People of the Revolution and the USSR

1936–

The artist who gave the Singing Revolution its name

On 11 September 1988, from the stage of Eestimaa Laul before 300,000 people, he declared: "One day, no matter what, we will win!" Those words became the slogan of Estonia's freedom struggle.

An Estonian artist and caricaturist, Valk coined the term "Singing Revolution" in an article published in Sirp ja Vasar on 17 June 1988, a week after the spontaneous night-singing demonstrations at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds. At the Eestimaa Laul gathering that September, he declared before 300,000 people, "One day, no matter what, we will win!" (Ükskord me võidame niikuinii!), a phrase that became the independence movement's defining slogan. A founding member of the Estonian Heritage Society and the Popular Front (Rahvarinne), he served in the Estonian Supreme Council from 1990 to 1992 and voted on 20 August 1991 for the restoration of independence.

1961–1996 ○ Heart attack

The composer whose five 'Fatherland' songs became the emotional engine of the Singing Revolution

He silenced the band and, barehanded before 300,000 people, conducted the crowd as they sang 'I am Estonian and will remain Estonian.'

An Estonian composer and musician whose 'Five Patriotic Songs' cycle channeled the independence aspirations of the Singing Revolution in the late 1980s, uniting the masses in emotion. His 1987 protest ballad 'No Land Is Alone', written in solidarity with the anti-phosphorite mining movement, became the prelude to the Revolution; the five songs premiered at the Tartu Pop Festival in May 1988 and reached their peak at the 'Eestimaa Laul' concert in September, where 300,000 gathered at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds. He died of a heart attack in 1996 at the age of 35, leaving nearly 200 works across diverse genres, but history remembers him above all as the composer of Estonia's independence movement.