Sex, drugs & rock’n’roll!
Well, except for sex and drugs, and more folk than rock. But otherwise: yeaaa, hardcore, party on, woohoo – and all that jazz. You get the picture.
Jaani and I went to Värska to pre-check out the boogie for the actual trip. The location was not randomly picked: the annual Seto Folk -festival is one of the biggest Seto culture music festivals in Estonia (and definitely the biggest one in Värska) so we just couldn’t miss the opportunity to meet and greet Setos while dancing a little dance, jamming a little jam.
So we hopped onto a train in Tallinn, hopped onto another in Tartu, hopped onto a mini bus in Ilumetsa and a while later there we were: in the heart of Setomaa, under green leaves and next to water so blue, you could see your Finnish reflection from it (Btw. Finns don’t see their reflection. This is a little known fact. We’re more or less vampires with pure alcohol running through our põder-veins. Sigh.)
Kairi, our contact person in Värska, was immediately there to meet us. This ace of a person took us immediately to meet people, drove us around Setomaa, was our interpreter, and made sure we were having a good time. Oh boy, we did. Jaani and I just followed her and tried to remember all the nice people, Setos, Estonians and internationals she introduced us to.
Tere tere, nimi on Jonne, nimi on Jaani, tsau, kuula meil on üks asi, meeldiv tutvuda, pagana pihta, oleme soomlasi, kena päevajätku, mul on kõrvetised.
For me it was fun to run around and try to speak Estonian, which I haven’t used for a while. I had my highest moment of my Estonian-speaking self-esteem, when one person said to me: ”Oh, you speak good Estonian! That’s wonderful! Your accent is very close to natives… when they’re drunk.” That was the greatest compliment I have heard!
Seto Folk was not just about Seto music, but about other Finno-Ugric cultures too. Nearly every Finno-Ugric culture was present, and visitors had the chance to familiarise themselves with them by joining all sorts of Finno-Ugric workshops over the weekend. We also seized the day and took two workshops, a Seto Leelo (men’s) choir workshop plus the Seto language workshop.
With the music one it all came clear to me: Leelo is hard! It’s not just your average every day folk, where you sing nicely in easy harmonies and try to sound (and look) like Bob Dylan. Nope, nope, nope. This polyphonic (Unesco preserved) singing tradition goes in tunes I don’t have words for. Needless to say Lönnroots is going to plunge deep into the Leelo tradition next week.
The Seto Language workshop consisted mainly of the teacher’s introduction to the language (in Seto) with examples and differences with the Estonian language. The most interesting question arose in midst of all that: turns out that kids are taught Seto in schools (though in classes only, the schools itself aren’t Seto speaking), but that’s about it: fewer and fewer kids use Seto in their everyday lives. This is another thing we’re going to go and try to explore more.
And so we ran around again. Ran, met people, ran again, met some more people, listened to Leelo choirs and bands, met people – until we we’re pulled aside by marvellous Mordvins.
It all happened so sudden. Jaani and I just stood there, while three men asked us to raise our hands and shut our eyes. And so they started to wish us well in, asking god(s) good luck for our journey, singing and going around us in a circle.
We were stunned. In a good way, obviously.
– Jonne
