“At the time being, every twentieth Estonian is the member of a coir. There is a tradition of yearly song festivals in every district and town. Every five years, a republican song festival is held. At those national song festivals, old Tallinn is invaded by thousands over thousands of singers, folk-dancers and orchestra players, all dressed up in picturesque national costumes. At the Jubilee Song Festival, there were 30 thousands participants, and the number of the audience exceeded 200 thousand.”
– G. Olevsoo, Soviet Estonia, Publishing House Eesti Raamat, Tallinn, 1971
