here is a small interview with the filmaker on reason.com
Q: How did songs become an essential part of the Estonian revolution?
A: Music has always been part of Estonian history. For thousands of years the Estonians have been singing folk songs. They have one of the largest collections of folk songs in the world, even though they’re a very small country. So it was very natural that music would become part of the weapon that they would use to fight the Soviets. They have this song festival every five years called Laulupidu, which is 30,000 singers coming on stage to sing in harmony. And it’s not any 30,000 people who want to sing; these people audition, so it’s the best 30,000 singers.
Well, in 1947 Stalin had already come in and occupied Estonia. He declared the song festival a “bourgeois tradition,” and he declared the first annual Soviet Song Festival, making the Estonians sing songs in Russian that glorified Lenin and Stalin and Marx. But the Estonians snuck one by. That song became the unofficial national anthem in Estonia, and for the next 50 years they always sang it to close the Song Festivals.
Q: So what happened in the late ’80s?
A: In June of 1988, there was a rock concert with, I don’t know how many, tens of thousands of youth who were there singing into the night. The Soviet authorities got worried, and they shut down the concert. So the people walked three miles to an open field to continue singing, and they sang until five or six in the morning. And it went on for a week. Every night more and more people came until there were maybe 100,000 to 150,000 people singing these rock ’n’ roll songs, as well as some traditional songs. The Soviet police saw this, but they didn’t know what to do. And the Estonians just kept on pushing that envelope, until eventually they contributed significantly to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Q: What broader lesson did you learn from this story?
A: What this film is about is humankind’s indomitable drive for independence. If there’s a reason to see the film, it’s to start understanding liberty and freedom at a base level. I reduce freedom to this reality: I don’t want my neighbor telling me what color to paint my living room. Let’s get it down to that, and then let’s move out from that slowly, and talk about what political systems give us all the individual freedom we need.
This is not a political film. This is a story. And you will cry in the beginning and feel uplifted in the end, I promise.
Bored with burning CDs and ripping mp3s? Got the urge to make real records?
Machines called Dub Plates record music onto special vinyl blanks. They produce one-off records durable enough to handle repeated playing or scratching. The only hitch is the price. There are several turntable add-ons available in the $5000 to $7000 range, but the Vestax VRX-2000 is the only all-in-one solution on the market -- for a cool $10,000.
Cutting vinyl is an art - you're limited to 12 to 15 minutes per side and the source material has be be compressed to match the limited dynamic range of vinyl. Any really low frequency sounds (bass, kick drums) must be panned to the center of your stereo mix or there's a good chance they'll cause the needle to skip.
For those who don't have $10K burning a hole in their jeans, Freshly Ground Records in the UK offers a one-off cutting service. Starting at £55, they'll cut an mp3 of your song to vinyl. Tres cool.
sunday april 20th 1pm-7pm record exchange & art show dj stranger dj y not and a lot more 701 & 707 bean ln. orlando fl 32803 e.50 between 436 and fashion square mall across from sam ash
back in the day, during the clinton administration, when barrels of oil rose from around $18 to around $30 a pop, gore and clinton dipped into the spr, dropping prices dramatically
present day, bush regime, barrels are $106.
maybe during the coarse of the rest of this war, we should holler at the spr?!
last night went to see jeanie and the tits last show. i'd like to apologize to raniel and jessie for taking your twelve pack from the house and to peacock. BUT i did get very very very very drunk. so i think you should feel some sort of pride in the fact that i got so wasted. so yes. last night, if you were not there, sorry for you. but! there are pictures! check that shit out.. click here