Recordings from the Estonian Folklore Archives 3

Ottilie Niinemägi

A student of the Tallinn State Conservatory Tiit Roonurm notes down melodies from Ottilie Niinemägi in 1965. Photo by O. Kõiva. ERA, Foto 7292.

Ottilie Niinemägi (1890–1980), who was the mother of Ottilie Kõiva, one of the compilers of this collection, lived in the village of Nurme in Anna Parish at the time this recoding was made. Olli Niinemäe had attended the girls’ school in Paide and as a young woman had done some work for the newspapers. In her later life, thanks to her daughter, who was a professional folklorist, she worked for the folklore archives as a local correspondent. At home Olli Niinemägi used to sing from songbooks and particularly church songs. The song here for bouncing a small child on the knee was one that Olli learned from her husband. Later, right at the time the current recordings were made she started to sing them to her own grandchildren.