Estonia has a rich culture of singing, with its song festivals (along with Latvia and Lithuania) added to UNESCO’s register of intangible cultural heritage. One Estonian village, though, was home to a world first at the weekend – the first ever song festival dedicated to eastern Estonia’s Kodavere dialect.
The village of Pala, just a few minutes from the shores of Lake Peipus – across which you can see Russia – played host on Sunday to the Kodavere laalupido song festival, dedicated to reviving the endangered language.
According to the Estonian Folk Culture Centre, a mere couple of hundred people use the Kodavere dialect in their everyday life, most of whom are older people.
With this in mind, two-thirds of the 250 performers were children and young people, Estonian newspaper Postimees said.
As well as local songs from the region, other well-known favourite tunes got the Kodavere treatment and made their debut in the dialect.
Estonian national broadcaster ERR said the disappearance of the Kodavere dialect was predicted a century ago – but still it persists, against the odds.
