Now, a song festival may not sound too exciting, but a song festival here is unlike anything you have probably ever experienced. For one thing, they have been going on for decades, so it holds a lot of tradition. It's also a very unifying event, which helped a lot when Latvia was under the rule of other countries. The most amazing thing about it, though, is the number of singers that participate. In Riga, it is typical to have over 20,000 people participate in the choir. That doesn't include the number of people who are there to watch and listen, which can number around 100,000. Here is a picture of a recent song festival in Riga.
I don't know about Estonia's song festival, but I imagine that it is similar to Latvia's. While we were in Tallinn, we visited the song festival grounds. Here is what we found.
This is what you see as you walk up to it.
This is the area where the singers sit. I wouldn't be surprised if they add chairs along the front of it.
Here is a picture of the grounds. It's really big, and I imagine that my ticket will put me about as far away as possible. That's okay, though. I just want to be able to experience 20,000 people in a choir all singing together. I imagine there will be songs where the audience sings along. When that happens, I know I will get goose bumps!
Here we are sitting on the stage area. I didn't count how many rows or seats there were, but I know that there were a lot of them!
We will take the bus to Tallinn on Saturday, July 5th, in the morning. We will get there around 1:30. There is a concert that night at 8:00 and one the next day at 2:00. Then we will head back home again. It will be a quick trip, but I'm sure it will be worth every penny we spent on it.
I just wanted to share with you this amazing opportunity. I am so excited!
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