Soviet postage stamp depicting traditional Latvian musical
instruments
Traditional Latvian music is often set to traditional poetry
called dainas, featuring
pre-Christian themes and legends, drone vocal styles and Baltic zithers.
Dainas
Traditional Latvian folklore, especially the dance of the folk
songs, date back well over a thousand years. More than 1.2 million texts and
30,000 melodies of folk songs have been identified.
Dainas are very short, usually only one or two stanzas,
unrhymed and in a four-footed trochaic metre. Lyrically, dainas concern
themselves with native mythology but, in contrast to most similar forms, do not
have any legendary heroes. Stories often revolve around pre-Christian deities
like the sun goddess Saule, the moon god Meness and, most notably, the life of
people, especially its three most important events - birth, wedding and death
(including burial). The first collection of dainas was published between 1894
and 1915 as Latvju Dainas by Krišjānis
Barons.
Latvju tautas mūzikas
materiāli, translated in English as the Materials of Latvian Folk Music is
the anthology and commentary of Latvian folk. It analysed 5999 items of Latvian
ethnography published in 6 editions from 1894 to 1926 by the Latvian
musicologist and composer Andrejs Jurjāns "1856-1922".
Latvju tautas mūzikas
materiāli Sestā grāmata "the sixth book" was published
posthumously in Riga,
1926. On page 1 latvju komponistu
biedrības izdevums is inscribed, translated as the Latvian Society of
Composers edition.
Instrumentation
Accompaniment to the village songs is played on various
traditional instruments, the most important of which is the kokle, a type of zither
related to the Finnish kantele. In the 1970s, artists like Jānis Porikis and Valdis
Muktupāvels led a revival in kokle music, which had only survived in the Courland/Kurzeme
and Lettgallia/Latgale regions. The Latvian-exile community abroad, especially
in the United States,
has also kept kokle traditions alive. In the last hundred years a new kind of
kokle was developed, with many more strings, halftones levelers and other
improvements that expand the capacities of the instrument to play not only
modal music but, in other point of view, displeased more traditional musicians.
This kind of instrument is called "concert kokle". However, there is
currently only one concert kokle maker left, though he is to begin training apprentices
with the help of EU grants.
Choir music
Choirs performing during the 24th Latvian Song and Dance
Festival in 2008
Choir traditions are very strong in Latvia.
Alongside many professional choirs, there are tens of thousands of Latvians who
are part of different amateur choirs. Once every five years the Latvian
National Song and Dance Festival takes place with around 20,000 singers taking
part in it.
The 2014 World Choir Games took place in Riga.
Popular music
During the Soviet era, rock music became extremely popular,
because it, as well as folk songs, offered a chance to rebel against the local
authorities. Imants Kalniņš was the most important composer of the time, and
his songs were extremely popular. He also wrote music for the movie originally
called Četri balti krekli "Four White Shirts", later given the title Elpojiet
Dziļi! "Breathe Deep!", which spoke about the need of freedom and was
therefore banned. One of the most important social gatherings of the time was
the annual Imantdiena "The Day of Imants (Kalnins", forbidden on
grounds of interfering with hay-gathering. The tradition continued informally
at the composer's house.
The songs of Imants Kalniņš were best known as performed by
the Menuets group which only played songs by this composer. Most of the members
of the group moved on to form another group, Pērkons "Thunder" later.
Pērkons was a symbol of rebellion. They played fascinating rock and roll
bordering on hard rock music, composed by band's leader Juris Kulakovs, using
poems mostly written by Māris Melgalvs. Many of those were strongly disapproved
by the Soviet authorities, as they implied the ridiculousness of the system.
The most famous concert by Pērkons resulted in the destruction of a train
compartment by the young people who had attended the concert. This, as well as
other events, is portrayed in the movie Vai viegli būt jaunam? "Is It Easy
to Be Young?" by Juris Podnieks. Acts such as Pērkons certainly played an
important role in the lives of the youth of the time and were a serious
challenge to the Soviet system.
Nowadays, the pop music sphere is dominated by pop music "e.g.,
Prāta vētra, also known as Brainstorm" and alternative rock.
