Laulupidu and E STuudio friends

Such an incredible experience

As I sit alone in my hostel and write on this overcast Canadian morning, I'm blown away by how much I love music. E STuudio, a youth choir from Tartu, Estonia, is rehearsing Tormis outside of my window.

UPDATE: They've now moved into a collection of songs by Eric Whitacre, and I'm melting here.

They're a pretty special group of what seem to be high school age kids with some incredible talent. We first met them at the Laulupidu rehearsal on our first day here in Whistler, and found it difficult to become friends. For the most part, the Estonians here seem to find us as an object of curiosity; a group of non-Estonians who look nothing like Estonians but can sing like Estonians. Our solo concert was well attended, and our director tells us that there was a movement to repeat the concert.

E STuudio, though were a different bunch. At times, the West Coast Estonian days can feel a little closed to us because we're NOT Estonian by birth. The older crowd and the communal Estonians from around the US and Canada have bonded well with us over the years, but there are parts of the LEP celebration which aren't as open to us and it -- at times -- feels as though we are an oddity.

E STuudio with muusika. #unistus15 #lep2015

A photo posted by John Howard (@jowardhoward) on Aug 7, 2015 at 2:22pm PDT

The first few times our choir members tried reaching out to the youth choir, we hit a brick wall. I finally got the chance to talk to their assistant -- a tall, graceful and talented director -- in the few minutes after the opening gala on Thursday evening.

Yesterday, in the events surrounding the Laulupidu performance, our choirs finally made a connection. The performers changed in rooms in the basement of the Whistler Conference Center, and so we Unistus men and the singers from E STuudio were grouped with one another.

It might have been the magic of Laulupidu which pushed us together.

For me, it was an especially emotional time. During rehearsals, our director Lonnie Cline told the group to sing 'Ta Ledab' as though it were either the first time they'd sung it or the very last time. As Laulupidu rolled into the classic favorites -- Ilus Maa and others -- it dawned on me that this might be my last chance to sing with the Estonians. Moving to Grants Pass will be difficult enough, but having to leave my choir and this culture will be heartbreaking. Tears were had, especially when we all raised our little Eesti flags at the end of the final song.

A few minutes later as we went downstairs to change back into our street clothes, I asked one of the EST basses about the Tormis song they had sung that evening. At the end of the song, the group broke apart into little sections, drifted into the audience and created an incredible atmosphere, surrounding the concert-goers with music and girls in bumblebee dresses. The bass and I got to talking about the different Tormis songs we both knew, and discovered we were both scheduled for "pop up singing," which was a collection of Tormis in honor of the composer's 85th birthday.

About an hour passed, and the two groups crammed into one of the hotel restaurants and traded songs for a time, finishing with Valss and Tuljak, which we sang together before the hotel kicked us out to wander the streets again. We're still not the best of friends, but I think the experience of singing together and having one final performance in Vancouver at the Chan Centre on the horizon have helped to bond us with music -- at least a little bit.

Friday was capped with a night around a fire on one of the many beautiful patios here in Whistler. I had already sampled a few excellent local brews, and jokingly asked the waitress if I could have a bendy straw in my next drink. Shortly thereafter, she came back with a bottle of pear cider complete with a bendy straw which she had made by cutting a straw and taping it in place. Then she told me a joke about cats, and for those of you who know me well enough...

We arrived back at our hostel fairly late, but happy having had the best day of the tour so far. Now, Saturday, we have a free day. There is a dance festival this afternoon which we can attend if we so choose, and there might be plans to visit a sauna later in the evening. One final day in beautiful Whistler.

Mountain meadow

Thursday

This post will be a little short, as we haven't got much time before meeting the vans and heading to our final Laulupidu rehearsal.

Yesterday was fantastic.

I woke up with cool mountain air drifting in through my window, shortly followed by the sounds of the Saaremaa mees koor rehearsing a few floors below. We made our way down the mountain to the theatre in town for a quick warm up, and put on a fantastic concert for a rather enthused group of mostly older Estonians.

The final song, Bridge Over Troubled Waters, is a stunner. Always has been. It drew a pretty touching response from our audience, which was followed by a stop at the nearby Olympic rings from the 2010 games for a photo.

Afterwards, we stopped back at the hostels to grab our things, and set out for a free afternoon. I switched groups a handful of times, but managed to enjoy the best IPA I've ever had, some solid mac & cheese and a ice cream at a corner shop by the small artificial river that flows through the village.

We made a few final purchases, and two friends and I decided to forego a taxi ride back up the mountain in favor of walking. We explored part of the upper village and discovered an adorable pond at the base of the town-bound river before heading across a covered bridge and making for our hillside homes.

The trek up the mountain was breathtaking -- in more ways than one. It was steep, basically a straight shot alongside one of the chair lifts. Behind us, as the village grew more distant, the incredible sunset became more visible.

The sun began to slide behind the hills across the valley, shooting lines through the mountain air. Wildflowers dotted the meadow. It was beautiful, and I'll definitely be making the climb again.

The evening was finished off with time spent among friends, dancing our worries away before skipping back to our own rooms before lights out.

