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Can music and culture help unite Estonia? Guitar riffs lilt through the air and over the narrow river that marks the border between Estonia and Russia. It\u2019s the first time Estonia\u2019s annual festival Tallinn Music Week has been held in Narva, bringing coach loads of musicians from 30 countries around the world to a normally sleepy city. The organiser moved the festival when the war in Ukraine broke out in order to send a message of unity and to encourage Estonians from the capital to mix with people in Narva, where 97% of Estonians have Russian as their mother tongue. Many can barely speak Estonian at all.

Across Estonia, one quarter of the population are Russian speakers, prompting many to describe this as a threat. When Putin invaded Ukraine on the premise of liberating Russian speakers there, it lead to many in the press to ask \u2018is Narva next?\u2019 but a new generation of Russian speaking Estonians are increasingly frustrated by this rhetoric and say it simply is not true. Russian speakers are even signing up to Estonia\u2019s volunteer defence force, ready to fight to defend Estonia should the worst happen. Their allegiance is clear. But is music and culture enough to unite Estonia\u2019s Russian speakers?

Presenter: Lucy Ash\nProducer: Phoebe Keane

(Image: Tallinn Music Week festival lights up Kreenholm, an abandoned 19th century textile factory in Narva, on Estonia\u2019s border with Russia. Credit: Phoebe Keane/BBC)

Music credits:

Artist: Trad Attack!\nTrack: S\xf5it\nWriters: Jalmar Vabarna, Sandra Vabarna, T\xf5nu Tubli

Artist: Gameboy Tetris and Nublu\nTrack: F\xfcr Oksana\nWriters: Pavel Botsarov, Markkus Pulk, Fabry El Androide, Ago Teppand

Artist: Pale Alison\nTrack: \u0437\u0430\u0431\u044b\u0432\u0430\u0439\nWriters: Evelina Koop, Nikolay Rudakov

Artist: Jaakko\nSound Installation: On the Border/Rajalla