The first three albums of “Mantojums” (Inheritance), a new series of recordings featuring Latvian folk stories and beliefs, has been released by Upe Recording Co. in Rīga.

The albums include Pasaules radīšana, featuring creation stories told by Leons Krivāns, and Putnu un zvēru valoda, featuring stories about the language of birds and animals told by Pēteris Liepiņš. Both albums include music composed by Kaspars Tobis.

The third album, Stāsti un dziesmas, features 96-year-old storyteller Marija Golubova of the Viļaka region talking about her life and singing songs. The album is produced by folk singer Biruta Ozoliņa.

“The stories are first of all meant for children,” Ainars Mielavs, head of Upe Recording, told Latvians Online. “But adults who have heard them also found them interesting.” The Golubova recording, meanwhile, is meant for a narrow audience. “Absolutely noncommercial,” Mielavs said of the album.

How many more albums will be produced is not yet known, