joint music with Estonian artists

First the news. Teflon Brothers makes music together with an Estonian artist or artists. The news was revealed at Teflon Brothers’ press conference at the Finnish Embassy in Tallinn on Tuesday.

However, Teflon Brothers did not agree to say exactly which Estonian singer or band it plans to make music with.

– We have met many Estonian artists, and an Estonian rapper will be present at this event as well, Teflon Brothers’ Pyhimys aka Mikko Kuoppala said broadly.

There were minus 5 members. 5minus can be considered the Estonian equivalent of Teflon Brothers, because its lyrics are also blatant and funny. There are five members in the band, and it was chosen as the best band in Estonia in 2020.

The press had been attracted to the Teflon Brothers’ event in Tallinn specifically by promising that now the band members would tell about their plans regarding the conquest of Estonia. Two months ago, they had held a similar press conference at the Estonian Embassy in Helsinki, and there they had said that they would become an Estonian band.

But what does that mean in practice?

Teflon Brothers is not moving to Estonia and the band will continue to pay taxes in Finland.

– Actually, this is not a press conference, but we came here to Tallinn to perform at the ambassador’s homecoming party, Pyhimys snapped.

It was true that the Finnish ambassador to Tallinn Timo Kantola spent Tuesday at the embassy with their apprentices, and later Teflon Brothers performed for invited guests in the embassy yard.

Gold plates

Teflon Brothers is a popular artist in Finland, and as proof of that, they were awarded gold records today in Tallinn for their single released in early summer Estonia is my Mind. The song has been streamed or listened to two million times on the internet.

It’s a version of the late Juice Leskinen’s song, which he recorded in 1983. A communication expert from Helsinki suggested that the Teflon Brothers should cover the song Samuel Sorainenwho was also present at the Tallinn embassy today.

Until now, Teflon Brothers is an unknown band in Estonia. Its gigs in Estonia have been limited mainly to entertaining Finnish auxiliary cruisers in the hotel Viru night club.

– Next year, the auxiliary cruisers would like to use it Estonia is my Mind theme song, but it can be too expensive. Juice’s interests are monitored by his estate, Pyhimys said in the mission.

According to the saint, Teflon Brothers is applying for internationalization in Estonia. He reminds that Teflon Brothers previously released a song in Spanish, but it didn’t take off as hoped. It’s about the song Maradonafrom 2018.

– It didn’t become popular in South America, which we were aiming for, Pyhimys said, perhaps seriously.

Maybe the band will be lucky in Estonia now, so be it Estonia is my Mind -song has so far only been made in Finnish, except for the rapping of the Estonian-born ex-hockey player Siim Liivik.

A new homeland

But what about those plans regarding the conquest of Estonia? What concrete plans do the Teflon Brothers have in Estonia, a sort of new homeland?

Even Wikipedia presents the Teflon Brothers today as an Estonian band from Helsinki.

At this point, Pyhimys stated that today’s press conference in Tallinn is not actually a press conference, and the band is not going to tell anything concrete about their plans for Estonia.

– I’m sorry if the press got the impression that we’re telling something concrete about our plans today, Pyhimys said.

– It would spoil the surprise if we told you about our plans now.

The other two members of the band viz Heikki Kuula and Voli remained silent the entire time that all three were in front of the press in Tallinn.

At the event, Teflon Brothers were praised by representatives of Visit Estonia, the Estonian state tourism promotion center, and a representative of the organization that grants Estonian e-resident “virtual citizenships”. For Visit Estonia, Teflon Brothers has made three tourism videos, about Tallinn, Pärnu and Tartu, for which it has also been paid.

Visit Estonia’s representative told the event that with the help of Teflon Brothers, Estonia is trying to attract more young travelers to Estonia than before.

Two months ago, at the Estonian embassy in Helsinki, Teflon Brothers said that in the future they would record for the Estonian record company Universal Estonia, by which it seems they meant the Estonian team of their Finnish record company Universal. Legally, Universal Estonia does not even exist, but the record company operates in Estonia under the Finnish Universal Music Oy.

A seed of truth

The Estonianization of Teflon Brothers can be considered a mere PR stunt, which it is to a large extent, but when you look really closely, you can see a grain of truth behind it.

Director of Universal’s Baltic operations Petri Mannonen in the future, we will see and hear Estonian artists who have made a breakthrough in Finland and Finnish artists who have made a breakthrough in Estonia.

– For example, you can raise an Estonian rapper Nubluwho will perform at Tampere’s Blockfest at Ratina Stadium this coming weekend.

Nublu has recorded and performed together for the sake of Finnish rap Mikael Gabrielin with whose family roots are in Võru, southern Estonia.

According to Mannonen, language is no longer a decisive factor in consuming music, but a Finnish fan is ready to listen to his favorite in Estonian and an Estonian fan in Finnish. With a joint hit by Mikael Gabriel and Nublu Even in the universe is sung in both Finnish and Estonian.

– Interest in Teflon Brothers is strong in Estonia. The band has been touring today giving interviews on various media channels in Estonia, said Mannonen.

So it is quite possible that the joint chapel of Teflon Brothers and 5minus or some other Estonian artist will become a hit on both sides of the Gulf of Finland.