Silvi Vrait | |
---|---|
Born |
Kehra, Estonia |
28 April 1951
Died | 28 June 2013 Tallinn, Estonia |
(aged 62)
Genres | Jazz, country, rock, folk |
Occupation(s) | Singer, music teacher |
Instruments | Vocals, piano |
Years active | 1972–2013 |
Silvi Vrait (28 April 1951 – 28 June 2013) was an Estonian singer and music teacher.
Born in Kehra in 1951, Vrait graduated from the Kehra Music School in 1968 on piano. In 1974 she graduated from the Tartu University with a degree in English philology. From 1994, she taught English in a secondary school in Tallinn. Vrait coached vocalists at the Georg Ots Music School in Tallinn.
Silvi Vrait first appeared on stage in 1972 when she performed in a TV show, and from 1976 to 1983 she was active in theatre Vanemuine in Tartu. Her style varies from jazz to country and from rock to folk. In the late 1980s, she was an important figure within the Estonian armless struggle for restoring the independence, the Singing Revolution, for at least two recordings, "Väikene rahvas, väikene maa" ("Small Nation, Tiny Country") and "Ei ole üksi ükski maa" ("No Land Is Alone").
She appeared in musicals and operas, such as Porgy and Bess (Bess, 1985), Zorba (Leader, 2000), Cabaret (Fräulein Schneider, 2012), Gypsy (Rose, 1999), The King and I (Lady Thiang, 1998), Chicago (Mama Morton, 2004) and The Sound of Music (Mother Abbess, 2003, reprised in 2010).
In 1994, Vrait was the representative of Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest, held in Dublin that year. Her song Nagu merelaine ended up on 24th out of 25 places, beating only Lithuania.