For us who are not in Riga this week, it would be interesting to read about the events taking place there now.  My friend who works in the heart of Riga just emailed me that Riga has about 40,000 singers and dancers and when the spectators and visitors are added, “Centra un Vecriga nav abolam kur nokrist”.
For you lucky ones to experience the excitement, how about enlightening us on this side of the ocean?

you can follow all the events online at http://www.dziesmusvetki2008.lv/

there are even live feeds from main events, so I guess this link is quite usefull for you.

I was on the streets this morning and I’ve got to say - your friend is right about apples ;)

The gājiens today was amazing, wonderful, uplifting and LONG.  7 hours, no kidding.  (And I’m currently paying the price for not putting on sunscreen…)  The little old ladies and gents, the jaunieši, the vidējā paaudze and of course those darling little ones - all smiled, most sang as they walked (the unofficial floating reperetoire consisted mostly of crowd pleasers/sing-alongs Es nenācu šai vietā, Ai jel manu vieglu prātu, Upe nesa ozoliņu, Div’ pļaviņas es nopļāvu, Ziedi ziedi rudzu vārpa…) and those in folk costume were radiant.  The other get-ups were at times interesting, at times soviet fashion leftovers.  Every so often someone from the crowd would shout “sveiciens Mālpiliešiem!” (or whomever was walking by) and the greeting was returned with “urrĀ” or “hei” and applause and waving of flowerbunches - nearly each group had a bouquet of one sort or another in their hands - some simple lauku pukes, some ornate “floristikas” creations…If the crowd was quiet for a while, sometimes the groups would shout “sveiciens skatītājiem” or “sveiki Rīdzenieki” to coax out some smiles & applause from the on-lookers. 

Watching the opening concert “Dziedot dzimu, dziedot augu” right now on T.V.  Looks like it was drizzling for a while, but seems to have cleared up.  We were at yesterday’s dress rehearsal/concert and while it was great being at Mežaparks in person, watching it live on TV is not all that bad - the sound is much better & i can put aloe on my red shoulders & nose. ;-)  The concert program seems a bit choppy, but the performances per se - moving, truly inspiring.

that’s it for now.
V.

About 5 years ago the Latvian Tourism Development Agency held a public competition to come up with a new tourism logo and slogan. The winner was ‘The Land that Sings’, submitted by a man (don’t know his name) who also designed the logo. I was on the jury and liked it because of its broader implication, i.e. Latvia is not only a place where people sing, but a musical land, where nature produces music that later infects the local inhabitants and gets transformed into song by the people who live here. Over the years the pundits have analyzed and criticized this tourism slogan, but as far as I’m concerned it is a line, like song itself, that came spontaneously from the people (not some ad agency) and expressed a genuine truth about this place. It still holds true.

Yesterday I watched in wonder for 6 hours as 40,000 people danced, sang, frolicked, laughed and cheered through the streets of Riga. Not just in the parade down Kalku ielu and Brivibas iela, but everywhere. This city does get transformed during the Song Celebration. Although the government organizes it, its the people who make it happen.

I also went to the opening concert in Mezaparks, which like all song celebration events, was spectacular. I’ll let others analyze the content, song selection, arrangements, production and so on. Apart from Jani, there is not other time in Latvia when people feel so good, so happy, so united and uplifted. But for me the real highlight of last night was after the concert ended (after midnight) and 40,000 people headed for the trolley cars back into the city. Crowds line up at the trolley car stops and pour into the cars. We get packed in like sardines indeed. Latvians are not the touchy and feely types and don’t like rubbing up against one another. People are tired, wet (it did rain a bit) and a little cold, and thus all the elements are in place to make people angry, ornery, irritable and nasty. But just the opposite happens. Within minutes after the doors close, someone in the car begins to sing, and the entire car becomes a choir. I’m sure this happens in every car, because each is packed with choir members, family members and fans. People are laughing, singing, making jokes. Someone starts a song at one end and everyone joins in; when the verses run out at one end of the car, someone bursts out with another verse at the other end. Soon people at opposite ends are competing with new verses from different regions of Latvia, and those in the middle simply join in and keep the car and songs rolling. I tried to film it with my mobile phone, was bumped and dropped it. I figured I had lost my phone forever because I couldn’t move an inch to reach down and get it. The lady in front of me said ‘dont move’, somehow managed to wiggle down to floor and brought me back my phone. And the singing just went on and on. Being in the midst of all that is an experience that cannot be duplicated. And then you tumble out into the dark street, where the air is crisp and cool and you can breath again,  and you look longingly at the trolley car as it continues down the rails of Kriš Barona street, and you hear the songs continue off into the distance. But if you want to hear another, just wait for the next car to arrive, and it all starts up again.

