Estonian Song Festival

The Estonian National Song Festival or Estonian Song Celebration (Estonian: Eesti Üldlaulupidu, lit. 'Estonia-wide singing party'), commonly called Laulupidu, held since 1869, is one of the largest choral events in the world, a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.^[1] Since 1923, it has been typically staged every five years in June or July, and since 1928 always in the same purpose-built venue: the Song Festival Grounds in the Kadriorg district of the capital city Tallinn.^[2] The joint choir has comprised more than 30,000 singers performing to an audience of 80,000.^[2][3]

The tradition of the song festivals (laulupidu, Sängerfest) was born along with Estonian national awakening. The first Estonia-wide laulupidu was held in Tartu in the summer of 1869.^[2] One of the organisers of the first song festival was Johann Voldemar Jannsen. In the first three events only men's choirs and brass orchestras participated. 822 singers and 56 brass players participated in the first. Starting with the fourth, mixed choirs were also participating. Starting with the sixth in 1896, the celebration tradition moved to Tallinn.

The Dance and Gymnastic Festival (part of the first Estonian Games held in 1934) was the predecessor of subsequent Estonian Dance Festivals which are now held, by tradition, at the same time with the Song Celebration in Tallinn.^[4]

After the Soviet invasion and occupation of Estonia during World War II, the tradition of Estonia-wide song festivals was permitted to continue. However, during all the Song Festivals from 1947 to 1985, the singing of the Estonian national anthem and the display of the flag of Estonia or any other "anti-Soviet" symbols was strictly prohibited. The Soviet occupation authorities instead forced communist anthems into the repertoire along with songs mandatorily glorifying the Soviet Communist Party and its leaders Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin.^[2] Because of the inclusion of children's and boys' choirs the total number of participants rose to 25,000 – 30,000 people.

In the late 1950s, Nikita Khrushchev’s policy of "thaw" included building cultural relations with the West and thus opened up a possibility for communication between Soviet-occupied Estonia and the Estonian World War II refugees abroad. As a consequence of the non-recognition of the annexation of the Baltic states, a portion of the refugee community was determined not to visit their homeland until it was free. Another part, however, did not see much wrong with a trip to their native land. Making use of people’s homesickness and their wish to see friends and family, the Soviet intelligence selected a number of Estonian refugees for "positive inclusion", and the 1960 Song Festival was a perfect propaganda opportunity to invite people to visit their "Soviet homeland". The 1960 festival was also meant to coax the acclaimed conductor and composer Eduard Tubin to visit Estonia. However, for Soviet propaganda purposes, the Estonian Song Festival was mostly a failure, and Tubin also refused to participate.

Since 1990, almost every Song Celebration has featured the most symbolic Estonian songs "Mu isamaa on minu arm", "Ta lendab mesipuu poole", and the national anthem "Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm".

In 2019, the number of visitors to the song celebration reached its maximum. Nearly 60,000 tickets were sold from the pre-sale for the XXVII Song Celebration concert, and together with the 35,000 singers and musicians participating, a situation had been reached where the pre-sale of tickets was suspended by the decision of the organisers for the safety and security of people.

• Latvian Song and Dance Festival
• Lithuanian Song and Dance Festival
• Singing Revolution

• Official website
• Cultural identity, nationalism and changes in singing traditions by Kristin Kuutma
• The Estonian song festival: a chameleon strategy by Evi Arujärv
• Estonian Punk Song Festival Archived 8 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine
• To Breathe As One, video about the event
• QTVR fullscreen panoramas of the Estonian Song Festival