Songs of the festival

far. Nearly all Estonian schools and many
institutions have had their own choir(s)
for decades.
The habit of singing has acquired new
forms: the TV competitions for toddlers
and children have been much loved for
decades, and are never short of participants.
The recently launched TV shows
in the world seeking new pop stars have
found a strong rival in Estonia – a programme
of competing choirs. To get a
chance to perform on this programme,
choirs were formed by groups of friends
and even by members of parliament.
Singing together is certainly an inseparable
part of many a family party. However,
you had better not ask an Estonian to
perform a solo song. He or she will turn
pale, get all flustered and claim not to
be able to sing in tune at all. Things are
quite different on stage: cheeks aflame,
glance fixed on the conductor’s hand and
expressions, the singers are seized with
such a sense of unity that their song
could crumble walls. In all, 25 000 singers
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