— Estonian music:

For almost seven hundred years, from the 12th century until the 19th-century “Estonian national awakening,” Estonian traditional music consisted primarily of Batltic-Finnish runes. After Estonia “awoke,” Estonians began to compose national songs — work songs, ballads and national epics. These songs became such an important part of Estonian culture that during the Soviet period singing them became an act of anti-authoritarian opposition. (More about Estonian singing below.)

More information:
Interested in Estonian music? Try Estmusic.com | The Estonian National Awakening | “The fierce music of Estonia, Latvia” | Vennaskond: Estonian punk from the ’80s

— Lithuanian music:

Lithuanian’s ancient music is pagan and ritual in nature and is often vocally based, like the sutartinės of northwestern Lithuania which villagers sang at festivals, weddings and during work. There were in fact many kinds of Lithuanian work songs, each of which had its own syncopation depending on the work being done: herding songs, haymaking songs, rye harvesting songs, oat harvesting, flax and buckwheat pulling and hemp gathering songs, milling songs, spinning and weaving songs, laundering songs, fishing and hunting songs, berry picking songs and mushroom gathering songs. Today, Lithuanian musicians play folk, rock, punk, jazz and almost all other genres, and probably sing much less about hay.

During the Soviet era underground rock became extremely popular as a form of authoritarianism resistance. Today the Soviets are gone but Lithuanian rock is alive and well.

More information:
Wikipedia in detail on the music of Lithuania | Lithuanian sutartinės: there are three kinds:
* Dvejinės are sung by two singers or two groups of singers.
* Trejinės are performed by three singers in strict canon.
* Keturinės are sung by two pairs of singers.
(“Turėja Liepa” from our CD is one of Linthania’s trejinės.)

— Latvian music:

Most of Latvian traditional music is pre-Christian and based on short, unrhymed poems called “dainas,” most of which concern themselves with stories about the sun goddess Saule or the moon god Meness, or about the lives of people at ceremonies surrounding birth, marriage and death.

Music in Latvia: Do Latvians owe it all to their commitment to music education? | Lovely Latvian music performed in the woods by kokle-player Laima Jansome

In class we’re going to listen to:

— “Pidu, Pidu” by RO:TORO
RO:TORO bills itself as “ethnic Estonian bagpipes meet modern saxophone and self-made water-bowl percussion.” The bagpipes also meet an electric guitar on the way, and in the process transform ancient Estonian folk into enjoyable modern Estonian neo-folk.

More information:
RO:TORO’s English-language website | See RO:TORO perform live — bagpipes, electric guitar and all

— “Mis Vark On” by Def Räädu
So you say you’re unfamiliar with Estonian rap…? Def Räädu wants to change that. If you like “reggae, dub, trip hop, house and jazzy flavored beats with a rock steady groove,” you’ll like Def Räädu. If you like all those things and happen to be one of the million or so people in the world who speak Estonian, you’ll love them.

More information:
Def Räädu’s official bio: “a unique mixture of nordic climate, bumpin beats and all good things in this world.” | Visit Def Räädu on MySpace | Def Räädu live: white hats, plastic bottles and oil drums, oh my!

Grouping Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into one “country” is totally unfair. The three states may share the eastern coast of the Baltic sea but they have different histories, languages, religions and more. Why do people group them together…? For convenience? Sure. Because they were all under Russian rule until 1918, then became independent together, then came under Soviet domination in 1940, then became independent together again in 1991…? That too. But the nations differ in many significant ways, including:

— Linguistically: Estonians speak a “Uralic” language that’s very close to Finnish, while the others speak the “Indo-European” Baltic language. (A bit more about languages of the Baltic nations below.)

— Religiously: Most Estonians and Latvians practice Protestant (Lutheran) Christianity, while most Lithuanians are Catholic. (A sizable Russian minority in each belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church.)

— Historically: Estonia and Latvia have never had much power beyond their borders — from the 13th to the early 20th centuries many invaders ruled Estonia, such as the Danes, the Livonian Confederation (“an autonomous part of the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights and Baltic German ecclesiastical states of the Holy Roman Empire”), the Swedish Empire and the Russians, while Germany (Prussian), Sweden, Poland and Russia controlled Latvia. By contrast, Lithuania established the Grand Duchy in the mid 1200s and expanded over the next several centuries to become the largest European state of the age. It remained powerful until the late-18th century, after which it dissolved as part of the Partitions of Poland, which we’ll touch on a bit when we focus on Poland in a few weeks. Lithuania stayed under Russian rule until 1918.

Many divergent elements of the Baltic history came together in 1918 when all three fought German and Russian armies and became independent. All three remained independent until 1940, when Russia occupied and arranged elections in which only pro-communist candidates could run. When the new governments enthusiastically applied to become part of the USSR — surprise! — the Soviet Union enthusiastically accepted them, and ruled them for the next fifty years, with the exception of Nazi domination from 1941-1944. Many nations called the Soviet takeover an illegal occupation and never formally recognized Russian rule. Though several groups of Baltic partisans such as the Forest Brothers (who today may be called “insurgents”) attempted to push the Communists out, only after “the Singing Revolution” of the late ’80s did the nations become sovereign again. In 1989, in an event called “The Baltic Way,” about two million people even joined hands in a human chain that stretched 375 miles across the three Baltic states. (More about the Singing Revolution below). In 1991 the Baltic states became independent and in 1994 the last Russian troops left.

Since 1991 the Baltic nations have developed multiparty parliamentary democracies, joined the European Union in 2004 and have boasted booming market economies, at least until the recession of 2008. European tourists flock to the Baltics for their seaside resorts and their reputation as being home to warm, welcoming people. At the same time, the Baltic states are still coming to terms with a history full of struggle, especially in the 20th century in which they endured Nazi and Soviet rule. There are still many ethnic, religious, political and social tensions in the region, including a complex relationship with Russians who moved to the Baltics in the Soviet era, and a legacy of antisemitism that endures even after the almost complete eradication of the region’s once-thriving Jewish population.

More information:
“all what you should to know about Baltic States” | Wikipedia on Estonia/Latvia/Lithuania | More about the Baltic Way | Ten great minutes of traditional Estonian dancing | One and a half great minutes of non-traditional Estonian dancing | The Baltic Sea: “the world’s largest body of brackish water” | The Grateful Dead bring Lithuanian national basketball to the world in 1992 (See the Lithuanian national team accepting its 1992 Olympic bronze medal in its tie-dye uniforms)