To Breathe As One at the Estonian Song Festival

As I prepare for my trip to Estonia, I was pleasantly surprised to read an Estonian World blog post today about a new film To Breathe As One by James Tusty and Maureen Castle Tusty, the makers of the 2007 documentary The Singing Revolution:

http://estonianworld.com/culture/to-breathe-as-one-a-new-film-shows-how-singing-keeps-estonia-together/

It turns out To Breathe As One was showing on my PBS channel tonight!  It will also be repeated on Saturday, June 28.  If you get a chance to see either one of these films, do so.  They are both excellent.

As an added knitting bonus in the film, I was pleased to see the featured Estonian TV Girls' Choir members wearing beautiful Haapsalu shawls as part of their costumes.

When I was in Tallinn last year, I visited the Song Festival Grounds on a quiet, rainy, introspective day.  The Estonian Song Festival takes place every 5 years.  When the 26th Estonian Song Festival (Laulupidu) takes place this year from July 4-6, the grounds will be very different looking.  In 2009, there were 34,000 performers and an audience of 200,000!