ABSTRACT
On the 23rd of August, 2014 Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Baltic Way, a human chain in which two million people had joined hands from Tallinn to Vilnius to show the region's solidarity and draw international attention to the political situation of the Baltics under the Soviet Union. Tallinn commemorated the anniversary with an event on the Freedom Square, during which photographs from 1989 were shown, and popular artists performed well-known national songs that mobilized Estonians in the late 80s for the civic movement popularly called ‘the Singing Revolution’. The second part of the event was a concert of two Estonian bands, one of them Metsatöll, an internationally recognized folk metal band active for almost 20 years. Heavy metal music, although a big music market, is usually considered underground, alternative and absent from mainstream radio stations. It is often associated with massive sound, amplified distortion of guitars and hyper masculinity of the musicians. Having such a picture in mind, I was surprised when I saw how enthusiastic the audience was when listening to Metsatöll on the anniversary concert. Although the event took place in a concert hall in Tallinn where the audience was supposed to sit, many people stood up, danced and sang along, proving that Metsatöll's music is known well beyond metal fans. The band uses traditional folk instruments and the lyrics of their songs often talk about Estonian heritage and the national past. Having toured abroad, in particular with Scandinavian folk metal bands, it is presented as a modern adaptation of Estonian folk music, which has long been a cornerstone of Estonian national identity narrative.
