Ruja - the seminal Estonian (prog)rock band

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The ProgArchives entry - http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2028

More thorough biography of the band  - http://home.uninet.ee/~mel/estprog/proge/ruja.html

I would say if one wishes to start aquinting oneself with Estonian progressive rock, then start from the very beginning - with this band. (Although some could argue that Sven Grünberg's Mess was the first genre-pure example of prog in Estonia) 

Ruja really changed everything in popular music of Estonia. Their "hit" "Nii vaikseks kõik on jäänud" is the Estonian equivalent of "Yesterday" by the Beatles for the rest of the world. Suddenly beat music had serious ambitions... and serious lyrics mostly comprising of text written by professional poets of the time, often very critical of the state of the 70s Soviet society. 

While the first era was very high-brow rock music, it only has elements of prog. However from 1976-79 the band went through a pure prog period. Their first release was in 1979 - a self titled EP and I collected the songs into a playlist on Youtube. I'll let the music speak for itself. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKsjv9kS8F4&playnext=1&list=PL8673D7F6F983A233

Enjoy! 

Edited by Hyardacil - March 12 2011 at 04:16

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Hyardacil Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Groupie Joined: August 04 2009 Location: Estonia Status: Offline Points: 70	Topic: Ruja - the seminal Estonian (prog)rock band Posted: March 12 2011 at 04:15
	The ProgArchives entry - http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2028 More thorough biography of the band - http://home.uninet.ee/~mel/estprog/proge/ruja.html I would say if one wishes to start aquinting oneself with Estonian progressive rock, then start from the very beginning - with this band. (Although some could argue that Sven Grünberg's Mess was the first genre-pure example of prog in Estonia) Ruja really changed everything in popular music of Estonia. Their "hit" "Nii vaikseks kõik on jäänud" is the Estonian equivalent of "Yesterday" by the Beatles for the rest of the world. Suddenly beat music had serious ambitions... and serious lyrics mostly comprising of text written by professional poets of the time, often very critical of the state of the 70s Soviet society. While the first era was very high-brow rock music, it only has elements of prog. However from 1976-79 the band went through a pure prog period. Their first release was in 1979 - a self titled EP and I collected the songs into a playlist on Youtube. I'll let the music speak for itself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKsjv9kS8F4&playnext=1&list=PL8673D7F6F983A233 Enjoy! Edited by Hyardacil - March 12 2011 at 04:16
	"I am sitting in your eyes..."