In this episode we speak with a representative from Estonia's quinquennial Song and Dance Festival one of the largest of its kind in the world. Maris shares personal memories of how students in the late 1980s stood up to Soviet uniformed authorities and refused to stop singing. We address:

• what differentiates this festival from others of its kind?
• what place this festival has in the collective memory and identity of Estonians?
• How has recent global instability and the conflict over Ukraine impacted the festival?
• where does mass singing come from and what effect does it have on the body and mind?

The Estonian Song and Dance Festival, the largest of its kind in Europe, with over ten thousand dancers and thirty thousand choral singers, is an astonishing presentation of mass from one of the smalle ...