The celebration of the second independence of Estonia

Kimmo Pohjonen performed in Tallinn

The star of the Turku Capital of Culture year autumn season, Accordion Artist Kimmo Pohjonen, performed on the Tallinn Song Stage on Saturday 2 August at the 20th jubilee of the return of independence of Estonia. Over 70,000 people were expected to attend the public festival. Mari Boine and Sinead O´Connor performed also at the same concert.

Pohjonen prepared a special performance for the Estonian reindependence, where seven Finnish wrestlers combat to his music, and the performance is accompanied by the Tallinn chamber orchestra.

Pohjonen is the composer of and musician in the Battle performance which will open the autumn season of the Turku Capital of Culture year. Battle is a grand production of music theatre, the wrestling elements of which have already been seen in Accordion Wrestling, a pre-work of Battle, which presented the production of the Capital of Culture year in Finland and abroad in 2010.

Kimmo Pohjonen's performance was a greeting from Turku to the Capital of Culture Tallinn, and to all Estonians. The performance of Pohjonen was provided by the Turku 2011 Foundation and the Finnish Embassy in Tallinn.

The Song of Freedom concert was organised on the Tallinn Song Stage on Saturday 20 August. The concert was a public festival, celebrated together with artists from Estonia and the neighbouring countries. In addition to well-known Estonian artists and Kimmo Pohjonen, the concert performers included Brainstorm (LAT), Mari Boine (NOR) and Sinead O´Connor (IRL).

Greetings from the President of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves was heard at the concert. The concert was concluded by the President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson who opened an Iceland day at midnight, celebrated in Estonia on 21 August as a tribute to the country that first acknowledged  the reindependence of Estonia in 1991.