Here is something you see every day: yet another blog. We are introducing Skaņas, a blog about Latvian music, which will serve to capture information that does not always fit into other places on Latvians Online.

Skaņas by no means is the first blog to report on the Latvian music scene. Take a look at the various entries about music on such sites as Blogiem.lv, for example. Nor is Skaņas to compete with Web sites such as Music in Latvia, which especially covers the classical scene in Latvia.

What we will try to do in this space is pass on information that may be of special interest to readers outside Latvia. Hardly a day goes by when we don’t hear of a new compact disc release, a tour by Latvian music artists abroad, formation of a group or ensemble, or other interesting news. Here is where we will report what we learn.

Have news about Latvian music you think would be of interest to our readers? Have suggestions for what we ought to cover? Let us know by editor@latviansonline.com.

The Latvach Sochaí Éireannach, otherwise known as the Latvian Society in Ireland, otherwise known as Latviešu Biedrība Īrijā, recently sponsored an amateur photography contest focused on how Latvians are living on the Emerald Isle. The results can be viewed on the society’s Web site. The winners produced some nice images. We especially liked the Reservoir Dogs-like photo of five fellows.

Latvian-American man goes to Latvia, meets Latvian woman, she comes to visit him in America, then they get married. Simple, right? Of course there’s much more to the story, as the Sept. 24 edition of the Kalamazoo Gazette reports.

In “From Latvia to love,” writer Emily Monacelli describes how Teresa and Ivars Elksnis met while he was a missionary in Latvia, how their relationship developed and how they now run a Kalamazoo, Mich., business, Besso de Natura Fine Cosmetics and Facial Salon.

The daily Kalamazoo Gazette over the years has carried a number of features about Latvians. Kalamazoo, after all, has an active Latvian community, once was home to the Latvian Studies Center at Western Michigan University and is a half hour’s drive north of the Latvian center Gaŗezers near Three Rivers.