Songs Of Freedom

More than 70,000 Estonians gathered at Tallinn Song Festival Grounds Aug. 20 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the country’s restored independence from Soviet rule.

The international acts were headed by Sinead O’Connor, whose 1990 performance at the annual Rock Summer concert was canceled due to growing unrest.

Rein Lang, the former Rock Summer promoter and the first to bring international acts to Estonia, is now the country’s Minister of Culture.

The other acts on the six-hour show included Estonian pop star Kerli, who is currently based in the U.S., Latvian rock band Brainstorm, Finnish accordionist Kimmo Pohjonen and Norwegian Sami musician Mari Boine.