Thursday, March 31, 2011

Uus Kalevipoeg - Kalevipoeg in the 21st century!

Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald started writing the Estonian national epic, Kalevipoeg, in 1850. It was based on an outline presented by Friedrich Robert Faehlmann at an academic lecture in 1839. He traveled throughout Estonia collecting folk tales and songs, which he compiled into verse. His epic tale first appeared as a series of academic publications; the final version of his epic poem containing 19,023 verses divided into 20 cantos (chapters) was published in 1862 - in Finland. It was banned in Estonia.

Here is a selection of text from the 1975 edition, 17th chapter, Preparations for War.

Estonia has been at peace for seven years, Kalevipoeg and his brothers Alevipoeg and Sulevipoeg have been building cities and towns. Suddenly there are rumours of war, thousands of enemy soldiers have been spotted on the north shore (Viru rand). Kalevipoeg springs into action:
Kalevipoeg  hüppas sõjaratsu sadulasse,  
Võttis kaasa võidumehi, 
Kannupoisiks kangemaida, 
Viisikümmend Virusta, 
Kuusikümmend Kuressaarest, 
Seitsekümmend Soomemaalta, 
Sada teisi saarelasi.

 "Kalevipoeg 2.0" here, download it to your mp3 player or iPod! www.kuula24.ee is an Estonian audiobooks website with a small but interesting selection of books. For kids, you will find many fairy tales by Hans Christian Anderson, recent Andrus Kivirähk stories and Heljo Mänd's "Mõmmi" and the "Laura" collections. All read in slow and clear Estonian. If you like detective stories, you will like the numerous Sherlock Holmes mysteries.

"Kalevipoeg 2.0" on eepose uus, moodne versioon. This is a very short, 11 minutes, totally new.

"Tõelises 21. sajandi rahvuseeposes on sarviku asemel kuri pangahärra, sortside asemel zombid ja tuuslarite asemel aga bemmimehed ning Soome suusahüppajad. Uus Kalevipoeg ise on kõvem action-kangelane ja naistemees kui Chuck Norris ja James Bond kokku!

Käesolev tasuta näidis on rahvuseepose kahekümnendast peatükist ja räägib sellest, kuidas Kalevipoeg kutsub rahvast võitlusesse raudmeestega – terminaatoritega. Produktsioon Harry Kõrvits. (from the website kuul24.ee)

Another modern version of Kalevipoeg, really innovative, the classic tale retold in 12 1/2 minutes by Ekke Vasli.


Kalevipoeg! from Ekke Vasli on Vimeo.

Read more about the Estonian filmaker Ekke Vasli here! Visit his exhibition here!

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