What do you do if your neighbor covets your
property and outnumbers you 100 to one?
You might try
singing.
Tiny
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
The 97-minute
documentary, four years in the making by James and Maureen Castle Tusty of
Mountain View Productions Ltd. (
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-19th 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
The Soviet Union
re-occupied
Central to
this was the National Song Festival (Laulupidu, founded in 1869) that brought
choirs from all over
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.
Step by step, they re-asserted
their liberty, flying the Estonian flag, forming a 200-mile-long human chain
with their Baltic neighbors (
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
From Music in Cincinnati
Winning Freedom Through Song: Estonia's "Singing Revolution"
Posted in:
2008
By Mary Ellyn Hutton
Jun 19, 2008 - 12:34:37 AM
Jun 19, 2008 - 12:34:37 AM
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