Station Narva festival to open with concert of music once played behind the Iron Curtain

The Station Narva music and urban culture festival will take place in Narva from September 3 to 6. It opens on September 3 with the Eesti Gruuv concert in the main hall of the Rugodiv culture house.

Soloists Rita Ray and Robert Linna will perform funk, soul and disco from past decades, drawn from the golden fund of local pop music, together with the vocal trio TripleTone and the Narva City Symphony Orchestra. The special project, organized by Funk Embassy Records, revives music that once played at early local discotheques such as the underground Sagadi Soul Club, as well as at venues like the Viru variety show and Gorholl.

Music once kept off the airwaves

The program includes original works by Estonian authors, recorded semi-secretly at night in Estonian Radio's first studio, alongside arrangements of Western songs that were shelved for years because of a performer's dissident status or content deemed unacceptable by the authorities.

The setlist features songs such as Gunnar Graps's "Tühjad pihud," "Aeg ei peatu" by Apelsin, Marju Kuut's "Kui tahad olla hea," Els Himma's "Kesköö," Tõnis Mägi and Music Seif's "Sa haara kinni mu käest," and the cult hit "Stopp, seisku aeg!" by Velli Joonas and the Lasnamäe group Vstretša, which is still played by DJs worldwide. Rita Ray will also perform a selection of her own compositions in blue-eyed soul and classic disco styles. The concert is built largely on tracks from Funk Embassy Records' Groove of ESSR compilation series.

The Station Narva 2026 music program will take place at the Narva Museum, the Ro-Ro club and other venues around the city, featuring British trip-hop pioneer Tricky, Icelandic electronic music group GusGus, and local artists Propeller, SADU, ALIKA and others. The festival also includes a Future Day at the Narva Museum and the Jõhvi film town, a discussion day called BAZAR, tours and other events.