Singing choirs in Riga trolley cars are not one of the events you will find on the Song Celebration schedule this week. But they are just one example of the magic that transforms this city and country during this remarkable time.

I can just visualize it all, Ojar.  People in a packed trolley making the most of their predicament and breaking out in song, even competing with those on the other end.  So very Latvian.  Lucky you, who experienced it all. 
Thank you, Zinshamamma, for your commentary on the street parade.  And Martins, I am watching the events on the Dziesmusvetku web every day now. 
Don’t stop reporting!  The TV is good, but it does not share your feelings as you experience these events.

Legend has it that the Latvians are a dark, secretive race of beings who once lived in trees and liked to sing. If the tree part is true then their dour, cautious stoicism makes sense; you gotta be careful up in a tree, especially if you can’t fly. Although you can sing in a tree, you can’t dance, which could explain why they eventually climbed down, built bonfires and bought BMW’s.

These days, boys and girls in traditional duds outnumber the BMW’s in the streets of Riga.  Its all pastaliņas and prievītes and pleated multi-color skirts. The streets are full of festive folk, and there are more smiles per capita than any other time of the year. (Actually, five years)

Political rabble rousers are usually hardpressed to get the teeming masses to raise a cheer during rallies here, but during the opening parade every group cheered every greeting every frolicking step of the way, from the Daugava to the Daile. You think Latvians are shy? Just say ‘Sveiciens Kuldiga’, and a hundred young and old respond in joyful unison. Someone for MSN.COM recently wrote a piece about this grand old town with the headline, ‘Riga Rocks!’, but that was before the Song Celebration parade.  This week Riga rocks, rolls, resounds and reverberates.

Some political parties tried to topple the Riga government this week but failed. They tried it with backroom deals and basement bargains, but they were overwhelmed and overshadowed by 40,000 singers and dancers who had more fitting passtimes in mind. Now, if the political parties decided to have a song war to determine the king of the municipal mountain, that would be another story.

UNESCO calls the Latvian Song and Dance Celebration a ‘Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity’. But they got the intangible part wrong. This is a very touchy feely event.

Thank you so much for the updates… I hope they keep coming!

I thank you all too and as Anita says, hope the updates keep coming; it’s all so ‘pacilosi’, uplifting!

Irena

Just got back from the “Concert of the Rock Opera Lāčplēsis” that took place at Arena Rīga.  Wasn’t the full opera in all it’s glorious (?) 80’s glamour, but it was definitely much more than “just” a concert.  At the beginning, composer Zigmārs Liepiņš gave kudos to all that dared to make it happen 20 years ago - among them author Māra Zālīte and many others who were pioneers in their field technically (sound, stage, etc.) not to mention politically… Then they proceeded to do a musical revival of the original, sans costumes (or I should say with minimal costumes - bad guys in black, good guys in white kind of theme.).  Three huge screens featured close-ups of what was happening on stage - interspersed with footage from the original rock opera (holy 80’s hairdos, Batman!).  That was a great feature of the concert this evening.  One could also see how time has taken its toll on the original castmembers - generally rounder, balder…but to my ear, still top-notch voices. 

More on this tomorrow - gotta go catch the folk dance performance on TV.   

V.

Sveiki!

If anyone has an interest in contemporary classical music, don’t pass up the opportunity to hear Vestards Šimkus’  rivetting piano concerto with string orchestra that was premiered at the Song Celebration’s symphonic concert on Tuesday night at the Opera house.  The 23 year old composer, known up until now as a pianist, performs his first opus at the piano himself, and the conductor is Normunds Šnē.  I’ve listened to it (thus far) 3 times, and each time – I’ve simply been enchanted.  Does the concerto incorporate and/or quote a Gershwin-like riff every now and then, too?  There is a heart-felt improvisational quality to the piece that’s surprising in such a formal setting, yet gives it an authenticity   that might otherwise be lost in Šimkus’ technical virtuosity at the keyboard.

If I understand LTV’s ground rules correctly, the entire concert can be viewed without a fee until July 13, 21:20 Latvian time from http://www.apollo.lv/apollo-ltv1/stream_page/4/5726/show

If you want to fast-forward to the concerto, which is broadcast in the last half hour, it begins at 1:08:20.

