Learning Estonian through Songs - Song Festival Edition
The cultural highlight of the summer and possibly the year was the Estonian Song and Dance Festival, which took place in Tallinn from 3-7 July 2025. After six years, the singers, dancers, composers and choreographers were itching to put on a show for the tens of thousands of people who came to view the festivities and those who followed along thanks to the live streams online or on TV.
In the spirit of celebrating music, we invite you to use the Song Festival songs as a way to improve your Estonian pronunciation and vocabulary. We have selected one song from the festival called Lillivalts and translated it into English so the lyrics can be understood.
Lillivalts (officially Lillevalss or Flower Waltz) is a special song because it has usually been performed in Estonian. For this Song Festival, Mari Metsoja translated the text into the mulgi dialect. This dialect is spoken in the Mulgimaa region situated close to the city of Viljandi. You can see a map of where the Mulgi language is mostly spoken below.
You can listen to the Estonian version here and the mulgi dialect version performed by a choir here.
You might also notice that some parts of the Estonian lyrics also include some influence from the dialect such as pääl (peal) sääl (seal), hää (hea). We have also marked those and translated other parts to written and general spoken Estonian.
Ütskord ammu olsi poiss = Ükskord ammu oli poiss
Kes aina kõndis aasa pääl
Aasa päält ta leidis endal
Lilled rõõmsad, marjad hääd
Lillte kohtal lendvad linnud = Lillede kohal lendavad linnud
Pääsud, sirtsud sõbrad tal
Kastevesi ojas voolas
Kiirelt mööda vulinal
Sääl me poiss siis seni kõndis
Üksi ootas loojangut
Kuni pruudi leidis endal
Lilleõiest kollasest
Lilleneiu oli oodanud oma õies päevi kuid
Kaunis õis kuid ikka vangla
Ta tahtis näha pilte muid
Nõnda taevas luges pilvi
Vihmapiisku linnusuid
Ja siis järsku märkas silmi
merehalle sinakaid
Nii me poiss ja lilleneiu
Üksteist leidsid aasa pääl
Et ei üksi kumbki noor
Nüüd enam kõndima pea sääl
//
Once upon a time, long ago, there was a boy
Who was always walking on the heath
From the heath he found himself
Flowers happy, berries sweet
Birds flying over the flowers
Swallows, grasshoppers as his friends
The dewwater in the stream flowed
Swiftly along bubbling
And there our boy walked till now
Waiting for the sunset
Till he found a bride
from the yellow flower blossom
The flower maiden had waited in her bloom for days, months
A beautiful bloom but still a prison
She wanted to see other pictures
So in the sky she counted the clouds
Raindrops, bird mouths
And then suddenly she noticed
Sea-gray, bluish
So our boy and flower girl
Found each other in the heath
So that neither young person
Has to walk alone there anymore
Here are the full lyrics of the mulgi dialect version. As you can see this special version is a bit longer as some parts are repeated in the end.
Ütskord ammu olsi poiss
Kes iki kõndse niidu pääl
Niidu päält ta lösö endel
lilli rõõmsad marja hääd
Lillte kohtal lendvad linnud
Pääsud sirtsud sõbrad tal
Sõgevesi ojas justse
Kiirelt mööda vulike
Sääl me poiss sis seni kõndse
ütsi uut päeväveerikut
Kuni noorigu löüd endel
Lilliäidsmest kõllatsest
Sääl me poiss sis seni kõndse
ütsi uut päeväveerikut
Kuni noorigu löüd endel
Lilliäidsmest kõllatsest
Lillineiu oli uute oma äidsmes päevi kuid
Uhke äidse iki vangla
Ta taht näta pilte muid
Ninda taiva luges pilvi
Vihmapiisku linnusuid
Ja siis äkki märkas silmi
merehalle sinisi
Nii me poiss ja lillineiu
Üksteist leidsid niidu pääl
Ninda ütsi keegi noore
enämb kõndme pia sääl
Nii me poiss ja lillineiu
Üksteist leidsid niidu pääl
Ninda ütsi keegi noore
enämb kõndme pia sääl
Lillipoiss ja lillineiu
Sääl me poiss sis seni kõndse
ütsi uut päeväveerikut
Kuni noorigu löüd endel
Lilliäidsmest kõllatsest
Sääl me poiss sis seni kõndse
Kuni neiu löüdse, neiu löüdse
Nii me poiss ja lillineiu
Üksteist leidsid niidu pääl
Ninda ütsi keegi noor
enämb kõndme pia sääl
Nii me poiss ja lillineiu
Üksteist leidsid niidu pääl
Ninda ütsi keegi noor
enämb kõndme pia sääl
This song Lillivalts was performed by the selected children’s choirs. Other songs which were very popular at this year’s song festival and which an encore was requested for were Kullatera and Ranitsakandja. You can see the full list of songs here. At the very end, the song Kodumaa and Põhjamaa also requested by the choirs. These two songs were not on the official repertoire. Kodumaa is such a beloved song that it was also sung twice.
If you were not in Estonia yet for this edition of the song festival, do not fret! You can watch many performances from past festivals online. Plus, there are so many smaller song festivals and dance performances taking place all around Estonia. If you want to still be a part of the culmination of years of hard work, planning and practice, you can already make plans for 2028. In just 3 years, you will have the chance to participate in an epic edition of the traditional festival because the general song and dance festival will take place along with the youth festivals!
Let us know in the dedicated forum threads if you have watched any songs or dance performances from the 2025 Song and Dance Festival, or if you plan to join the grand edition in 2028!
Ingrid, OLS Community Manager – Estonian