Today, which I think is Friday -- I've lost track already -- includes one more rehearsal for Laulupidu, and then the celebration itself at 1 p.m. Tonight, we'll have a little more free time to enjoy the company of our fellow magic-makers. Terviseks!

Room Five

A quick disclaimer before we get started: internet access has been spotty, and we've been on the run. Pardon the Eesti-vomit.

The view from our hotel in Vancouver

Monday

There isn't much to say about our drive north from Portland to Vancouver except to set up what was to happen much later in the day. As we were getting ready to cross the border, shutting off our phones and reaching into the vault for Canadian jokes, it became clear that we all seemed to have the idea in our heads that Canadians were nice people who liked free beer, jelly doughnuts and said 'eh?' after every other word.

The crossing was uneventful, and a little more than an hour afterward we eventually found our lodging at the beautiful University of British Columbia, which sits northwest of Vancouver itself. Our dorms had stunning views of the city, the mountains and the sea which proved to make each moment by the window a breathtaking experience.

The group went out for dinner at an Irish pub – seemingly a tradition when it comes to Eesti tours – and returned to the dorms hoping to get rest and prepare for a long week of music. A friend and I decided we hadn't had enough of the city, and went back in search of other things to do. Eventually, we found ourselves back in the same pub seated at the bar next to a handful of Canadian gentlemen who had heard us singing in the pub a few hours before.

We got to talking – them in their perfect Canadian accents, eh? – and got the chance to tell them about who we were and why we celebrated the Estonian culture. We gave them an invitation to our Tuesday concert, but I didn't think much of it.

The small sanctuary in St. Anslem's

Tuesday

The second day of our tour began with an early breakfast, and an excursion to Stanley Park. It's about as tourist-y as Vancouver BC gets, packed with buses of Asian visitors, bicycles and vacationing east-coasters. The aquarium was too expensive for us cheap choir kids, so we wandered down to a collection of totem poles near the edge of the park.

A short distance away was a small lighthouse which you could walk underneath, and a plaza offering solid views of the bay. A handful of choir members collected in the archway under the lighthouse and sang 'Set me as a seal,' a sacred piece whose message is that love is stronger than death. It wasn't a perfect rendition, but there was a little magic in it. A few tourists gathered and watched curiously, snapping a few photos while we sang and looking on with interest.

Later in the evening, we changed into our concert gear and set out for the rather tiny St. Anslem's Church just a few minutes from the UBC campus. It's an a-frame with no more than 20 rows of pews, and while we warmed up the staff of the church busied themselves preparing refreshments for a post-concert reception. Meanwhile, we couldn't get our act together. We were out of tune and frustrated, eventually shifting our formation in a desperate attempt to pull things into place before our small crowd arrived.

But when the concert began, we entered room five. You'd have had to sung with Lonnie Cline about four years ago to entirely understand, but we used to talk about how one room was notes and rhythms, one was balance, blend and pitch, another was phrasing and dynamics and so fourth. The final room was room five, and that was where magic happened. Somewhere between our horrible warm ups and the concert, we entered room five. It was a special experience, and talking with our concert goers afterward was touching.

The opening Gala at the Whistler Conference Center

Wednesday

This day was a tough one. I woke up late, and didn't have time for any breakfast other than a granola bar before hopping in a friend's car and heading out for Whistler. It's about a two hour drive, one filled with absolutely stunning views of the British Columbia countryside – but that word doesn't begin to describe what we saw.

The highway winds its way up into the mountains, passing sheer cliffs of granite and bright blue rivers and lakes before eventually dropping into Whistler itself. The village, which hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics, is equally opulent. The conference center sits near the main highway, with a collection of unbelievably nice hotels surrounding a central collection of shops and overpriced restaurants.

We dropped our things at the “Home” hostel and went down for the Laulupidu rehearsal. There we met many of the faces and voices we have come to know over the years. The Portland Estonians were loving as always, and it was touching to talk with a few Estonians from Toronto and to see those from Seattle and San Francisco as well.

The rehearsal was normal, at least to us, and afterward we walked to the conference center to prepare for the opening gala. The building is special. There's a huge fireplace at the front, and massive wooden beams stretching down the building's length.

Later in the evening, after a few Eesti-English speeches, a group of local native dancers performed for us. They sang their native songs, and talked about how their culture came together to celebrate with music and dance – just as they Estonians do. They ended their set by getting the audience of over 500 to stand and dance like animals, which was an entertaining sight.

In the second half of the Gala, we stepped on stage in front of a line of Estonian flags while a duet of a violin and piano played on a raised stage. We sang two songs, one by Veljo Tormis and the other a national favorite: Ta lendab mesipu poole. One of the last times I can remember our choir singing the song to an Estonian audience was our first concert on Saaremaa last summer, and it was magical. This rendition brought a similar response, and I will always remember a little old man who bounced when he clapped as we walked off stage.

Wednesday was capped with a strange attempt at finding breakfast food for the next morning, fare only available at a late-night convenience store. We arrived back at our hostel, which has signs posted reminding patrons to close ground-level doors behind them so wildlife (bears) won't come in and explore.