Longing for a place that does not exist: the importance of kitsch for the Estonian Singing Revolution

ABSTRACT

This article proposes that popular forms of art and affect-driven culture initiate historical, cultural, and social change. The Estonian Singing Revolution between 1987 and 1991 offers an example of cliché-driven sentimentalism that contributes to political change. Although the concept of kitsch tends to have a negative connotation, in this article, we reconsider it as a politically productive concept, by contemplating its affective powers in creating a sense of nationhood. We do so by providing an example of how some musical aspects of the Singing Revolution became important elements of affective nation-building to gain independence from the Soviet Union.

KEYWORDS:

• Kitsch
• the Singing Revolution
• affect
• Estonia
• nationalism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The first wave of national awakening in Estonia in the mid-nineteenth century coincided with the wider tendency in Europe at that time to form national identities. In a similar manner, leaders of the Estonian national awakening sought cultural autonomy from Tsarist Russia and worked toward creating a sense of nationhood. Lydia Koidula and his father Johann Voldemar Jannsen were key figures in contributing to the emergence of national awareness and self-definition in Estonia. They organized the first song festival in Estonia in 1869. The song festival tradition became one of the most important aspects in defining the sense of what it means to be Estonian. For a history of the festivals see: https://2019.laulupidu.ee/en/history/. See also Epp Annus’s (2017, 2019).

2. For the most influential definitions of nationalism, see, for example, Hans Kohn (1965) and Anthony D. Smith (2001).

3. See, for example, Marc Antonsich and Michael Skey (2020), Tim Edensor (2002), Jon E. Fox and Cynthia Miller-Idriss (Fox and Miller-Idriss 2008), and Skey (2011a).

4. See Epp Annus (2019) and Piret Peiker (2016) for further discourse on the history of song festivals and their role in forming a sense of affective belonging to the nation, and why this was important in building an independent republic. See also 2009).

5. For discussions about the role of grassroots movements and the political, economic, and cultural influence of glasnost and perestroika, see, for example, Tõnu Tannberg (2005), Epp Annus (2016, Annus 2017, 2019Annus, 2019), and Rein Taagepera (1993).

6. ‘The Five Fatherland Songs’ (Kulka 1988) included ‘Kaunimad laulud’ (Friedrich August Saebelmann, V. Ruubel, Alo Mattiisen, and Jüri Leesment), ‘Mingem üles mägedele’ (Karl August Hermann, Mihkel Veske, A. Mattiisen, and Henno Käo), ‘Sind surmani’ (Aleksander Kunileid, Lydia Koidula, A. Mattiisen, and J. Leesment), ‘Isamaa ilu hoieldes’ (K. A. Hermann, A. Mattiisen, F. R. Kreutzwald, and J. Leesment), and ‘Eestlane olen ja eestlaseks jään’ (A. Mattiisen and J. Leesment).A clip from the festival can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPMUFCDSEe4.

7. See these videos for a performance from the Rock Summer and the Tartu Music Days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaGt_FJeKK0; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUPQPwaZk5I. This website conveys the atmosphere and type of sentimental and performatively rebellious rock music that was played at these events: http://www.rocksummer.ee/en/history/1989-#tab-meedia-ja-kajastused.

8. For history of the concept until the 1980s, see Matei Călinescu’s (1987). For the follow up, and the late turns, see, for example, Emmer (1998) and Max Ryynänen (2018).

9. On class, gender and ethnicity in the art system see Ryynänen (2020).

10. On the ‘sweetness’ of kitsch, see, for example, Kathleen Higgins (2011).

11. For a discussion of the term ‘camp,’ see Susan Sontag (1966).

12. To our knowledge, kitsch in music has not been defined to the same extent as visual culture, although we often use the word kitsch when describing music.

13. See endnotes 15 and 20.

14. See endnote 7.

15. The songs ‘Holding the Beauty of the Fatherland’ and ‘The most Beautiful Songs’ have kept their original lyrics as the meaning conveys the fight against oppression and the appreciation of the homeland in both eras of national awakening without recycling. The latter is still performed mostly by choirs, whereas ‘Holding the Beauty of the Fatherland’ is performed both by choirs and pop singers. Due to this, a longer analysis of the lyrics of these songs is left out of this article.

16. Available at: https://www.ut.ee/verse/index.php?&m=authors&aid=6&obj=poems&apid=391.

17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PADZOsjdpS4. It is beyond the scope of this article to dwell on the patriarchal and heteronormative ideas of gender roles these lyrics construct, but it is worth pointing out that many of the lyrics depict the nation as based on heteronormative family models.

18. The lyrics are taken from the 2014 song festival, they are sometimes altered. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PADZOsjdpS4.

19. Ivo Linna, ‘Mingem üles mägedele (Peatage Lasnamäe).’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6-jnxtQjBc.

20. Lasnamäe was at the time and still is a district in Tallinn largely inhabited by a Russian-speaking population. The ‘wandering immigrant’ is mostly likely associated, in these lyrics, with ethnic Russians.

21. See, for example, the following clip with Ivo Linna and In Spe in 1988): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcf7it9O0OU.

22. It is worth noting that this song also provides grounds for contemplating how the reference to great-grandfathers who were free and with whom the singer wants to identify creates a sense of a patriarchal line, generating an image of the nation as an entity produced by men. It is, however, beyond the scope of this article to dwell on that in greater detail.

23. Annus’s (2017, 148) points out the ‘German-style choral song with its four-part harmonies – quite different from Baltic folksong tradition – inspired a “new tradition” in Estonian and Latvian choral singing.’ The references to nature and folklore, however, still provide interesting routes for contemplating what ‘country’ means for Estonians.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Estonian Research Council [SJD3]; Estonian Research Council [PRG934]

Notes on contributors

Max Ryynanen

Max Ryynanen is Senior Lecturer in Theory of Visual Culture at Aalto University, Finland. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Popular Inquiry: The Journal of the Aesthetics of Kitsch, Camp and Mass Culture (with Jozef Kovalcik) and The Journal of Somaesthetics (together with Richard Shusterman and Falk Heinrich). For more information, see: http://maxryynanen.net/

Eret Talviste

Eret Talviste is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Tartu, working on a project 'Women, Nations, and Affect: The Importance of Leida Kibuvits' Writing in the Context of Transnational Modernisms.' Her work on intimacy, feminism, and literature has appeared in various Estonian cultural magazines and international journals such as CAPACIOUS: Journal for Emerging Affect Inquiry, English: Journal of the English Association, and the Virginia Woolf Miscellany.