Estonian Song and Dance Celebration

A revisit to my homeland and its tradition of song and dance

Author on the right with twin sister in the middle and mother on the left right after the Song Festival of 2019, photo by author.

I can’t now pinpoint when it was that I first learned about our song and dance festivals taking place every five years in Estonia, always at the height of summer. I feel as though Estonians are born with the knowledge of it, but in reality, I must have been a child, probably a 5-year-old in 1990’s Soviet-occupied Estonia.

Perhaps I was sitting on my mum’s lap, along with my twin sister, watching the spectacle from our bulky black and white television set. It was taking place in the capital, Tallinn, some 13 miles away, so naturally mum could not attend with two toddlers constantly wanting her attention. Her travels had been put on pause when we came along, you see.

Perhaps we did not even have a TV yet, and we played loudly with our toys, while mum hushed us impatiently, trying to listen to the broadcast via the crackling radio. I think it must have been hushed regardless of how she managed to witness it, as the Russians were still very much in power. That is, until this and other events triggered our long-awaited independence a mere year later.

If not then, I definitely must have seen the song festival on TV as a 9-year-old, four short years later, in 1994, the first one to take place in our free homeland…