The Baltics - Tallinn & Riga

Song Festival Grounds - Tallinn

All of which brings us to the Estonian Song Festival. 

(Music link: "Ta lendab mesipuu poole")

Estonia and the other Baltic countries have a long tradition of choral singing. It played an important role in the development of national feeling and aspirations leading to the independence of those countries in the aftermath of World War I. The singing tradition would again become a powerful means of popular expression in the 1980's, as pressure built for restored national independence. 

The first Estonian "Laulupidu," or Song Festival, took place in 1869, and it has been held every five to ten years since then. Over time, Laulupidu grew into a major national event featuring hundreds of choral groups, with upwards of 25,000 singers, performing before audiences of more than 100,000 over a two-day period. Many of the singing groups wear traditional Estonian costume. In its modern form, Laulupidu begins with a parade of the participating groups and opens and closes with performances by the massed choirs.

Laulupidu has been held since the 1920's at a beautiful natural amphitheater in Tallinn, which came to be called "Lauluväljak" ("Song Festival Grounds"). The audience gathers on a gently sloping hillside facing the stage, with a view of the Tallinn bay as the backdrop. The facility shown in these photos was built in 1959, and it is still in use today.

Soviet authorities did what they could to re-cast the festival as a celebration of the Soviet Union, but for many Estonians it remained an expression of their traditional culture and identity. The first Laulupidu following the Soviet occupation and annexation of Estonia was held in 1947. At the close of that festival, the massed choirs sang a newly-composed setting of a 19th-century national poem, "Mu Isamaa on Minu Arm" (usually translated as "My Fatherland That I  Love"). The song proved so popular among Estonians that it came to be known as the "unofficial national anthem." The Soviet authorities banned it. 

Whether by design or coincidence, we arrived in Tallinn during the 100th anniversary celebration of Laulupidu. I took the photo above as we walked toward the main entrance to the amphitheater. The torch atop the tower to the right is lit during Laulupidu and similar national events. In my photo, the flag of the Soviet Union is flanked on both sides by the flag of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic.


The performance of “Ta lendab mesipuu poole” in the link above is from the 2009 Laulupidu. The conductor is Tiia-Ester Loitme, who trained under Gustav Ernesaks and has been one of Estonia’s leading choral music conductors and educators since the 1970’s. Her family was arrested when she was 14 years old. She was deported with her mother and sisters to a Soviet work camp in Siberia. Eventually, they were allowed to return to Estonia. Her father died in a Soviet prison. (Source: the 2004 documentary film, The Singing Revolution. Link: http://www.singingrevolution.com/cgi-local/content.cgi)