Conference From Desperation to Hope: The Meanings and Effect of Group Singing

The conference From Desperation to Hope: Meanings and Effect of Group Singing was held at the Estonian Literary Museum in Tartu from November 29 to December 1, 2022. Folklorists, ethnomusicologists, and heritage scholars discussed various aspects of the impact of group singing in times of communal crisis. Research ranged from traditional communal singing of different ethnic and social groups to participatory long-distance singing in the context of the Covid pandemic. In her presentation Singing out the Strange Days, Marjeta Pisk, a member of the Heritage on the Margins programme group, presented various modalities of group singing in Slovenia during World War I, World War II, and the recent Covid pandemic. In addition to the presentations, participants also attended a seminar in Setomaa on the heritage-making of the Seto ethnic minority living in both Estonia and Russia.