Photos: Play at the heart of Võro-language song festival Uma Pido
After a six-year hiatus, Saturday saw the return of the Võro-language song and folk festival Uma Pido. This year, a record nearly 3,900 performers took the stage at Põlva's Intsikurmu Festival Grounds for the VI Uma Pido.
Singers, dancers and musicians from Old Võromaa and beyond performed 17 brand new works that had been commissioned especially for the festival.
The festival program also featured poet Contra's Võro-language about play and playing. Play was the main theme of the VI Uma Pido, highlighted for connecting people to their roots and helping keep their traditions alive.
"We're using old folk games here – traditional ones that have been played for hundreds of years already and which for some reason hidden within them are still played and bring us joy today," said VI Uma Pido director Diana Leesalu. "They can be played with absolutely no ulterior motive or purpose – the only purpose can just be to experience joy and have fun."
First held in Kubija, on the outskirts of Võru, in 2008, the festival, which now alternates between Põlva and Võru, helps both preserve and promote Võro artists' work.
Saturday's program included 22 choral works, including the 17 specially commissioned pieces. These completed new works also serve to give good insight into what the Võro people have on their minds these days.
"What's on the Võro people's minds is whether we will survive, whether the Võro language will survive, whether the beautiful land here and nature surrounding us will survive," said songwriter and Uma Pido soloist Mari Kalkun.
"What's on our minds is that [we] need to play more – that life should involve more play," Contra, also a soloist at Saturday's festival, likewise stressed.
Uma Pido is also considered the world's biggest gathering of Võro speakers and fans alike. European Choir of Estonians member Indrek Pinsel, for example, had traveled from Barcelona to attend the event. Asked what brought him here, Pinsel said, "Well, you know, I think this here is a bit more genuine than the really big Song Festival, and, well, my grandmother was also from Rõuge. So several things, maybe."
Saturday's festival featured interlude sound design by Ardo Ran Varres, orchestral conducting by Riivo Jõgi and solo performances by Meelis and Meelika Hainsoo, Mari Kalkun, Contra, Hilje Murel and Andres Mähar.
Click here to read more about Uma Pido.
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Editor: Mait Ots, Aili Vahtla
