Estonia has had a good run at Eurovision. But as with anything in life, the cycle of change is relentless and often brings with it fresh perspectives and renewed energy.
Now, after a decade under Mart Normet, which saw four top 10 finishes, it’s a new era for Estonia as national broadcaster ERR has announced Tomi Rahula has been appointed as the new head producer of Eesti Laul, Estonia’s national selection show for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Speaking on his new role on “Aktuaalsele kaamerale”, Tomi said:
“I was nominated because I felt that I was prepared to make the whole event even better than he has so far, with his experience and musical background. In order to have a very good musical performance, there would be a lot of new Estonian music in order to get closer to the artists and songwriters who went a bit further away from this event. This would be my greatest challenge and why I wanted to do it.”
On Tuesday morning, Tomi made his first TV appearance on Terevisioon since being appointed as Eesti Laul’s new head of production.
“The most important thing is that the best Estonian musicians get to the final. Quality, not quantity, is what’s important,” he said. “I believe I know what constitutes the very best in modern music.”
His new role will take effect later this year.
“I will put my team in place with a view to getting on with things in Autumn. However, not all the changes can be introduced in one go. This is a very good TV show already; the goal is simply to make it even better.”
As a musician, songwriter and producer, Tomi has previous Eurovision and Eesti Laul experience. He co-wrote Estonia’s 1998 Eurovision entry “Mere lapsed” (Children of the Sea) sung by Koit Toome.
And in 2017 — the same year Koit made his Eurovision return — Tomi co-wrote Ariadne’s entry “Feel Me Now”. He also competed in Eesti Laul himself as part of the group Outloudz in 2011, finishing as runners-up behind Getter Jaani.
What advice do you have for Tomi? What direction and which artists do you forsee in Eesti Laul’s future? Let us know down below!
aaa he wrote ariadne’s song love it!!
Eesti Laul was very interesting and entertaining this year. I hope Estonia keeps investing in quality, but also in diversity. We need more national finals like theirs, where you can reunite radio friendly music, but also indie sounds.
I’m all for quality so I’m glad that it’s taken seriously and the matter is finally spoken out loud. It’s time for glow up.
I need more Estonian in Eurovision, it’s such a beautiful language <3
Something as amazing and special as Rändajad and Kuula (or something totally new as well :3 )!
Good luck on the new role! 🙂
I feel like he knows what he’s talking about. Estonia’s track record this decade has been spotty, but typically, when they’ve done well, they’ve done REALLY well (6th in 2012, 8th in 2015 and 2018), so give it a push but don’t fix the parts that aren’t broken.
I just want the 3 year interval of good songs and results to end. Hope he manages to do that.
What Estonia should really aim for is the level of success they had from 96-02: a win, almost every year in the top 10 (save for 98), 4 appearances in the top 5.