Tõnu Talivee is the camera operator of 55 puppet films, who currently works as a restorer of puppet films. He is a passionate music lover and photographer who has had 14 solo exhibitions. His specialty is the use of a photographic developer that increases the sensitivity of the film to avoid flash photography. This has given him the opportunity to take pictures in a natural environment without disturbing the artists.
The photos are taken at events where Tõnu has been invited to or attended and do not reflect all the most important events or bands of Estonian rock music, only a part of it.
The exciting photo journey is complemented by items from the collection of the Estonian Theatre and Music Museum and from private collections that relate with the images.
Olavi Pihlamägi, a long-time organizer of the cultural life in Tallinn University of Technology, has described the backstory of the photos as follows: In the “brilliant seventies”, the assembly hall of the Tallinn Polytechnic Institute was the place where our pop, beat and rock music bands could perform in front of a larger audience. Being a university auditorium, it was not included in the list of public concert halls, and it was easier to apply for a performance permit here, as it was thought that no one else would bother to come here except students. However, many did, and even from far away. Unfortunately, the registration book of the events, where everything was written down exactly, has been lost during moving, and that is why I am very grateful to those men who have managed to capture even a small part of these musical events. One of them is Tõnu Talivee, a photographer who loves music. If you can think on your own memories and imagine the music in the picture, then the exhibition has fulfilled its task a hundred times. Those who don't have memories of that time can at least get an idea of what the young musicians of that time looked like on stage more than four decades ago."
The exhibition is open to visitors in the Glass Gallery of the Tallinn University of Technology Library until mid-September.
Everyone interested is very welcome!
