High Quality - "Mu isamaa on minu arm" // Estonian Song Celebration

Composition by Gustav Ernesaks (first composition done by Aleksander Kunileid in 1869), lyrics by Lydia Koidula. This song was first set to music in its new composition 21st July 1944 in Leningrad, Russia. It was first performed at song celebration 1947 by the author itself.

"Mu isamaa on minu arm" (My Country is My Love) became the unofficial anthem during the Soviet occupation when her father's (Johann Voldemar Jannsen) "Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm" (My Country is My Pride and Joy), the anthem of the Estonian Republic in 1921-1940 was forbidden. Koidulas song always finished every festival, with or without permission. The tradition persists to this day.

More information about the history of Estonian Song Celebrations visit http://tobreatheasone.wordpress.com

Lyrics:

My Country is My Love,
to whom I´ve given My Heart.
To You I sing, my greatest happiness,
My flowering Estonia!
Your pain boils in My Heart,
Your Pride and Joy makes my happy,
My Country, My Country!

My Country is My Love,
I shall never leave Her,
even if I must die hundred deaths
because of Her!
Does the foreign envy slander,
You still live in my Heart,
My Country, My Country!

My Country is My Love,
and I want to rest,
to lay down into Your Arms,
My sacred Estonia!
Your Birds will sing Sleep to Me,
flowers will bloom from My Ashes,
My Country, My Country!