ESTONIA WEEK!! Rudolf Tobias – Otsekui hirv kisendab

June 17, 2012 — classical, sunday

This song is rated: 1 Pill – entry-level for music novices

Howdy ho, cheerlubber here~

Like when we had Kimbra Week a few weeks back (or…half-week rather, but the intended concept is the same), we’ll be doing themed weeks now and then. The very special theme for this week is music from ESTONIA. “Estonia?” you say with a raise of your brow. “I have not heard of such a place.” There’s no need to fret–thanks to the wonders of modern technology and the internet, there is a magical place of all knowledge called Wikipedia. Now that you’ve clicked on that handy-dandy link I so graciously gave you and have glanced a bit at what Estonia is all about (and in case you didn’t read too far in, here’s an interesting fact I know you didn’t know just two seconds ago: Skype was created in and is largely still operated out of Estonia. The same developers were also behind Kazaa, if you’re enough of a veteran to know what that was), you may be wondering, “Whyyy Estonia?” with another raised brow.

One of mine and Whuzzerface’s sisters lived in Estonia for about a year and a half. She left for Estonia two years and two days ago exactly, so we thought we’d commemorate–if you will–the occasion with a week dedicated to music from Estonia. Don’t worry, it’s gonna be good. Estonia may be a teeny country but its artists’ have talent that is anything but. Let’s see if we can do this themed week properly this time! To start off, I’ll be highlighting the Estonian composer Rudolf Tobias. I only just learned about Tobias this week. I have not had the fortune of ever listening to any Estonian composers before because there simply aren’t that many of them. I have found many new interesting composers to look further into while preparing for this post, but unfortunately I will only have to share one with you for now. Estonia has a strong tradition of choral music (read a bit about their Singing Revolution against the Soviet Union) so I thought I’d share a choral piece. Usually I’m more of a fan of purely instrumental classical music, but this piece–translated (according to our sister) as Like the Deer Cries Out–is haunting and beautiful, a gorgeous requiem. Estonia has also had a history of being repressed, so I also kinda imagine that this song is them crying out like a deer, mourning what they’ve lost and yet still maintaining some hope for the future. Rudolf Tobias emerged as a composer during a time known as the Estonian national awakening, so this makes sense. Enjoy the moving piece below and keep a look out for other Estonian songs this week!