List of composers and bands
in Latvia
|
Composers of contemporary music
|
Rock or (and) Pop
|
Other
|
|
Maija Einfelde,
Imants Kalniņš,
Indra Riše,
Jānis Lūsēns,
Jānis Petraškēvičs,
Mārtiņš Brauns,
Pēteris Plakidis,
Pēteris Vasks,
Mārtiņš Viļums,
Rihards Dubra,
Aivars Kalējs,
Romualds Kalsons,
Juris Karlsons,
Andris Dzenītis,
Santa Ratniece
Uģis Prauliņš
|
100. debija, A-Eiropa, Anton Frank, Ainars Mielavs, Aisha
Aparāts, Autobuss Debesīs, Astro'n'out,
Bet Bet, Borowa MC, Collide,
Detlef, Device, Dun Dun,
Double Faced Eels, Eolika, Ella (Latvian DJ), Dzeltenie
Pastnieki,
F.L.Y., Frailty (band), Helēna Kozlova, Hospitāļu iela,
Iļģi, Imants Kalniņš, Fomins & Kleins,
Iedomu spārni, Ieva Akurātere, Juris Kulakovs, Igo, Jauns
Mēness,
Jānis Žilde, Jumprava, Kaspars Dimiters, Kārlis Kazāks,
Lauris Reiniks, Labvēlīgais tips, Lādezers, Linda Leen,
Līvi, Logo, Marana, Marija Naumova,
Menuets, Mirta, Mofo, Zigfrīds Muktupāvels
Oceanfall, Olive Mess, Pērkons, Pienvedēja Piedzīvojumi,
Raimonds Pauls, Gunārs Rozenbergs, Prāta Vētra, Punch, R.A.P,
RePublic,
Uldis Stabulnieks, Skumju Akmeņi, Satellites LV, Skyforger, SoundArcade,
The Mundane, Tranzīts, Tumsa, Vilki, Z-Scars
|
Tumors,
2tie,
SoundArcade,
Matīss Akuraters
|
Materials of Latvian Folk
Music. Vol. 6
- Language: Latvian
- Read the book
English Editorial: Andrejs Jurjāns also "Jurjānu
Andrejs; 1856–1922", composer, folklorist, organ-player, conductor and
music critic, is the founder of Latvian musicology. He was the first to
systematize, classify and perform study Latvian folk music as an entirety, and
to comment it and to make a historic classification of folk songs. The
importance of "Latvju tautas mūzikas materiāli", compiled by Jurjānu
Andrejs and published over 1894-1926 in 6 sections, parallels that of K.
Barons’s "Latvju dainas". His work had a major influence on the
further development of Latvian professional and folk music, as well as on the
revival of the traditional Latvian folk music and folklore in Latvia in late
20th century. By this work, Jurjānu Andrejs established a theoretical framework
for a new approach in the harmonization of folk songs. A total of 5999 folklore
items "melodies of folk songs" collected by Jurjānu Andrejs and his
associates are kept at the Institute of Ethnography and Folklore of the Academy
of Science of Latvia.
Latvian Editorial: Komponists, folklorists, ērģelnieks,
diriģents un mūzikas kritiķis Andrejs Jurjāns (arī Jurjānu Andrejs, 1856–1922)
ir latviešu muzikoloģijas pamatlicējs. Viņš ir pirmais, kurš sistematizējis,
klasificējis un kompleksi pētījis latviešu tautas mūziku, komentējis to un
veidojis tautasdziesmu vēsturisko klasifikāciju. Jurjānu Andreja „Latvju tautas
mūzikas materiāli”, kas no 1894. līdz 1926. gadam iznākuši 6 burtnīcās, ir
līdzvērtīgi K. Barona „Latvju dainām”. Izdevumam ir bijusi liela ietekme gan uz
tālāko latviešu profesionālās, gan tautas mūzikas attīstību, gan vēlāk – uz
jauno folkloras kustību Latvijā 20. gs. beigās. Ar šo darbu Jurjānu Andrejs
radījis arī teorētisku pamatu jaunai pieejai tautasdziesmu harmonizēšanā.
Latvijas Zinātņu akadēmijas Etnogrāfijas un folkloras institūtā glabājas 5999
folkloras vienības (tautas dziesmu melodijas), ko savācis Jurjānu Andrejs un
viņa līdzgaitnieki.
Revised: 16 March 2016
