ERR, the Estonian national broadcaster, has announced today that it will be implementing changes to Eesti Laul’s format and team.

Eesti Laul is one of Estonia’s biggest music and song competitions and is the mechanism the Estonians use to select their Eurovision act and entry. ERR is planning to revamp both the format of Eesti Laul as well as the team behind the competition. The Estonian national broadcaster intends to give their national selection on a fresh approach.

Tomi Rahula, the Estonian Head of Delegation and Eesti Laul producer will be stepping down from his position after 5 years. He has worked very hard and earnestly both as the producer of Eesti Laul and the Estonian Head of Delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Karmel Killandi (Chief Editor Entertainment Programs ERR) says:

Every big project needs to be re-evaluated and refreshed from time to time. Eesti Laul is even more so, because on the one hand it is Estonia’s biggest and most important music show and on the other hand it is a stepping stone to Eurovision. We want to face autumn with innovations, and summer is the best time to analyze the season that ended and also previous years.

We are very grateful to Tom for leading Estonian Song for five years and hopefully we will see him participating in the competition soon

Tomi Rahula (Eesti Laul Producer and Estonian Head of Delegation) says:

It’s great to say that in five years you could contribute to such a big TV project. Go outside the TV studio with the semi-finals and throw a proper party right in Tartu. Try to add the autumn quarter-finals to the event, which gave great results to the artists, who otherwise would not have made it to the stage of the semi-finals and the final. It was also important for me to include a completely neutral jury in the final. As a bonus, Estonian music and musicians were also introduced and brought together with top foreign players.

Killandi adds:

Our biggest wish is to offer the best platform for Estonian musicians and experiences for viewers. We will open detailed plans in a few months, but I hope that artists and songwriters have already started writing new songs for the competition.

More details on Eesti Laul 2024 will be unveiled in due course. The competition is set to kick off this Autumn.

Source: Eesti Laul
Photo credit: Eesti Laul