This month we published To The Cold Land by J.M.K.E., the most legendary punk rock band in Estonia, in our 33 1/3 Europe series. Its author, Brigitta Davidjants, gave us some insight into why she wrote about this album, the connection between punk and political defiance and how we can explore soviet history through music.
By Brigitta Davidjants
Shortly after Estonia regained independence in 1991, my generation found itself in a peculiar situation: we had no history textbooks. The new republic was in its infancy, and having just emerged from totalitarianism, no one had yet written them. As a result, our school teacher read lessons aloud from her notes while we frantically scribbled everything down, knowing that without those notes, studying afterward would be impossible. To make matters worse, her monotone voice turned each class into a grueling ordeal.
At the time, many of us weren’t particularly captivated by Estonian history. While our historians could finally start telling their own story, for us – the children of early capitalism – the nationalist ideals of the older generation felt alien. Families were poor, success was measured by owning a neon pencil case, and we were growing cynical. The horror stories of the Soviet era had dulled their emotional impact. When a grandmother recounted a relative’s deportation to Siberia in 1949 or their death along the way, the tragedy felt distant.
Things changed for me in 1996, when I suddenly found stories of our history told in a language I could understand.
That’s when I discovered the National Library, where I could listen to vinyl records on-site. My holy trinity of music was Kate Bush, The Cure, and our local punk band J.M.K.E. For the last one, there was often a queue of other kids whose lessons had finished earlier. What drew us, the children of a new era, to J.M.K.E.? First, the music itself: the best hardcore punk in Estonia – fast, tight, aggressive drumming paired with abrasive bass and unexpectedly surf-rock-inspired guitar riffs. The melodies ranged from laconic and barking to intricate octave jumps. But the second reason was the lyrics – those were our history lessons.
J.M.K.E. began their journey in the mid-1980s, a time marked by deep stagnation and censorship. By the late 1980s and the era of perestroika, they had become the unofficial soundtrack to the crumbling Soviet system. Estonian punk, with its raw emotion and political defiance, became a voice of resistance – a cultural force during the country’s transition from oppression to awakening. By the end of the decade, punk was the most influential subculture in Soviet Estonia.
The songs on the album To the Cold Land were written between 1985 and 1989, spanning from before perestroika to the cusp of Estonia’s independence. Released at a time when it was finally possible to speak openly, the album captured the emotions of a society on the brink of transformation.
The 12 tracks delve into Estonia’s Soviet-era history, reflecting on Stalinism, the repressions of the 1940s and ’50s, and the stagnation and hopelessness of the late Soviet period, but also expressing skepticism about the changes to come. The album’s title references the mass deportations of Estonians to Siberia in the 1940s, where nearly every Estonian family lost someone. At the time, the songs served as an anarchist-pacifist critique of power. They addressed themes such as the fear of nuclear war, escape as a form of protest, and more.
In conclusion, To The Cold Land is not just a critique of a particular era; its anarchist-pacifist ideals resonate across all systems. Coupled with its gripping sound, the album’s relevance endures, which is what makes it so powerful. J.M.K.E. was Estonia’s most legendary punk band in my youth and still is today. At their concerts you’ll hear 12-year-olds and 60-year-olds singing along, and To the Cold Land was voted the greatest album of all time by Estonian music critics. But for me, their songs are more than just music – they remind us of the horrors of the communist regime, the priceless value of living in a free country and the universal fear of ending up in the cold land. And that is one of the reasons why I wrote this book.
Brigitta Davidjants
is a journalist and researcher at Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, Estonia. She has published countless articles in various Estonian media outlets. In her academic research, she looks at Armenian national identity constructions but now focuses on the marginalities of subcultures. Davidjants has also written fiction and worked for human rights organizations (such as Estonian LGBT Association, Estonian Refugee Council).
J.M.K.E.’s To the Cold Land is available to buy in bookshops and online (including at Bloomsbury.com).
