The Estonian Singing Revolution

Ever heard of the Estonian Singing Revolution?  Sadly most haven’t as this was the case for me before studying the Estonian Singing Revolution in Music of Resistance, Revolution, and Liberation.  Estonia is a country located in the Baltic’s, just north of Latvia and Lithuania with a mere population of 1.3 million.  To understand some of the history behind the hardships Estonians faced during World War II and into the Cold War, imagine this: living in a nation never ruled by your own people, continuously controlled by foreign powers that forced you and your family to learn a new language, follow cultural customs you didn't believe in and do everything possible to erase any trace of your nations culture.  These are the exact circumstances Estonians experienced for most of their existence as a nation; in fact the only time Estonia ever held independence was from 1920-1939 but the start of World War II brought a terror to Estonia that would last for fifty years. 

 In 1939, a secret pact between Germany and the Soviet Union was designed to keep the Soviet Union from getting involved violently in the War but it was also designed to divide up the Eastern European nations of Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland, Romania, Poland and Estonia between Nazi and Soviet spheres of influence.  The pact remained in effect until 1941 when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union bringing Nazi armies into Estonia, but shortly after this invasion the Soviet Union invaded Estonia driving out all German forces and taking complete control over the country.  During Soviet occupation, Stalin’s Red Army brought the Reign of Terror in full force to Estonians.  The Soviet Union’s goal was to erase the culture of Estonia entirely.  This was accomplished in several ways: 1) Stalin’s armies killed all Estonian government officials and their families erasing any potential for Estonian leaders to fight against Soviet forces, 2) many Estonian’s were shipped out to slave/concentration camps in Siberia forced to work until their death, and 3) all privately owned land was overtaken and given over for Russian occupation.  The process was called “Russification” designed to replace Estonian culture with Russian culture through language, communism and Soviet occupation. 

Signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, 1939

But this was not the end for Estonia, and the people believed this.   In 1947 a music festival that was traditionally held every five years in Estonia took place for the first time since Soviet occupation.  Music was something deeply embedded into Estonian culture but when the Soviet Union invaded Estonia, the people were forced to learn and speak Russian and therefore could not sing traditional music in their native tongue.  This began to change when the music festival “Laulupidu” reappeared in 1947.  The festival took place in an outdoor auditorium that held 30,000 people on stage and 300,000 in the audience.  Singing groups and those who wished to perform made up the 30,000 that performed on stage.  During this festival, all songs performed were meant to honor the Soviet Union and Russian culture, but near the end of the festival the director began leading the singers in a song written in Estonian.  The song was based off a poem written 100 years earlier by a man named Gustav Ernesaks and within minutes 30,000 Estonians began singing a song that became their unofficial national anthem.  Miraculously, Soviet officials didn’t recognize the song being sung in Estonian, and the people were able to get away with their defiant act.  The song titled “Mu Isaama On Minu Arm”, “Land of My Fathers, Land That I Love” became the motivation of freedom for every 

Estonian for the next fifty years. 

Auditorium where singing festival takes place.

A clip of the song Estonian's sang in 1947.

Several years later leading into the 1950s, the National Anthem was officially banned by Soviet leaders but this did not stop Estonians from singing it in the music festivals 100^th anniversary in 1969.  The song was purposely planned into the music festivals program as an act of defiance against Soviet rule.  When Soviet censors began to recognize the song being performed, they ordered the orchestra to out play the singers, but 30,000 singers could not be drowned out by an orchestra and every performer stood their ground and sang their national anthem to prove to Soviet leaders Estonians still existed as a culture and a nation.  When Gorbachev came into power in 1985, Estonians began testing some of his new policies, specifically two called “perestroika” and “glasnost.”  Perestroika was an economic restructuring of the Soviet Union in order to reevaluate and improve the status of its economy; glasnost gave every existing territory within the Soviet Union more openness and transparency within the government, specifically allowing freedom of speech.  Estonians tested glasnost by protesting against a phosphorite mining project that was supposed to take place in Estonian borders; the project was eventually stopped and protesters did not suffer any serious consequences, giving the people more boldness to continue testing their freedom of speech.  Not long after the people began to protest against Stalin and Hitler’s Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, speaking openly of it in a public square.  The KBG observed the event yet no one was arrested and there was violence on part of the KGB. 

Estonian Flag

Into the 1980s, Estonian’s continued to push the Soviet Union for freedom by beginning to fly their flag at protests (an illegal act according to Soviet law), and forming three different parties that worked separately towards independence.  The “Heritage Society”, “Estonian National Independence Party” and “Popular Front” all worked differently to gain Estonian Independence but in the end the three came together in September of 1988 in a mass protest against Soviet rule.  The Molotov Pact gave Estonian’s an open door to protest as both Estonians and Gorbachev knew it was designed secretly and therefore illegal.  At every protest Estonians coordinated, they sang their national music and not just quietly, but with thousands of people singing at the top of their lungs that it was hard to hear anything else while the singing took place.  Estonians didn't have any weapons, they didn't have any secret society that attempted to shut down the KGB and they especially didn't have any armies.  The only weapon they possessed that gave them the opportunity to fight for their independence was music.  The music proved to Gorbachev and the rest of the Soviet Union that the culture of Estonia hadn't died nor was it planning on dying anytime soon, but rather music was the key that allowed Estonia to spread the message of freedom without acts of violence.

The Estonian Singing Revolution was brought to its climax in 1991 when Moscow leaders overthrew Soviet government and put Gorbachev under house arrest.  Soviet troupes rolled once more into Estonia but this time Estonians were ready to resist whatever was coming their way.  Unarmed Estonians faced tanks and created human walls that didn't allow the troupes to pass; they surrounded “Popular Front” (a party that rebelled against the Soviet Independence movement) when Russians part of this rebellious party forced their way into Estonia’s government buildings.  Estonians sang national songs with great passion rather than acting with violence  and they accomplished their dream of independence when the Soviet Union officially fell in 1991.  A quote that comes from a documentary on the Estonian Singing Revolution states “human kind’s ability to overcome oppression through intelligent non-violent means as well as the indomitable human drive for freedom and self-determination.”  Estonian’s possessed this ability clearly in their self-determination to gain independence.  By using the power of song to come together in protest against the oppression Estonians faced from Russia for nearly 50 years, the revolution couldn't have happened.  They proved that rebellion is possible without acts of violence and the means to do this for Estonia was through singing.    

Estonian's surrounding Popular Front.