Some Estonian songs and memories from our Singing Revolution

Just a little tribute to Estonian music. We are a tiny singing nation, music and singing is part of our culture so much that when other nations had revolutions, we had a Singing Revolution, starting 1988 to when we got our independence in 1991. I was 8 years old at the time, when my family took me to the secret nightly song sessions on our song festival ground. We didn't really know how to fight against the monstrous width and power of the Soviet Union. So we gathered in the shadows, holding hands, lighting candles, singing national songs in our language which had been forbidden for almost almost half a century. In my life I have yet to feel again the power of emotion that ran through us then, the unity in our voice, heart and longing. We embodied one wish, one will and one dream.

Estonian music is mainly lyrical and poetic hence only a few songs have been translated, its not an easy task to capture the simple yet mystical nature of the Estonian song. The same way as our family names have all to do with nature, my own means tulip for example, the songs mainly talk about the wind and mountains, silence, forests and flowers, the mystic, life, death and of course love.

So here's a couple of songs I found with translation and a clip from the movie singing revolution.

My lesson from that time was this-
No matter how dark the times.
No matter how small and seemingly powerless.
We have each other.
We can find our common voice.
And heart.
The Universe will do the rest. :)