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jawnbcAfter many options and a fair bit of teeth gnashing, I have extended my trip to Europe by a massive 3 days. I'm jetting off to Tallinn Estonia, one of my 2 major Eurovision crushes (Malta being the other).
*squee*
I've been fascinated by Estonia for years, and Finland is largely to blame. In the years of the "official language rule" (when countries could only send songs in one of their offiicial languages) Finland did uniformly badly at the Eurovision, never placing higher than 6th and often placing near the bottom. Which I always assumed was about how Finnish sounds as a sung language. Then in rolls Estonia who, after a poor showing their first entry in 1994, goes on to a top 10 placing in all but one of the next 7 entries--including a win in 2001. Their entries in 1996 (5th), 97 (8th), 98 (13th) were all in Estonia. So I figured Finland wasn't being punished for the sound of Finnish so much as the sound of Finnish music. And the entrants for Estonia all seemed so nice and clean. Like my favourite Maarja, who's big in Japan and was signed to Geffen Records at one point:
It finished 8th, but if they had been permitted to use the English lyric - Hold on to Love - they might have won in 98. Wonder where I need to go tostalk run into her.
Estonia gained its independence from the former Soviet Union thanks to the pan-Baltic "Singing Revolution of 1987-1990. Estonia declared its independence in 1991 and gained membership in the European Union in 2004--an amazing accomplishment in just over a decade. Estonia gave us Skype and is giving us Joost as well. In fact, when I booked my flights on Estonian Air they asked for my Skype name--and you can Skype their reservations office!
How can anyone not love Estonia?
Tallinn apparently has a great old city (where I"m staying), vibrant café culture, and long sunny evenings in July. My accomodation (2 star) is a whopping €42 a night, right in the old town. I wonder how many CD shops there are?
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zurcherart take a couple of days off and come wit me! 9-12 July (Mon-Thur)!
*squee*
I've been fascinated by Estonia for years, and Finland is largely to blame. In the years of the "official language rule" (when countries could only send songs in one of their offiicial languages) Finland did uniformly badly at the Eurovision, never placing higher than 6th and often placing near the bottom. Which I always assumed was about how Finnish sounds as a sung language. Then in rolls Estonia who, after a poor showing their first entry in 1994, goes on to a top 10 placing in all but one of the next 7 entries--including a win in 2001. Their entries in 1996 (5th), 97 (8th), 98 (13th) were all in Estonia. So I figured Finland wasn't being punished for the sound of Finnish so much as the sound of Finnish music. And the entrants for Estonia all seemed so nice and clean. Like my favourite Maarja, who's big in Japan and was signed to Geffen Records at one point:
It finished 8th, but if they had been permitted to use the English lyric - Hold on to Love - they might have won in 98. Wonder where I need to go to
Estonia gained its independence from the former Soviet Union thanks to the pan-Baltic "Singing Revolution of 1987-1990. Estonia declared its independence in 1991 and gained membership in the European Union in 2004--an amazing accomplishment in just over a decade. Estonia gave us Skype and is giving us Joost as well. In fact, when I booked my flights on Estonian Air they asked for my Skype name--and you can Skype their reservations office!
How can anyone not love Estonia?
Tallinn apparently has a great old city (where I"m staying), vibrant café culture, and long sunny evenings in July. My accomodation (2 star) is a whopping €42 a night, right in the old town. I wonder how many CD shops there are?
Yo
zurcherart take a couple of days off and come wit me! 9-12 July (Mon-Thur)!
