The Singing Revolution

How many revolutions have their been since the dawn of civilization? Certainly many thousands, large and small, successful and squashed. We all know of the French, the American and the Velvet Revolution. Lesser known blips on the big screen of history include the Ragamuffin Revolution (Brazil) and the 1797 Rugby School Rebellion (British public school boys refusing to pay for broken windows).

Revolution is a complex word, one with origins from the old french "revolucion" the act of moving in a circular motion, i.e. celestial bodies. And it has evolved/revolved to hold meanings including to revolve around something, to go from the current point/space in time to a different point/space in time, and perhaps back to the same point/space but at a different time. And of course to riot against, to rebel against something, to summon an uprising, to revolt and thus move into a state of revolution.

The Singing Revolution took place in the late 1980s in the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Much as in Ukraine, the languages, cultures, and religions of these Soviet "satellites" were brutally suppressed for decades. This included silencing the vibrant musical heritage of the national and folk songs of the Baltic and other European states. As resistance against the Soviet regime began to boil over in the 80's, massive public gatherings evolved into non-violent song protests where tens, even hundreds of thousands gathered to raise their voices against the regime by singing forbidden songs. One of the most notable of these events was the totally organic singing that rose up after the conclusion of the 1988 Old Town Festival in Tallin, Estonia.
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Gathering on the Song Festival Grounds massive crowds returned for several days running for spontaneous communal singing. And in the months that followed communal singing, including choral singing, became the fuel for the Singing Revolution, leading to what is arguably the most peaceful displacement of authoritarian regimes in the modern era.

Take a moment to digest this: group singing changed the course of history for a part of the world: singing delivered a new era of freedom for the Baltic peoples! And one of the ancillary but absolutely wonderful residual impacts of this revolution was to create a culture of choir singing that has produced some of the world's very best choirs along with a whole new tradition of choral composing that has given us such incredible talents as Arvo Part, Veljos Tormis, Eriks Esenvalds and Peteris Vasks to name just a few.

So the next time you are wondering "does my voice matter?" take a moment to reflect on the millions of everyday people who used the power of their song to change their world.

"I'd like to sing a song that would roll over the land like a huge wave of the sea...that would flow through the spirit of the people, arousing their minds" approximate translation of the opening lines of "Kaksipuhendus" by Veljo Tormis (and a sentiment that I suspect many choir directors also secretly wish for as they lead their ensembles in song).