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President of the Republic at the XXIII All-Estonian Song Festival on July 3, 1999
03.07.1999

Dear Estonian people, dear guests!

President of the Republic at the XXIII All-Estonian Song FestivalIt has been the custom lately to say that song festivals are already outdated.

Thank you all for proving that foolish talk wrong with your presence here! A thousand thanks to you from all my heart!

A song festival has never been up-to-date, as a song festival is not a matter of fashion. A song festival is a matter of the heart. Like the Estonian language and mentality, like love. Fashions come and go, but the nation stays and the state remains. Songs have been our weapons, song festivals our victories. This chain of songs started already in the ancient times and brought us together to Tartu for the first all-Estonian song festival a hundred and thirty years ago. We sang the national anthem of Estonia sacred already before the Republic of Estonia.

Today, a hundred and thirty years and two days later, we started our all-Estonian song festival with the national anthem again. But we are still faced with the task of building up our state to our common support and joy. The song festival and our beautiful summer have brought to Estonia a lot of people that are used to referring to themselves as expatriate Estonians, as their home is in some other country. Before the beginning of the great singing I would like to tell you: today we are all together and at home here. Political exile of Estonians, where the question was about life or death, is over now. Today Estonia needs each pair of hands so that it could become such a country that has always stayed in our hearts.

It has already changed a little. I am glad to say that the Estonian homes and villages, schools and plants have gone along with the initiative of putting homes in order. The face of our homeland has become more beautiful. When I gave out prizes at Paide on Midsummer Eve, I was asked about the motto of the next year of putting homes in order. I repeat this motto here, as it concerns all of us: let us scrub Estonia clean with the brush! Let it be a call to spiritual pureness of Estonia and the creativity of Estonia, at same time to the awakening of the sense of ownership, so that we could sing with the following words: it is nice to live here!

My dear singers, young and old!

It is the time to sing today, but Monday will be the time to work and think again. I have addressed you from here for three times and today I am speaking to you for the last time. Therefore I would like to say what I will be thinking about. Before the night song festivals I told you about young people and the housing situation of young families. Now Estonia is already on the other shore, now it is time to say: let us get to it! Let us set up the new housing foundation for young people and give young people the opportunity to move to their own home and bring up their children. The next century will be waiting for new children's choirs, the world will be waiting for new Estonian music. Lets get to it!

We will get to it all right, but how?
Singing!

Estonia is a country where a song makes hearts beat and pulls all the wires!
Long live our songs and composers, long live our poets, conductors, long live our old and young that have kept up the fire of songs that is burning today!

My dear, good participants in the all-Estonian song festival! To the audience and singers, to us all and to the whole world that has turned its glances towards Estonia: thank you!

 

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