Kukerpillid (Мелодия)

I lived a few years in Estonia which coincided with the decline of my obsession for hunting down weird records. So originally I may have expected to accumulate a crateful of oddities, but sadly, I never really came across much and my leisure pursuits shifted to other matters such as drinking and complaining. The Soviet Melodia imprint was essentially the only record label, being state-run and releasing thousands of records (all on flimsy vinyl with poor sleeve printing), and the secondhand shops were full of piles of these records. I think early on I bought a few random ones based on the covers, being unable to read Cyrllic myself, and batted 0.000 on the batch. All I really remember is a bunch of classical 'pops' arrangements, sometimes of Beatles songs if I was lucky, or else just forgettable vocal music. Now, I know there's a whole subculture devoted to hunting down the gems and gems there sure are - I heard a DJ once in Helsinki who spinned exclusively Soviet vinyl and it was astounding, all weird surf-rock sci-fi music and otherwise unclassifiable genre distortions. But you know, you gotta dig through a pile of dogshit to find a few kernels of corn, or whatever the expression is, and I just didn't (and still don't) have the wherewithal for such pastimes. Somehow this Kukerpillid LP stayed in my accumulation, though listening now I'm not sure why. This is a record of rave-up Estonian village folk/country music, sung by a group of moustachioed men in the early 80s and if you like these sounds then there's a lot to love, as there's 21 songs here. I do actually enjoy this sound, a real hoedown that reminds me of American country-and-western with even a few dixieland jazz elements sprinkled in. The singing is kinda funny, even if you know the language, being hearty men singing in unison, plus, those moustaches. The bass is handled by what sounds like a tuba, though the blurry photos on the back cover show no such instrument - there's also accordion, banjo and a decent violin and simple 1-2-1-2 drumming on what sounds like tin cans. These guys can play - the songs are fast and tight, and there's occasionally sea-shanty vocals ('Joogilaul' which is translated into 'Drink-Hail' and sounds like it) that make it feel even more like an outtake from a film. A few original tunes are sprinkled throughout, most composed by Toomas Kõrvitz, who I suspect is the band leader. They follow from the traditional template, but some ('Oh Roosi, Roosi' for example) have some rock residue, like even electric guitar solos. The manufacture of 'tradition' is a topic for critical anthropologists and not for me, but I have seen how identity has been made particularly in traditionally occupied cultures (Scotland, Estonia and Finland). I'm mildly curious as to how much the members of Kukerpillid invented the traditions here, though of course that's a Pandora's box I shouldn't open. But the Soviet Union is the elephant in the village barn here, and its presence is strongly felt (by me, at least) far beyond the state-owned pressing plant that made this.