Enjoy! : )

Elizabete

On the way to the folklore festivities at Brīvdabas muzejs today, we took the bus, which became more crowded at every stop…toward the end, a couple of Latvians from Australia (?) and the States asked where to get out and I replied “tur, kur pārējie izkāps”.  And so it was, throngs of people pouring out from our bus, and other vehicles, a long line to get in… We made our way through all of the “sētas” and enjoyed the music and revelry that prevailed.  Latgale was especially lively, with three or four groups performing at once, at different areas.  Through song and also spoken explanation, we learned about the art of dough kneading and bread baking from Ceiruleits of Līvāni - and got to break off (and taste) a piece of a serious loaf of rye bread. The musicians played as one of the singers walked around bopping people on the head with a wooden spoon, thereby inviting them to join the chain dance…it was fun!  Later we heard about the harvesting of flax and the weaving of linen.  Vidzeme was our oldest son’s favorite, as we got to taste different types of honey - mmm!  There were also fun kids games from days gone by - vilciņi (tops) of every shape and size, a hoop & stick type of game that looked far easier than it actually was, and a fishing game that involved “catching” fish that were stuck in sand by looping their tale with a pole of sorts. (bad explanation of a cool activity…) Then there was the line for food - oh boy!  My husband & I took turns waiting in line, while playing with the kids on a teeter-tot/see-saw.  This went on for about an hour!  By the time we got our mednieku desiņas, water & a couple of beers, we wolfed them down!  Just then we ran into some more friends we hadn’t seen in a long time (this had been happening throughout the day…kur gājām, tur kādus pazīstamos satikām!).  They convinced us to have another beer and well, that’s when the sky became a bit dark.  And then darker.  And then darker still, with the rumblings of thunder… So, we took shelter under the eaves of a building, 4 kids and 6 adults, and watched as the rain poured.  And poured.  We sang “Spīguļo saulīt”” but that didn’t seem to help.  So, then we sang a bunch of other songs and eventually became quite wet… Our little one protested “(L)ietus nēēē.”, but at the same time he hopped through every puddle in sight. :-)  As the rain subsided, we made our way back to the main gate, catching a glimpse of Prez. Zatlers, the Finnish pres. and other dignitaries at Kurzemes sēta.  Riding the bus on the way home, we continued to sing and were joined by other passengers.  One women did remark “dziedoši tramvāji…dziedoši autobusi?”  To which I replied “Kāpēc nē?”

Watching the final concert on TV right now.  Must admit that goda virsdirigents Roberts Zuika can, at age 95, lead the masses in song like nobody’s business…Wow.  Granted, it was a relatively “light” song - Kur tu skiresi, vanadziņ’.  But still - wow.
V.

What a fun day you had at the Brivibas Muzejs, Zinshamamma.  So glad you captured it so well for us.  The crowds and the rain are just little nuisances that get in the way of something out of the ordinary and almost add a spark to the whole experience.
I also enjoyed the video you posted, Elizabete.  My computer must be acting up, because at certain intervals everyting just stopped briefly and then picked up just where it was left off.  I didn’t mind it during the narrations by the lady commentators, but it bugged me when the orchestra played.  Don’t know if it was in the transmission or just my own system. Still, I was able to capture some of what you saw and heard at the concert. 
Thank you both and don’t stop!

Arija,

That happens often with streaming video. The cause for that stopage could have been anything from your computer to interuptions in the traffic on the internet. Best rule of thumb for watching online video is to pause the video you want to watch and wait for it to fully load before pressing play. Usually (but not always and this was one of these links which does not) on the bar at the bottom of the screen you can see the loading progress. I paused the above video for a few minutes letting the download get ahead of the playback and it played with no pauses.

Andrejs

Thanks, Andrej.  I’ll give it a try.

Zinshamamma - 12 July 2008 12:06 PM

Watching the final concert on TV right now.  Must admit that goda virsdirigents Roberts Zuika can, at age 95, lead the masses in song like nobody’s business…Wow.  Granted, it was a relatively “light” song - Kur tu skiresi, vanadziņ’.  But still - wow.

Sveiks Zinšamama,
`Your adventures at the “Brivdabas Muzejs” was a most interesting read to me. You see, that place I know fairly well as I have been there three times in my long life and each time there have been some slight changes, additions to the exhibits. The very first time was way back in ” Ulmanis time, a school outing. That was in ‘1936 or ‘37. It was a very enjoyable day away from school. Next time was about 10 years ago, when visiting one of my cousins, she led me and my wife to the museum as she lived only 20 min. walk from there. We had a nice time again until… and this is where your experiences brought all my memories back. Like your ending of the day with some soaking, our day ended real soak. We had to wait outside shelter about 20 minutes for the bus and when it arrived there was a stampede to get on it. Well, we got on it, but were as a sardines in a tin. The conductress could not get to us until we where in the town. The next time was couple years ago, when we took our daughter and granddaughter to the Brivdabas Museum. This time the day was marvelous and we all enyojed everything.

  In the next post you mentioned Robert Zuika. Well, we remember him very well from the days in Corby, where he had the famous ” Zuikas Viru Koris”.  He lives now somewhere in or about the Milwaukee. I got a picture of him with my ” pusbralis”.