There are singers who become the favourites of the audience because they sing well. Georg Ots definitely sang well. However, he also had another significant quality that helped him become one of the remarkable singers not only in Estonia, but much further as well, and it would have been even further had Soviet restrictions not existed. This quality is unique individuality. He emerged as an artist with his own message. His performance culture opened new pages in Estonian music, added sincere and warm lyricism, pure joy of life, but also an understanding of human woes and doubts.

When the long-time soloist for the Duke Ellington orchestra, alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges died, someone asked the maestro: "Who is going to replace him?" The reply was: "Another good saxophonist will take his place but he cannot be replaced, because he is irreplaceable." The same goes for Georg Ots...

georg ots. photo: estonian theatre and music museum

Radio, the Estonia Theatre and television got a singer who charmed not only with his voice but with his whole essence. He was an educated man, spoke foreign languages and played the piano, but these qualities are not rare in singers. As his father was a remarkable opera singer, we could simply say: "The genes, of course," ascribing everything to the excellent vocal apparatus given to him by nature. At the same time I am certain that there are thousands of men in the world with similar, if not better, natural voices. Some of them may sing a little song amongst friends or earn applause at a karaoke evening, but few become real singers. People of my age remember how dedicated opera buffs talked about Georg Ots: "It's all very nice, but his voice is too weak for opera, a singer has to roar above the orchestra, and anyway, a proper operatic voice must be resounding, like metal!" Even Georg Ots's own father reputedly discouraged his son, claiming his voice was not suitable!

Maybe this was the reason why Georg once told me when I asked whether he was helped by the fact that his father was a singer: "During the war I was taken from my regiment to sing in the choirs, because I was the son of Karl Ots. However, I did not listen to his advice, and he never actually tried to teach me. I do not believe that one person can show another how to produce a voice. We all know singers who change their teachers thinking the latter had ruined their voices. You cannot make a singer out of a person who does not want to be one. Coaching has been very useful to me - I have worked my way through chamber songs and opera repertoire, learned the expression of different styles, in a word everything an educated singer should know, but the voice I produce myself."

In 1945 I became a saxophonist in the Estonian Radio jazz orchestra. The State Broadcasting Corporation had been damaged by fire during the war, and we had a temporary studio in a classroom at the Marine School, now the English College. The conductor, Rostislav Merkulov, invited singers from the Estonia Theatre, including the baritone Georg Ots. He was asked to sing quite a few things, one of which was my polka 'Call to Work', and he turned it into a true hit. Merkulov evidently knew him from the Soviet rear during the war and wished to promote the young singer who was studying at the music school (now bearing his name), and was already a soloist for the Estonia Theatre.

Technology at the radio studio was poor, with only one microphone - later we got a much better Neumann - and that was supposed to be 'big enough' for the orchestra and the singer. As the radio station did not have a large number of recordings, we had to offer a lot of live music. We often had to perform twice a day - in the afternoon and evening. It was therefore quite normal that a singer went from the radio studio to a theatre rehearsal, or put on make-up and appeared on stage. The development of technology has unfortunately destroyed the few recordings dating from that time. Only a few recordings of the young Georg Ots have survived, but listening to those I am convinced every time that as far as light music was concerned he already possessed everything back then for which he was appreciated as a mature singer. It was easy to work with him, he never turned up and started to learn the song from scratch with the orchestra, but had studied it at home with his piano.

photos: muusikaliteater

Twentieth century popular music had two unforgettable singers. In his velvety voice, Bing Crosby was the first to make every girl believe that he was singing only to her, turning each lyrical song into an intimate address, if not a declaration of love. We can occasionally enjoy his old black-and-white films on TV, where the songs demonstrate his extraordinary ability to unite word and music into a most expressive whole. Bing Crosby had to relinquish his throne to Frank Sinatra, who was more masculine in type and voice, was a better actor and commanded an emotionally more diverse repertoire. Both had given birth to the era of swing, where the lyrics were very important, and the song nearly always contained a story. Hence the continuing popularity of the king of Estonian jazz, Raimond Valgre, which has lasted for decades. Georg Ots naturally knew the work of both Crosby and Sinatra and greatly admired their talent. Listening to them, Ots was convinced that it would not be enough to merely sing a melody nicely if the listener is deprived of the message - words. This was essential to Ots as well: a song must have something to say. Natural phrasing was extremely important. If necessary, he moved the words around so that the emphasis of the music would fall on the right word. All that probably held the key which opened the door to listeners' hearts and souls. He never liked those who were too fond of their own voices. For him, his voice was a means to colour words and paint a memorable picture. It was sometimes assumed that women swooned because of his good looks. I do not agree. A pleasant appearance is always an advantage for an artist, but it is not essential. Surely the tiny Charles Aznavour was anything but a model of male beauty! On the contrary, truly excellent singers without remarkable natural beauty become excellent through their art.

