Kirstin and I watched The Singing Revolution last night, a film about Estonia's struggle to maintain identity through the long and brutal Soviet occupation from WWII to the early 90s. It is another inspiring story of nonviolent resistance, but unique given the centrality of song in the Estonian struggle. Through their tradition of singing festivals--during which 30,000 people are on stage singing Estonian folk songs together--the Estonians resisted Soviet indoctrination and eventually reasserted their independence. I'd highly recommend the film.

NPR's Live in Concert from All Songs Considered podcast recently featured 74-year-old Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen, who is currently on his first U.S. tour in more than 15 years. It's beautiful and provocative ... Cohen's (now) bass voice is richly set in the lush texture of a great backing band and he works his way through a variety of well-known songs from his vast catalog. His lyrics cover a gamut of topics--spirituality to sexuality, politics to music--and are always engaging, often catching the listener off-guard with their playfulness and wit.

You should really give it a listen.

I just finished creating a mix CD for a few friends and I thought I'd share the track listing here. The theme linking these together is fairly simple: artists I've been listening to lately. Most of the linked track names will take you to iTunes--a few go elsewhere--to give you an idea of what the songs sound like. Enjoy!

1. Stuck Between Stations - The Hold Steady
2. Fake Empire - The National
3. Ways to Make it Through the Wall - Los Campesinos!
4. Impossible Germany - Wilco
5. White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes
6. Born to Pine and Sigh - Julie Lee
7. Little Plastic Life - Sam Phillips
8. Snowshow - Katie Chastain
9. There is a Kingdom - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
10. The Mountain - Levon Helm
11. Turn Me Around - Mavis Staples
12. Spritle - Deastro
13. Soobax - K'naan
14. Go Go Gadget Flow - Lupe Fiasco
15. Banner - Psalters
16. Georgia on My Mind - Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis
17. More News from Nowhere - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds