Calella: Tape One
Euroopa Eestlaste Koor will record a film to promote the heritage of Estonian culture
In less than two weeks the 5th Canta al mar – Festival Coral Internacional will begin. 49 choirs from 24 nations will share music and traditions from their home countries. The Euroopa Eestlaste Koor (The European Choir of Estonians) is one of the participating choirs and will gain its first ever festival experiences in Calella.
The choir consists of singers from up to 15 countries which meet only 3-4 times a year at workshops or small meetings. The joint rehearsals thus prove to be an organizational challenge and the singers must be prepared to rehearse independently from sheet music or recordings. Therefore, it is much more gratifying that the choir will be celebrating its 10th anniversary next year. On this occasion the Euroopa Eestlaste Koor will record a video film about the importance of singing to promote the heritage of Estonian language and culture. The recordings will also take place during the Canta al mar festival.
"We have been dreaming about a professional film for 5 years – not only a chronicle for ourselves but a film for introducing Estonian singing culture to other European countries as well as to show the Estonians how the expats keep the culture traditions alive" said Anneli Aken, singer of the Euroopa Eestlaste Koor.
The film deals not only about the experiences during the Canta al mar festival but it rather captures moments over a longer period. It will include interviews with singers from different generations up to ten families which have brought their teenage kids to the choir.
"Singing is very important not only on musical matters but in developing the Estonian language skills, otherwise the children would just stop talking Estonian as they spend most of their everyday life speaking German, French, English, Finnish, Spanish, Luxembourgish etc. We also have some foreign male singers who speak almost fluent Estonian. So the importance of singing will be mirrored from different generations and nations as well as from the Estonians who are born outside Estonia."
It seems to be an exciting video project and we are more than curious about the video result!
But first: See you in Calella!
