The Gift That Gives All Year

VABA EESTI SÕNA Is In Need Of Everyone’s Help

To Ensure Its Continued Publication

This weekly newspaper provides its readers with news happening in Estonia and also informs them of local cultural and social events in the USA, such as church services, concerts, and meetings.

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Published: December 02 2015

Starting from the back top row: Koidula Suurmagi [VT], Eiki Martinson [FL], in the center: Ene Piirak [VT], artistic director Richard Riley and Estonian Ambassador Eerik Marmei, Uku Meri [VT], Kiku Martinson [FL] and Heli Kubja [ Mexico], Kadi Piirak [Syracuse, NY] and Aili Dalton [VT].  From the left: Margit Sirgo [VT] with her daughter and 2 grandchildren, in front Vaiki Kreckovic [VT] and knee-ling Piret Komi [Toronto], present but missing from photo Aarne Vesilind [NH]Aili and Taivo Milles[VT), I. Vanderer [NJ] and Anna Kalfus[VT]

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Published: December 02 2015

Maarja Nuut

Perhaps more than any other country in the world, the history of the Baltic nation of Estonia is a story set to song.

Whether under German, Danish, Swedish, or Soviet occupation, Estonians have long turned to music as a way of preserving some semblance of national identity amid foreign domination.

The country’s massive song festivals, which date back to 1869, feature a choir of roughly 20,000 to 30,000 singers and have drawn audiences of more than 100,000 people—nearly a tenth of the population.

But lately, as Estonia has opened up to the world, the world has been opening up the country’s music scene to diverse influences. Which raises a couple questions: Has Estonian music lost its essence? And, if so, is that something to mourn or cheer?

During the Soviet era, Estonia’s song festivals included plenty of Soviet propaganda, but they also offered Estonians an opportunity to celebrate their language and traditions. For the 1947 song festival—the first under the rule of the U.S.S.R.—the composer Gustav Ernesaks set an old poem, “Mu Isamaa On Minu Arm” (My Country Is My Love), to music.

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Published: December 02 2015

The News, 20 page Houston’s Ballet Fall Calander dedicates a full page article to the Estonian Linnar Looris.

According to Jean May, Linnar Looris is a natural storyteller, hillarious as both Petruchio and Baptista in “The Taming of the Shrew”, and as the deliriously happy drunk in Stanton Welch’s “The Core”; heartbreakig as Albrecht in “Giselle” or as Onegin.

He has innate sense of the story to be told on stage and offers a superb classical technique.

No matter what the role, he does not pretend, he is the role.

The article states that Looris was born in Viljandi, Estonia, trained at the Tallinn Ballet School and his achievements of acting provides him with the ability to analyze the “male ballet technique”.

His career includes the Estonian National Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet prior to coming to Houston in 2007.

He is a natural comedian and engaging storyteller also off stage.

Looris plays the ukulele, writes and performs songs and finds music very important in his life.

(Sent to VES by Arved Plaks)

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Published: November 20 2015

The view of Whistler from the mountain top with the Winter Olympics stone icon.   Photos by author

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Published: November 20 2015

The Central and East European Coalition sent a letter on October 29 to Senate and House chairs and ranking members of the Appropriations Committees, urging them to provide financial assistance for the economic, security, and humanitarian relief needs of Ukraine.

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Published: November 20 2015

Seto Week, which is held in Paris from November 18-25, introduces traditional polyphonic singing of the Setos (Seto leelo), their handicraft, traditions, cuisine, history, language and literature. Never before has Seto culture been so widely introduced in France.

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Published: November 20 2015

The fully state-owned Nordic Aviation Group, in co-operation with five European flight operators, started serving passengers on eight different routes – Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, Kiev, Trondheim and Vilnius – from November 8.

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Published: November 20 2015