute to Björk). Tuuli also started to perform with different jazz bands and worked as a radio host and an emcee. These (ongoing) experiences with public speaking have helped improve her use of spoken language and experiment with different styles, such as spoken word, voice-over or simply reading her own poetry.
In 2009 Tuuli became the winner of the Nõmme Jazz international youth competition vocalists’ category and ended up beign 2nd at Lady Summertime international jazz singers’ contest in Finland.
From 2010 to 2011, Tuuli had a follow-up year at at the Codarts University in the Netherlands, focusing on jazz singing under the tuition of Fay Claassen, Francien van Tuinen and Kristina Fuchs.
COLLABORATION WITH ENSEMBLE JÄÄÄÄR
In 2009, an unexpected encounter on a street corner between Tuuli and Jaan Sööt, the soloist of a well-known Estonian band Jäääär, led up to a musical collaboration that lasts ever since. Tuuli appears on four of band’s records: “Öö on öö 2009”, “Juuuubel” (2011), “Öö armastab sind” (2014) and “Pojaga restoranis” reissue (2018). She has also shared the stage with them at broadcasts ETV Live and R2 Live and taken part of their summer tours as a guest musician.
POETRY BOOKS AND DEBUT ALBUM
Tuuli’s first poetry book “Täiuslik ja turvaline” (“Perfect and Safe”) was published in 2010. The book includes love poems as well as urban insight, lyrical and social critical thought. In cultural media, the diverse reception of it initiated a heated discussion regarding the principles of literature criticism. As a result of that, “Täiuslik ja turvaline” became the most reflected book of 2010 in Estonian cultural magazine Sirp.
Debut album “Kuus ruutmeetrit põrandapinda” (“Six Square Meters of Floor”) was released in 2013. It consists of 11 songs, nine of which are written by Tuuli and the remaining two written by Tuuli’s close friend and co-musician Merje Kägu. The album features recognized Estonian musicians such as Teet Velling, Marti Tärn, Tõnu Tubli, Merje Kägu, Raivo Tafenau, string quartet Prezioso, Kristjan Randalu, Mai Leisz (Agan), Triinu Taul etc. Critics have emphasized the equal strength of lyrics and music on the album.
Tuuli’s solo album was accompanied by her second, small print-run poetry book “6m2“, which was a gift to the people that contributed to the release of the album.
LYRICS
Tuuli always writes the lyrics of her songs herself and has also written lyrics for other artists (Öed, Birgit Õigemeel, Arno Suislep, Mikk Targo, Tanel Ruben, Jäääär, Kadi Toom, Teet Velling, Raul & Marie Vaigla, Liina Saar etc) and translated English lyrics into Estonian. If you need lyrics for your song, get in contact by sending an email to info@tuuli.ee!
PRESENT
In 2017 Tuuli received a BA in graphic design from the Estonian Academy of Arts and returned to music after a few-years break. The same year she was chosen as a songwriter/artist to participate in the international songwriters camp organized by Music Estonia and Eesti Laul.
Tuuli is the soloist of jazz-influenced ensemble Elvus (Mart Soo – Teet Velling – Tanel Ruben – Tuuli Velling). In autumn 2018 the band released its first single called “Rõõm on sama tõene kui kurbus” (“Joy Is As True As Sorrow”) and in 2020, accompaigned by their second single “Baleriin jääs” (“Ballerina in Ice”), Elvus released its first album “Marsi udud” (“Martian Mists”).
Tuuli also often performs together as a duo with guitarist Teet Velling. In May 2019 they released an album called „Armastus eesti moodi“, a compilation of arrangements of love songs by Estonian authors, most of which are little-known to a broad audience.