NIGHTINGALES OF KREML

Right here in Estonia, in the far-away city of Narva, you will find Joala Street, where the Kreenholm Manufacturing Company once used to operate. Here, between Estonia and Russia, in the dried up riverbed, is an island, on the both sides of which the river of forgetting – Narva waterfall – flows twice a year. 

This factory is the best place to tell the story of the thunderous music industry of the USSR and the controversial fate of its most brilliant star – Jaak Joala. It is the best place to hear the immortal songs by Joala and admire the rhythms of the band "Radar". 

However, this story is not simply about Joala. It is a generalisation of a whole Pleiad of Estonian musicians – the so-called nightingales of Kreml – who made sure that the entertainment industry survived in the Soviet Union and enjoyed their fame.

This is a story about fame, sorrow and tedium.

This is a story about Jaak Joala through the focal points of his career, from a young band leader to the Soviet superstar and the designer of musical landscape in Estonia. 
This is a story about the need for fame and the ability to deal with it.
This is a story about Jaak Joala through the lyrics of the songs he sang.

The center of the story is a day in the life of Jaak Joala in the year of 1987, just a few years before leaving the grand stage. On that day he gives 7 performances in an unknown Soviet town. The repertoire as well as most of the audience is the same throughout the concerts.

Even though everything takes place in one day, in his thoughts and memories he manages to travel to past and future to find answers to questions such as – why am I on this stage right now? What is it that I do here? What song is this? How many concerts have I already given? Is this the fame that I dreamed of?

It is the year of 1987 and in the far-away land of Estonia, homeland, the Singing Revolution is about to take off.

Transfers to and from performances from Tallinn and Tartu: