News
Culture Trove opened
13.07.2009
On July 2, a comprehensive information portal called the Culture Trove was launched through which it is possible to explore the roots of dance and song festivals, look up different folk instruments and national costumes and acquiant yourself with the holidays in the popular calendar.
It has taken five years to gather the database which is available at www.folk.ee/kultuurilaegas. "The idea to create a portal which would provide information about different spheres of folk culture was conceived when talks about adding the Estonian dance and song festivals to UNESCO's list of Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage started," explained the autor of the idea of the Culture Trove and its first editor in chief, the Head of the Esotnian Traditional Music Center Library Aleksander Sünter.
Starting from today, the portal is up and running and available for everyone. The site is divided into three sections with abundant explanatory material, photos, and archival data about folk songs and song festivals, folk dance and dance festivals, folk instruments and traditional music, national costumes and popular calendar holidays.
"The aim of the Culture Trove is to promote the idea that song and dance festivals are not simply borrowings from the Baltic-Germans but their roots lie deep inside our identity," said Aleksander Sünter. "Estonians love to think of themselves as a singing and dancing nation. What did this mean to the generations before us? What kind of dances did they dance and songs did they sing? Why? When? Where? Through the Culture Trove, we hope to contribute to people's knowledge about the roots of their identity and make them see the value of being a bearer of that culture."
The current editor in chief of the Culture Trove is Taive Särg, who is a senior researcher at the Estonian Literary Musem and an ethnomusicologist. Different sections are edited by Mall Hiiemäe, Ellen Värv, Maie Orav, Kristin Kuutma, and Raivo Sildoja.
The content of the Culture Trove is currently available only in Estonian, but the English and Russian versions will soon follow. The Culture Trove was launched by NGO Tartumaa Rahvakultuuri Keskselts in cooperation with NGO Estonian Traditional Music Center. The project was funded by UNESCO and Tiger Leap Foundation and carried out by Exact.