Communal Singing May No Longer Unites Baltic Peoples as Completely as It Did in the Past, New Study Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Nov. 12 – The role of communal singing in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the 1980s and 1990 was so great that their recovery of independence is often referred to as “the singing revolution.” But a new study suggests that such communal singing is no longer having the same unifying impact that it did then.

            That is the conclusion of a new study prepared by scholars at Denmark’s Aarhus University with the participation of researchers in all three Baltic countries and in the Scandinavian states as well (news.err.ee/1610193580/baltic-communal-singing-may-no-longer-bring-everyone-together-study-finds).

            At a time of crisis, the authors of the study say, peoples came together and overlooked both differences within their communities and the amount of talent any individual participant had as far as singing is concerned. But as crises have eased, the differences in the communities and the self-assessment of people as singers means that many no longer take part.

            The authors also found that older and poorer people were less inclined to take part because of the costs of transportation, and thus what many had assumed as a permanent part of the cultures of these countries is becoming less central than it was, although it survives and would likely reemerge with much the same force if a crisis arises.

            Indeed, while the study doesn’t stress this, the readiness of people in the Baltic countries to take part in communal singing may be an extremely useful barometer of how citizens feel their country is doing and whether they face a crisis now or in the future.