We have been patiently waiting for the official start of Eesti Laul, since the Estonian broadcaster, ERR, released the details of the artists back in November!
The first semi final will be taking place on February 13th and one of the acts appearing will be the band Kruuv with their song “Leelo”.
Kruuv describe themselves as Estonian folk pop, with their goal being to create a joyful dance atmosphere, which they certainly do with their upbeat entry for 2020 “Leelo”. Followers of Eesti Laul will remember them from 2015 when their song “Tiiu talu tütreke” sadly failed to qualify for the final.
We were lucky enough to chat with Allan Kasuk who is lead vocalist for the band, he also plays guitar and ukulele. Allan is the composer of “Leelo”
Allan, thank you for finding the time to chat with us here at ESCBubble! Kruuv have been around for quite some time now, forming in 2007. We have seen you once before at Eesti Laul, but what has encouraged you to try again in 2020?
Last time at Eesti Laul we had so much fun. We are very excited to do it again and to promote a healthy and happy way of life.
Kruuv’s sound is pure joyful Estonian folk music, and you use some really interesting instruments! I ran the lyrics of “Leelo” through Google translate which was a terrible idea … I would much rather hear from you what the song is about!
Oh, we haven´t tried google translate on “Leelo” yet 😊 could be fun to try. “To Leelo” means “to sing an old folk song” and in the song we encourage everybody to sing along.
Did you write “Leelo” specifically for Eesti Laul, or was the timing a happy coincidence?
“Leelo” was specifically written for Eesti Laul. We put all our good emotions into this song.
The video for “Leelo” is a total joy to watch, love the children playing the parts of the band, and of course the addition of cats! How much fun was it to shoot?
The children in the video are our own daughters and sons and the “grandfather” in the video was our bass player´s grandfather. Our thought behind it was to convey a message of folk songs passed on from generation to generation. Making music videos is always a blast when there are so many good people involved.
You always seem to have so much fun on stage, I remember very well the boat and the bagpipes from 2015! Is it too soon to say what you’ll have in store for us on February 13th?
For us it is important to have fun and hopefully it will be fun.
The winner of Eesti Laul will represent Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest, is this your ultimate goal from your appearance?
Yes, representing Estonia in Eurovision would be dream come true.
Do you have a favourite Estonian Eurovision song since the first participation in 1994?
It’s such a cliché but Tanel Padar & Dave Benton – “Everybody”
Given how unique your sound is, I’m interested…. if Kruuv could appear on stage with any one artist, living or dead, who would it be?
Ed Sheeran please.
And finally, do you have a message for our readers?
Dear readers of this ESC Bubble article. This song is in the Estonian language. As a Kruuv singer, I would love to know if you can understand the message of the song even though it´s in Estonian? Can music and picture tell the story? Please let us know by commenting here or by writing to our Facebook
(Edit: for me it’s just 3 minutes that makes me very happy!)
Allan, thank you so much for these answers, we can’t wait to see what you will have in store for us on Thursday!
Watch the uplifting video for “Leelo” here, or listen via this Spotify link
Follow us here on ESCBubble using the social media buttons below so that you don’t miss a thing in the run up to the Eesti Laul final on February 29th! The final will be held in the Saku Suurhall, and we will have a team on site to bring you all the news direct from the arena!
And don’t forget to vote in our poll as to who YOU want to qualify from semi-final 1! Six songs will progress through from each semi final
Semi 1:
