Organisers of international music industry conference and music festival Tallinn Music Week (TMW) have announced that British singer-songwriter, activist, music historian and writer Billy Bragg will speak on the opening day of the Estonian event’s Creative Impact Conference.

The hybrid music industry conference will take place from 1-2 October at the recently reopened Nordic Hotel Forum and techno club HALL. The theme of the event will be the interaction between local and global markets and a focus on the live music market.

Bragg (pictured right) will be interviewed on the opening Friday. TMW will also consist of a multi-venue music festival and a city-wide run of daytime activities. The event, which showcases Estonian, Baltic and Nordic artists, was originally due to take place from 6-9 May but was postponed twice due to the nation’s continued Covid-related restrictions and the event organisers’ intention to attract international acts and delegates.

Bragg will be interviewed by Artemy Troitsky, a Tallinn-based Russian music journalist, academic, political video blogger and DJ, who first met Bragg in 1986 in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg).

Bragg has been active in music and politics for over 35 years. In 1987 he performed at Tallinn’s Linnahall and played a DJ-set of The Clash songs in a local nightclub.

The interview will come before the keynote speech ’30 years of independence – did Estonia sing its way to freedom?’ by Toomas Hendrik Ilves, former president of the Republic of Estonia.

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