Hey everyone!
Sorry I haven't written in a long time; I had a hectic end to school and now I am in Europe!I went to Finland, Latvia, and Estonia with my choir and now I am in Cologne, Germany. Thir trip h as been incredible so far. I was so inspired by the people of Estonia and Latvia. Those countries, as you probably know, were part of the USSR. They won their freedoom in remarkable, peaceful ways. Estonia, especially, was inspiring. The people of Estonia participated in something called "the singing revolution." This revolution took place in Estonia and included many people who came together and sang forbidden songs in Estonian stressing things like freedom and a national identity. They used their ideas and the power of music as well to gain independence from a great opressor who had done a lot of hrm to their people and their national identity. Latvia has a similar story, with many casualties in the soviet time period.
As an American, I realize how lucky I am to have my liberties, but I did not realize until I visited a part of the world which was recently opressed, that I take a lot of things about being American for granted. People all over the world live without a voice or an advocate, but we, as Americans, live somewhere where most of us can be heard when we have something to say. The idea of being occupied is foreign to us, and generally when we learn about foreign atrocities, it feels as though it happened to "Those people." Being in the places where the formerly abused and oppressed live and lived is somethign completely different, and it helps to learn about these people and events in their contexts.
This trip has been so interesting to me and completely awe-inspiring. I cannot imagine what it would be like to live in fear or to fight against that constant fear, knowing you were at a disadvantage, sinply because of your nationality. Today's music is a song that is important in Estonia, "Mu isamaa on minu arm"
The modern version of this song is sung at the end of every Esotnian song festival, every two years, and its current melody was composed in the 1940s by a famous Estonian conductor and composer, Gustav Ernesaks. This man and this piece gave hope to many and helped to create a new identity in Estonia that would withstand approximately 50 more yerars of occupation.
Text:
My Fatherland is My Love,
to whom I´ve given My Heart.
To You I sing, my greatest happiness,
My flowering Estonia!
Your pain boils in My Heart,
Your Pride and Joy makes me happy,
My Fatherland, My Fatherland!
My Fatherland is My Love,
I shall never leave Him,
even if I must die hundred deaths
because of Him!
Does the foreign envy slander,
You still live in my Heart,
My Fatherland, My Fatherland!
My Fatherland is My Love,
and I want to rest,
to lay down into Your Arms,
My sacred Estonia!
Your Birds will sing Sleep to Me,
flowers will bloom from My Ashes,
My Fatherland, My Fatherland!
So, enjoy this piece and maybe take a second to be thankful for our rights and freedoms, because there are many who fought for them and many who still work toward them now.
