Day Thirteen - Day two of Laulupidu
Sunday July 6, 2014
Day two of the festival was just as exciting or maybe even more than day one. The amount of people that showed up to come hear the music was indescribable. The kids arrived by 12:30 to check in and then were allowed to explore the grounds a bit. Due to the large amount of people, it was difficult to navigate your way through the crowds. It was a good thing a majority of the souvenir shopping was mostly done, and it was just last minute little trinkets the kids wanted to buy.
The kids were up on the stage by around 2:00 to perform the "children's" pieces, which were great. As an audience member, it felt almost as if I were amidst a crowd at a theme park such as Disneyland, with very happy music being sung, and massive amounts of people. One of the things I noted mostly about the crowds was how patient everyone was with each other. There clearly were many people, but there was little frustration when it came to dealing with the crowds, because they were all there for the same reason. They were there to share the power of song and the significance it has made in their lives, for years and years. In speaking with an Estonian who came to talk to us, he noted that a majority of the country comes to this event and that it has been in his family tradition to come to each festival since he was a boy, and he is now continuing the tradition, bringing his family. There were tears of joy and memories, and smiles on everyones faces as the songs were being sung. An event that we were very lucky to be a part of.
Ryan states it nicely... "I think just standing up with everyone made me look around simply at the faces of the people around me. It's interesting to take a step back from just the overwhelming number of 32,000 singers and really think about how each individual sings for their own reason. But what I think is probably the most beautiful is that when we sing, everyone's separate reasons come together to make something so much bigger and more powerful than one person could ever create alone."
Seeing everyone not only up on stage, but in the audience, you can see the real deep meaning of the festival, from all generations, young and old.
The final few pieces were incredibly powerful. Every participant was on stage from the young children's choirs to the adults. The dome was so full that there wasn't even a separation form where the participants ended to where the audience line started. A helicopter flew above a few times to photograph the event, because it was too large to capture from the ground. After the final piece was performed, just as was mentioned in "To Breathe as One," they kept singing. More and more encores. More and more tears, holding hands, smiles, and hugs. Something that is so difficult to describe unless you are actually there. You really left that event feeling accepted into the Estonian culture, and as if you were one of them. Something I KNOW these kids will NEVER forget!
After several encores, the singers finally left the stage. Our kids met back at our meeting place one last time before we gathered in the center of the lawn, after the crowds have vacated, to have one last visit with our hostesses, the ETV choir. They all sang together, in a huge circle, Vaid See on Armastus, and the three conductors, Bob, Aarne Saluveer, conductor of ETV, as well as his assistant Karen, shared each verse. They had all the adults sit in the center of the kids singing and it was beautiful. They sang into the open as the sun was setting, the sky was gorgeous, and it was just the perfect way to end a great weekend.
Our kids sang Homeward Bound to the ETV girls before it was time to go, and then there were more hugs and pictures. We all went our separate ways, back to their families for our last night of tour, hopefully getting some sleep before our early morning at the ferry building. I'm sure the kids had pleasant dreams of the events that took place the last two days, plus all the experience and memories made over the last two weeks.
Click through the sideshow below to view some highlights from today:
