Uma Pido is a Võro-language and Võru-inspired song and folk festival, which brings together both people living in the traditional habitat and those families and people who have moved elsewhere. The festival is held every other or every third year in turns in Võru and Põlva, which are the bigger centres in the region.
The festival follows the traditional Estonian song festival format – during the day time choirs gather in the open-air venue, have rehersals and practice singing together; in the evening the concert-show is performed for the audience. The day of the event is a high moment which choirs prepare for a year or more. Choirs meet for rehersals many times locally and regionally during the year before the event. Both traditional and modern songs are performed together. Songs are arranged by local musicians, kapellmeisters, song writers and Estonian top composers. During the preparation, there is close contact and collaboration within the community and between performers and musicicans. The festival targets and is organised together with local people, but participants and guests from elsewhere in Estonia and abroad are welcome to join.
The idea of the festival was conceived of in 2006 at the annual Kaika summer university where then county governors of Põlva and Võru discussed cultural collaboration in the region. From that discussion the tradition of festivals was born. The first event Uma Pido was held in Võru in 2008, it was followed by the second in Põlva in 2010 and the third in Võru in 2013. This year (2016) Põlva will host the festival again.