Recordings from the Estonian Folklore Archives 3

Helmi Ots

Helmi Ots in 1960. Photo by H. Tampere. ERA, Foto 4898.

Helmi Ots (1898–1976) was from Epi farm in village of Muratsi, Kaarma Parish. Before the Second World War the farm was quite a prosperous and hard-working one. Helmi was a lively, cheerful and talkative woman who loved company. Her husband and son both played the accordion and the young people would gather at her farm for dance parties. The older and newer songs that Helmi sang were recorded on the archive’s 1960 expedition to Muratsi village. Later she moved to the town of Kuressaare where her husband had already gone to live earlier to escape having to join the collective farm.