Singing as a Cultural Identity

Tallinn is the capital of Estonia, a small country located on the Baltic Sea in North-eastern Europe, with boarders to Latvia to the south and Russia to the east. The old city centre sports medieval narrow cobble-stoned streets. In the Town Hall square a variety of musicians perform almost daily and along the house walls, posters advertising concerts are whispering about an intense musical life. Also in the old city, museums can be found in nearly every corner, revealing the interesting singing history of Estonia.

 

They call themselves "the singing nation" which gives a slight idea about how strong the connection between national music and the Estonian identity is.

The song festival, also known as “Laulupidu”, started back in 1869 in Tartu, the university city of Estonia. The first song celebration was both a political and musical event in an awakening time and was seen as a first attempt of self-determination when Estonia was not yet an independent state. Lyrics and hymns were sung about the Estonian culture, freedom and traditions.

The festivals still take place every five years but several years ago the location was moved to “Laululava”, an enormous “song stage” in Tallinn. During the song festivals people gather and sing national songs for a couple of joyful days and nights. As the tradition continues, more and more people join the festivities. Last year the festival attracted over 800.000 people with the public broadcasts or the performances. A large number, considering the total population of Estonia is about 1,4 million. The next festival is set to be in July 2009 and choirs’ nation-wide will prepare their performances for months and months before the festival.

As a result, national hymns and lyrics as well as classical music have become a part of the Estonian peoples’ identity, like wine is to the French or chocolate to the Swiss. It is tradition; it’s important and it plays an important role in the past, presence and in the future of Estonia.

 

The phenomenon known as “The singing revolution” started in the mid 80s and came out of the traditional song festivals “Laulupidu”, where people, old as young gathered together and sang. The lyrics came to be about freedom and liberation even though the national songs and hymns were banned during the Soviet occupation, these nights the people were able to take their lyrics back. It was impossible for the Soviet army to brake up the crowds, so the singing continued. The “singing revolution” lasted for years and more and more people were brought together. Alo Mattiisen, an Estonians rock musician and other artists became main figures for the non-violent struggle, as they composed and wrote lyrics, and on stage sang about independence. He was a singer and composer in a rock band known as the “In Spe”, and he became a sort of national hero in the late 80s. Young and eager to change the situation, Alo Mattiisen composed "Ei ole üksi ükski maa" (No land is alone), a song to the people about joining forces together. “Teab loodus vaid, teab isamaa, meil tuleb üksteist aidata. Ei ole üksi ükski maa ei taha, ei saa sind jätta, Virumaa!” (Only nature knows and the fatherland knows, we must help each other’s. No land is alone; we don’t want and cannot leave you Estonia!)

August 20, 1991 became an unforgettable day for the Estonians as Soviet surrendered and an agreement was signed, giving Estonia its independence. The peoples’ singing and claming freedom for the folk led to victory.

 

Everybody remembers…

The “Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre” is the only professional musical school in Estonia.

Head of Cultural and Humanities department at the school Anu Kivilo remember the Soviet occupation and the song traditions, which have survived through out generations.

“Our national anthem was forbidden, we couldn’t sing it, I remember my grand mother sang me that and I wrote it down. Everybody actually knew the song but you couldn’t sing it in school or on stage”, she said.

There were several restrictions during the Soviet occupation, the national flag and Christmas celebrations were forbidden as well as mixing the colours of the Estonian flag; black, white and blue in TV, it could lead to imprisonment.

The song festivals brought the opportunities of freely communicating with large amount of people and the result can be seen in the Estonian society today as people continues to sing and values the importance of national songs.

“Music is a part of every day life and it all starts with the tradition of the song festivals and also the tradition of choir music”, Ms Kivilo said.

 

Today national music in Estonia is stronger then ever. The Eurovision Song Contest was won by Estonia in 2001 and led Estonian artists to International recognition. The following year the contest was held in Tallinn which pushed the fame of Estonians even further. Today there are over 80 music schools that people attends after their work or school. Their musicians are recognized internationally and famous composer Arvo Pärt and symphonist Eduard Tubin origins from the small nation.

 

Cultural identity, however not for all

Estonian national music is a positive instrument used for people to feel united. Decades of the peoples’ tradition and culture is reflected in the singing and lyrics. Everybody living within the border of the country should participate, no matter age or ethnic background. However a large number of the population do not understand Estonians due to two different language communities, which became the result of the past. Throughout the Soviet occupation, Russians immigrated to Estonia for work and promises of better lives, however since the Soviet ruled the country the Russians were not taught the Estonian language. Through separate suburbs, which were built for the Russian workers, the two communities were and still today are kept apart. Even though Estonians broke free from the oppression in the 1990s, the society structure changed. The Estonian flag, language and national anthem became once again the official identification of Estonian.

 

Decades have past and the two communities have not yet merged even though Tallinn has a population of nearly 400,000 and the Russians represents 37% of the inhabitants, according to Estonian Statistic Office 2006. The cinema has double subtitles, there are Estonian as well as Russians theatres, the suburbs are divided into ethnic different areas and the schools are separated. It feels like two countries in one. The cultural agenda is full of musical events, however due to the language barrier it is targeting the two communities differently depending on which language skills one possess. For example in the opera the subtitles are either in English or Estonian, not in Russian.

“The Russian speaking population considered the Soviet Union as one country, and they didn’t bother to study the Estonian culture or language”, she said. “So the problem is that those two communities actually have not mixed very much”, Ms Kivilo said.

 

The undersecretary of Ministry of Culture Ms Piret Lindpere said there is only one city cultural agenda and everybody is free to participate in all the events, however it doesn’t mean the Russians and the Estonians are joining together the common events.

“There are two quite different communities, for example these cultural events, some are for Estonians and some are for Russians”, she said.

In the education system both communities learn each other’s language but the elder generation of Russians, which have finished their studies long time ago, have to pay large amounts of money for attending language classes, which several people are unable to afford.

“The Russians who understand and speak Estonians can take part in all events”, Ms Lindpere said.

 

The language debate is controversial and some people claim there are no problems in the Estonian society, while other voices speaks about invisible borders for the non-Estonian speaking population. The official language is Estonian but in some areas through out the country Russian is only to be heard. The different communities seem to blame each other for not merging and between the lines certain unwillingness can be traced. The past seems neither forgotten nor forgiven and even though the national music is a strong part of the cultural identity for the population of Estonia it does not seem to be case for everybody living there. Estonia in the 21st century is a vivid and growing nation, however the question remains how long the country will continue to be two countries in one.