Salisbury has TWO international sister cities. In 1933 we entered into a relationship with our name sake, Salisbury, Wiltshire in England. Since 1999 we have added the the second largest city of Estonia, Tartu, a university town of 100,000. Many of our members in the SCS toured the United Kingdom in 1998 with the Chesapeake Chorale and sang in the Salisbury Cathedral where we were greeted by the Mayoress.
Lately, more interest in our relationship with Tartu has surfaced, particularly in light of the wonderful film "The Singing Revolution". The Salisbury Wicomico Arts Council in cooperation with representatives from Salisbury University have expressed a desire to video a group of Salisbury singers doing the anthems used in "The Singing Revolution" as a gift from here. We were asked to lead that effort. We have gotten a recording and some basic notes to the songs and will begin learning it after our concerts are out of the way. The notes are easy - the language is not.
Because Estonia has been under the influence - actually occupied - by neighboring countries, both Finnish and Sweedish factor into their culture and language. Estonia was under Russian domnation for a number of years in the twentieth century.
I feel like this unique project will be very exciting for you and an opportunity to participate in something a bit out of the ordinary. I am not completely sure of the time frame but I would like to learn the songs and record it over the course of the summer. For scheduling purposes, I will pin folks down to dates ASAP.
