Remembering Riho Sibul

I did not want to be here! But this first self-expression is music to mother’s ears. And for many that breath leads to further inspiration – which is, after how many describe inhalation.

We know that it can be intoxicating; genius acts on it in the arts and perhaps never as movingly encompassing others than through music, whatever the genre. A visit to the museum cannot rival a concert where an entire audience is in thrall.

The slimster, upon marking the onset of yet another year, the fact that should he stop shaving now he could play Santa in December, the once glorious reddish facial foliage is now pure white, waxed philosophical with the better half as the year waned. Retrospective introspection ruled, musically at least. Influenced by the lists of those who passed in 2022, never to perform or record again. Thankfully, due to the last on vinyl, disc or online (who knows how long that will last, clever people will figure out how to beam tunes straight to your otic tympani in no time, one wagers) great music will never die.

The slender one bemoaned the loss of Riho Sibul in late November. Riho was Estonian music nobility, nay a veritable guitar god known best for his work with Ultima Thule, for these ears perhaps the best band of an era. We all have our opinions, it is like the Stones versus The Beatles debate, but no one can deny that Ultima Thule had a seminal impact. The lean machine recalls the first time he heard an Ultima Thule recording. Unforgettable. Another first was meeting the great musician. A very approachable though at times reserved man (like most Estonians), hardly your vain and bombastic rock star. When we first shared a short conversation, finding out that he was talking with a frustrated axeman, Sibul gave encouragement, though warning that in adulthood it is much more difficult to master the instrument.