Latvian composer Jānis Cimze, considered to be the father of Latvian choir music and culture, known for his arrangements of Latvian folk songs such as “Rīga dimd”, “Krauklīt’s sēž ozolā”, and “Teici, teici valodiņa”, staples of Latvian Song Festivals for more than 100 years, celebrates his 200^th birthday in 2014.

To commemorate this significant anniversary, the Valka City Council (Cimze worked in Valka from 1849 to his death in 1881) commissioned the mixed choir Sõla, of the Latvian Academy of Culture, to record a CD of his folk song arrangements, simply entitled Jānim Cimzem – 200.

Sõla, conducted by Kaspars Ādamsons, recorded 17 of Cimze’s folk song arrangements, as well as three new works dedicated to Jānis Cimze by Latvian composers Selga Mence, Mārtiņš Brauns, and Raimonds Pauls (the lyrics for all three works are by renowned Latvian poet Jānis Peters). The CD includes both arrangements for mixed choir, as well as for men’s choir.

The CD booklet includes biographical information about Cimze in both Latvian and English.

For further information, please visit the Valka region website at valka.lv and the choir Sõla’s website at www.sola.lv