The 150th Jubilee of the Estonian Song Festival — Laulipidu 2019

After five years of rehearsal, 35,000 choral singers gathered in their regional folk dress on stage together, singing songs of love for the homeland… and when the audience joins in, it is a surround-sound-bath of 90,000 voices.

So many flags, forbidden in Soviet times… brought tears to my eyes.

For the historical significance of the Estonian song festival tradition, consider the “Singing Revolution” — its role in the dissolution of the Soviet Union is a relatively unknown story in the West. Imagine Woodstock meets Tiananmen Square… with a happy ending. From 1987 – 1991, Estonians defiantly sang national songs forbidden by the Soviet authorities, signed petitions disavowing the legality of the Soviet occupation, and created a line of 2 million Baltic people holding hands from Estonia to Lithuania in protest of the Soviet occupation. During the coup, tens of thousands of Estonians stood as human body shields between the advancing Soviet tanks and the radio and TV stations. In 1988, Estonia was the first country to declare sovereignty from the U.S.S.R., a catalyst for its disintegration. Iceland was the first country to recognize Estonia’s independence, and, interestingly, Russia was the second. Singing Revolution documentary (full disclosure: I was the producer)

Here is my video collage of my favorite moments in this year’s final performance.