Culture, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Forum, Technology

"We will be happy with 10,000 to 100,000 singers participating in the digital song festival and any number above it will be miracle," festival organiser and TV producer Artur Talvik told AFP.

Choirs are to sing eight songs beloved by Estonians at traditional song festivals held every five years since 1869, writes LETA.

The event, which will have its central location at the Friendship Park in Poltsamaa, between the capital Tallinn and Estonia's second largest city Tartu, marks the 19th anniversary of the restoration of Estonia's independence.

This came after the failed coup in Moscow in August 1991.

The festival is also being organised "to combine the two things that have made a name for Estonia globally," Talvik said, "its IT innovations and long tradition of song festivals".

"The idea might have sounded crazy, but I quickly got a plan to use digital means to make it happen," Talvik said, who was approached with the idea by popular Estonian entertainer Arlet Palmiste.

Estonia's Kanal 2 TV is also to have live transmissions from 100 spots all over the country allowing TV viewers to follow the event, and the broadcast will be aired live on a huge open air screen in Tallinn, organisers say.

Anyone who wants to sing along can register on the web at www.elion.ee/laulmine.

"We hope many Estonians living abroad – there over 100,000 of them – will join the digital song festival too," Talvik said.

Practically anyone around the world could do so, he said, "but as the songs are in Estonian, that will be a limitation this time."