Laulupidu

After  the long parade, the grounds of the song festival filled with singers, dancers, musicians and the audience...by now it is about 8 pm...it has been a long day for some people!

A long day yes, but worth it. I am not one who enjoys crowds but there is something about this festival's crowds that does not disturb me at all...amazingly it feels really safe and almost "family like"...rather difficult to describe. Here you can see some pictures of the stage and the audience.

 The hillside is covered with people and it is almost impossible to walk through them they are so numerous!

 The stage...sorry the photo is a bit overexposed.

The traditional opening song Koik (Dawn) is sung after the flame lights the tower...most of the audience is quietly singing along too...it is just that kind of celebration. The words to all the songs are printed in the program so even if you don't know the words you have them.

This year was the 25th song celebration....145 years of song...and the opening concert consisted of songs from each of the festival years from 1869-2009...a sort of history lesson about Estonia.
An interesting fact about the first song festival,which was during a time of national awakening, is that it was successful mostly thanks to school teachers, alumni of the Valga and Kuuda teachers seminaries! Oh those teachers!!!!

I am going to try to put in some sites you can go to if you want to hear any of the songs...this is a favorite of mine: Ilus On Maa (Beautiful Land)

...towards the end of the performance the choirs sang a modern version of "Koit" which the audience insisted they sing again...it was beautiful as the sky became a bit darker (not too much though) and the inside of the stage was lit with designs.

I turned around to see the entire field up the hill lit with lights from everyone's smart phones! I thought at first I was seeing candles...it was truly so incredible and moving...I do not think there was a dry eye in the place...certainly not mine. We all joined hands and rocked back and forth. So powerful!

I found this video of the piece...I am sitting somewhere down on the left...

The concert ended sometime after midnight...we all streamed out of the song grounds and through Kadrioru park with thousands of people some in folk costumes everyone chatting and enjoying the marvelously mild summer evening. It felt like a dream to me actually.

The next day at the daytime concert this was my favorite piece: Ta Lendab Mesipuu Poole (He Flys to the Beehive)

All of the conductors are given oak leaf wreaths at the end ceremony...music is a very honored expression in Estonia and conductors and composers are highly revered. It was a wonderful celebration! Soon we will leave Tallinn once again but it has been truly marvelous to spend time with family and to participate in this festival!