Radical Runosong

by Vaim Sarv, Andreas Kalkun, Anne Türnpu

This book is about land and kin, dispossession and desire, solidarity and silence. It is a critical celebration of the oral tradition of runosong, a style of singing which has been practiced for centuries by Baltic Finnic peoples on the land now called Estonia and elsewhere. Featuring conversations with singers and folklorists Anne Türnpu, Andreas Kalkun, and Janika Oras, the compiled texts enact a fugitive search for historical consciousness by drawing upon the wealth of alternative vocal and somatic practices embedded in runosong. Working against the grain of Estonian nationalism and its Eurocentric tendencies, this involves mapping and resisting the ways in which divergent bodies, selves, and forms of physical sociality have been disci­plined through the interplay of brutality and privilege inherent to modernization. The book is a provocation, but one born out of love and a sense of obligation to the ancestors.

Genres: Queer

176 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2025

Reviews

[Marta Grünvald · Rating 4 out of 5]

tahaks nüüd laulda kohe

[hella · Rating 5 out of 5]

väga vajalik sytitav #kirjutasinsellestpikaltjaenameioskalyhidalt

[Getter Lauk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ladus, põnev ja kiire lugemine, ehk isegi liiga kiire.
Raamatu jooksul saab nii muuseas üle korrata tähtsaimad ajaloopunktid, rahvaluule olemuse ja kogumisloo, arhiivide tähtsused ja põhitõed. Tundub hea huvitekitaja ka teemaga mitte nii kursis olevale lugejale. Ja kahtlemata leidub mõtteainet ka valdkonnas tegutsejatele.

Mitmes kohas oleks tahtnud, et mõtteid veel edasi arendatakse, kohati sõitsid järgmised küsimused veidi vägivaldselt sisse. Kõik intervjueeritavad on ääretult põnevad isiksused ja erineva (ent samas ka sarnase) mõttemaailmaga. Siiski oleks nii väga tahtnud rohkemate inimeste mõtetega tutvuda - näiteks tekstis viidatud või mainitud Setomaaga seotud inimesed, koorides ja rühmades osalejad, metsalaulupeo rahvas, Viljandi kultuuriakadeemia "džäss- ja popistiilis lauljad" ja teised. Piirkondlikult jäi Setomaa hästi domineerivaks, mis on ka igati mõistetav ja loogiline, ent ühel hetkel tekkis tunne, et nüüd tahaks muudest piirkondadest ka kuulda. Jääb üle vaid loota, et jätkub jaksu veel inimesi kuulata ja mõtteid paberile seada.

[Linda Morel · Rating 5 out of 5]

hellal ja hoidval toonil kirja pandud "provokatsioon", soovitan soojalt. vestlus andreas kalkuniga oli vaieldamatu lemmik, nii silmiavav ja sisukas

[Cristian Gimeno · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book!!
Losing myself in the different points of view of Runosong has been a truly enriching experience.
I went to Tartu on erasmus in 2022 (I fell in love with the country and its culture) and in 2025 I went back for a few days to revisit my favorite places and cafes (thank Marina for making it possible), and while I was there I found this gem in a bookstore. I couldn't resist to buy it and it didn't disappoint.


My favorite quotes from the book are:

~ But since the older people were German speakers and the younger ones were Russian speakers then they started talking to each other in Estonian, in their own secret language. I really believe this saved the Estonian language and Estonian culture because we would have been Germanized in a flash and there wouldn't bear traces of us left.

~ Decolonization tells a different story about the world and involves living and acting in a way where you don't reinforce these constructed identities and borders, these structures which support a certain kind of conservative nationalism that, in the end, dispossesses us all.

~ War is war and in this light I'm happy for every person that sings. No matter how they do it, in this light every person who sings runosong is welcome and very necessary.

~ I have joined the Defence League and I am ready to protect my country. I'm 61 but maybe I can carry injured people or ammunition... I know that when war starts then I will put on my uniform, go to Plangu street, receive my instructions, and go to work. I won't go anywhere.

~ It's no longer possible to collect the folklore which I gathered five or ten years ago because those from people no longer exist, those villages and communities are no more.

~ For me, when it comes to folklore and singing traditions then working with old archives is important, but so is creating new ones and participating in the ongoing labor that comes along with that.

It's true that I've missed having a file or link where I can access these types of songs online, since foreigners aren't familiar with this folklore (I don't know if what comes up on google is really the type of runosong they're talking about).
In any case, I'm eagerly awaiting the next national festival to see if I can go!

[Kätlin Kaldmaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Väga head intervjuud. Ühes asjas tuleb Vaimule kiri saata :)

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book thoroughly, though it is rather a surprise that I enjoyed a book about folklore oral tradition as much as I did. I am not a folklore enthusiast, nor am I particularly interested in oral traditions in general, and I am also not Estonian, and I did not know anything about Estonian culture prior to reading this book. And yet, this book was such a pleasurable read, and I finished it really fast.

I have a few theories why. First, Vaim apparently knows how to write in a way that is captivating and easy to read. (The majority of the book is interviews, but still, Vaim had to edit them, because people are chaotic when they speak.) Second, the lenses through which the Estonian oral tradition of Runosong was viewed were particularly interesting for me - embodied praxis, queerness, and decolonization are topics that resonated with me deeply. Thirdly, the lightness of the interviews and the power of, for lack of better words, 'transcribed oral knowledge', made a very unfamiliar topic of particular folklore viewed through such challenging lenses - which would otherwise be very difficult to understand and probably also to read - thoroughly enjoyable and easy to digest. Lastly, I also appreciated the careful work with footnotes, which provided contextual grounding for any concrete references to people, cultural works, and historical events that are not broadly familiar to a wide audience. And, without exception, when I did not know something, I found a footnote that explained it. But the footnotes were not overused, so I ended up reading them all, because they were also thoroughly enjoyable to read.

In summary, I loved this book, cover to cover, fully, though I did not even know that Runosong was a thing before finding this book, randomly in an Estonian bookstore on my work trip.

[Liisi Laineste · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tihe regilaulu filosoofia teemaline polüloog, milles põimuvad autori üsna tugevad veendumused ja praktikute-teadlaste veidi ettevaatlikum nägemus. Meeldis lauluväge austav ja mitte liiga alasti kiskuv, kuid samas intiimne toon, Anne Türnpu mõtte vöö ja vöökoha tähtsusest (soomeugri?) rahvaste vanades lauludes, kontrastid ja järjepidevused laulmises läbi (võiks isegi öelda, et) aastatuhandete. Välismaalastele võibolla liiga esoteeriline lugemine, aga et ingliskeelseid raamatuid eesti kultuuri kohta on vähe, siis miks mitte?

[Margot Tropfen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vaimu ja Anne Türnpu vestus oli 5/5, väga soovitan seda lugeda

[Karmen-Eliise · Rating 5 out of 5]

ägedalt värske ja sütitav! mõnus õhtu-kahe intervjuudekogu