Winning Freedom Through Song: Estonia's "Singing Revolution"

What do you do if your neighbor covets your property and outnumbers you 100 to one?
    You might try singing.
    Estonia did -- and won its freedom from the Soviet Union in 1991.
   Tiny Estonia, a nation of one-and-a-half-million people, whose prime location on the Baltic Sea just across from Finland has spelled domination by foreign powers for 700 years, did it without firing a shot.
    Their remarkable story is told in a new film, “The Singing Revolution,” to be presented by Cincinnati World Cinema at 7 p.m. June 24-26 at the Cincinnati Art Museum in Eden Park.
   The 97-minute documentary, four years in the making by James and Maureen Castle Tusty of Mountain View Productions Ltd. ( New York, Atlanta) was released in the United States in December, 2007.  It been held over for weeks in many cities, including Boston, Dallas, Houston, Denver, San Francisco and New York.
   It is a dramatic, David-and-Goliath story, told in historic footage and compelling narrative.
   In a nutshell:  Having forged their own identity during the “national
awakening” that took place in the mid to late-19^th century, Estonia won its independence from Czarist Russia during the Russian Revolution.  Independence was declared in 1919 and Russia signed the Treaty of Tartu in 1920, relinquishing any claim to Estonia "forever."  The Republic of Estonia was formed.
    The Soviet Union re-occupied Estonia during World War II and forcibly annexed it (in violation of the Treaty of Tartu).  With no help from the war-weary Allies, Estonians kept their hopes alive during the terror and mass deportations of the next half-century by clinging to their language and culture. 

Song Festival Grounds, Tallinn, Estonia

Central to this was the National Song Festival (Laulupidu, founded in 1869) that brought choirs from all over Estonia to the capital city of Tallinn every five years.
    Even as they were forced to sing praises to Stalin, festival participants mixed in Estonian songs, ending with what became an unofficial, clandestine national anthem, “My Country is My Love” by legendary conductor Gustav Ernesaks with verses by revered Estonian poet Lydia Koidula.
    When Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev instituted perestroika (re-structuring) and glasnost (free speech) in the 1980s in an attempt to save the failing Soviet system, Estonians saw their opportunity to break free.

Crowd with Estonian flag at 2004 Estonian National Song Festival (Laulupidu)

Step by step, they re-asserted their liberty, flying the Estonian flag, forming a 200-mile-long human chain with their Baltic neighbors ( Latvia and Lithuania) and finally declaring re-independence openly.  When Soviet tanks rolled into Tallinn, people took to the streets (singing, of course) and the army withdrew.
    Learn more about the film at its web site www.singingrevolution.com.
   Tickets for the Cincinnati Art Museum showing are $7 at 513-721-ARTS, toll-free at 1-877-548-3237, at the Cincinnati Art Museum and online at www.cincyworldcinema.org.  Get them for $9 at Sitwell’s Coffeehouse in Clifton, Lookout Joe in Mount Lookout Square, Coffee Emporium on Central Parkway downtown, Shake It Music and Video in Northside and at the door, depending on availability.