Years ago, Taivi found herself in a dark mood after a guy she was supposed to meet never showed. She bought a pack of cigarettes and ducked into a bar where Beverly Glenn-Copeland was performing. Within minutes of listening, the music brought her to a good place. That moment became a beacon as she stepped into her own life as an artist.   

Toronto-based folk singer-songwriter Taivi creates cinematic, roots-inspired songs that blend folk, bluegrass, country, and global influences into deeply human stories of hope and resilience. Her uplifting yet boldly vulnerable songwriting shines on her debut album, Rising Tide, and the single “Ukraiyna” Fans have a lot to look forward to this year as Taivi releases a series of singles and readies her sophomore album. 

“Good music grounds me in the truth – bypassing so much noise. It always inspires me to excellence,” Taivi says.

An evocative writer with a graceful sense of restraint, Taivi crafts songs that cinematically frame intimate, everyday joys while holding a fierce commitment to social justice—an influence rooted in her Estonian ancestry. The country is known for its “Singing Revolution,” when mass gatherings of songs helped end Soviet occupation. In her early family life, music was like breathing and Taivi just assumed that every moment had a soundtrack.

There is a folk elegance to her musicality. A smooth, melodic singer who favors unadorned vocal lines, she is also a supple and intuitive multi-instrumentalist. Her aesthetic blends bluegrass, Latin American and Scandinavian influences, choral music, classical, jazz, country, and the 1960s singer-songwriter movement. Listeners often hear echoes of Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, and The Be Good Tanyas.

Her 2017 debut, Rising Tide, launched to critical and popular acclaim. The album reached the Top 25 on the International Folk DJ Chart, received four out of five stars in the Netherlands, and topped the Folk/Roots Music chart in Kamloops. Taivi was featured in, Billboard – Canada, No Depression, Roots Music Canada, Great Dark Wonder, The Alternate Root, the Netherlands’ Real Roots Café, and the UK’s Written in Music, with subsequent coverage in Penguin Eggs. Seamlessly weaving together her many influences into a confident artistic statement, the album was produced with the guidance of modern bluegrass icon and multi-Grammy nominee Claire Lynch.  

Onstage, Taivi exudes an easy charm - comforting and captivating. Beyond her solo work, Taivi often plays with  fellow songwriter and mandolinist, Garth Douglas, and has performed with Lightning Hill (Garth Douglas, Marion Linton, Steve Marshall),  the Wye River Band, Garth Hudson, Essentia, Reckless Rose, Skylark, Gamelan Toronto and others - including an occasional backpiper!

Taivi began piano as soon as she was tall enough to reach the keys. She was sent to study in classical traditions but took her spare moments to improvise and play the music she heard  around her.  Throughout this time, she secretly coveted her brother’s guitar and waited nearly a decade for him to leave for Europe. That's when she claimed the instrument as her own. 

Her musical sensibilities drew Taivi to exploring folk, jazz and blues while her social justice activity and life explorations engaged her in a range of cultural traditions - such as Chile, Indonesia, Japan and indigenous populations. Then in 2001, Taivi became deeply immersed in the Canadian folk scene— with song circles, fellow songwriters, and multi-day music retreats  -  including encounters with many of her folk heroes, including Pete & Peggy Seeger. 

Taivi has emerged as an artist with a well-defined aesthetic and strong sense of purpose. “Music can be powerful. It can awaken joy and possibility like nothing else,” she says. “I don't write for the purpose social change, but to express what I'm feeling, and this opens new paths.”  

Now Taivi carries forward the healing tradition she once experienced in that bar years ago, and counts Beverly Glenn-Copeland as a close friend. As she prepares two albums’ worth of new material, a memory lingers: seeing her name on international folk charts alongside artists like Ry Cooder and John Prine who’ve always had a place in her heart. “Seeing my music beside theirs was incredible,” Taivi says. “It’s meaningful to me to share what I see, what I feel, through song.”