I experienced the attitude of Georg Ots to text and music for the first time when we recorded the song based on Debora Vaarandi's poem, 'Coastal collective farm', which has now become a classic. One of the editors had changed the original title (New Boat) for something more 'topical', without the knowledge of the poet. I had meant this to be the usual 'beer-flavoured' polka, but Ots interrupted the song and said: "This tempo makes a mess of the words!" Thus the polka became a calm reinlender. Otherwise he would have had to rattle off the text as if in a television commercial: "Attention, this is a medicine..."

In a new song Ots always first read the words. He once said that he did not know how to refuse and had accepted quite a few songs - not wanting to offend the composer - not really worth recording (he would not sing them at a concert). I once offered him a song based on a Vaarandi poem. Having read the sixteen lines of the poem, he said: "This is such a feminine text that I cannot sing it. Imagine a female voice singing it!" He was, of course, right and the beautiful song was finally recorded by Heli Lääts.

The diversity of Georg Ots is a separate topic, and not only the fact that as an opera singer he was also hugely successful in light music. He was always very convincing, depicting vastly different characters on stage - as a musician and actor - such as the Devil, Iago, Porgy, Papageno, Don Juan... there were dozens. He was equally able to excel in lighter genres - from polka to pop.

I wrote about Georg Ots after his first successful performances in posh Moscow concert halls. This was half a century ago, and for three decades he has no longer been with us. Back then I ended with the optimistic conviction that there was still so much for him to do and that he had only completed the first chapters in his creative biography. The last chapter, however, remained unfinished. To have to leave the stage at fifty-five is most unfair, but who can demand justice from fate?

Only a small portion of Georg Ots's heritage is now available on CDs, and even that largely thanks to enthusiasts-restorers. It is difficult to say whether the musical "Georg", which used the singer's fame somewhat selfishly, was actually able to lead those born after his premature departure to Georg Ots and his music. Although the viewers warmly applauded the talented Marko Matvere, who played the title role, the feeling that Georg Ots was and is irreplaceable, became even deeper.

Valter Ojakäär (1923), an Estonian composer and musicologist, has played saxophone in various orchestras, has worked as a lecturer, and has discussed light and jazz music in numerous articles, on radio and television and in books

The musical performance "Georg!" is dedicated to Georg Ots on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his death and the 85th anniversary of his birth. The dedication is based solely on his name, as the producers themselves claim that the piece does not aspire to revive the singer or adequately convey his life. "Georg!" is commercial entertainment, and should be understandable also to those with no previous knowledge of Ots or life in general in the Soviet Union.

There are many exciting tales about the legendary Estonian singer Georg Ots (1920-1975): escaping from a sinking ship during the Second World War, his first marriage to the temperamental Asta and his second, harmonious marriage to Ilona, becoming blind, suspicions by the Communist Party, and accusations of accepting a bribe (the fur coat given as a gift to him in Finland!). The librettist Urmas Vadi has used them all with great care, stylised them, provided them with additional colouring of his own, and turned them into grotesque symbols on the verge of clichés. Thus, Vadi's Ots wears sunglasses and a fur coat almost throughout the performance, the wives have become respectively a "nuisance" and a Mermaid, and the singer performs for Khruchev in the Kremlin, accompanied by three balalaika-playing bears.

Hidden behind the grotesque and clichéd symbols, there is also the topic of the sense of solitude of a famous person, and the question: who was the real Georg Ots? To make this clearer to the audience and add to the absurdity, the character of Elvis Presley makes an episodic appearance as well.

Although the plot of "Georg!" is a bit weak, this is amply compensated for by the superb acting by numerous stars of Estonian musicals and theatre. The musical design of the performance also plays on symbols - a large number of songs are the hits of the Ots repertoire, plus, for example, arias from Verdi's "Othello" or Händel's "Julius Caesar". During his lifetime, Ots also managed to perform the operatic roles of Yevgeni Onegin, Don Giovanni, Papageno, Rigoletto and Porgy, but one musical obviously cannot make use of them all. Besides symbols, the musical also presents some melodies of popular TV programmes of the time Ñ e.g. the melody of the cult spy series "17 Moments in Spring", set in WW II, or the soundtrack of the popular-scientific nature programme "Animal World".

Thanks to strong symbols and excellent teamwork, "Georg!" may be considered a success in its genre. This was proved by the sold-out performances.