The music of Olaf Kopvillem may depict one man’s story and experience at face value, but it also shows a more universal refugee experience in the sense that a lot of post Second World War refugees would have had similar thoughts, journeys, and circumstances.
Conveying that to us in an exhibit at VEMU Estonian Museum Canada and now at the beginning of the fourth season of EstoCast is Olaf’s granddaughter Keila Kopvillem.
As we lead up to the exhibit’s opening on September 19th, listen to EstoCast to hear what went into telling the story of a key cultural figure. This time around we chat about:
🗂finding lightness and humour in dark times as shown in private memoirs
🪨the mining labour Olaf did to survive between playing nightclub gigs in Montréal with his friends
🧪how spinning a displaced person’s camp school report card may have determined Olaf Kopvillem’s career path
🎙️and much more
(hosted by Vincent Teetsov)
Find EstoCast on all major streaming platforms.
EstoCast is a podcast presented by Estonian Museum Canada/VEMU, Estonian Music Week and Eesti Elu/Estonian Life newspaper. In each episode of EstoCast, join us as we delve into another dimension of Estonian culture in Canada, Estonia, and elsewhere. Through discussions of books, music, art, history, science, and more, we discover what it is to be Estonian and what Estonian people have to offer the broader world.
