I only learned about this song more recently. It was never taught in skaudid, eesti kool or suvelaager. I don’t recall my parents ever mentioning it. However, I will say it is now one of my favourites. It speaks to me of enduring love and attachment to Eesti. By Eesti, I mean the people and the hardship all eestlased, whether in Estonia or in the diaspora, have endured. The key message for me is the image of the honeybee, flitting from flower to flower, at times in danger, but ultimately always returning home to the hive.
My wife Ellen sings in the Markham community choir, “Village Voices”. She understands choral music more than I do and appreciates the passion eestlased bring to their music and their song festivals. Ellen wrote an article about The Singing Revolution in the choir’s newsletter and the story generated a lot of interest from quite a few of the members.
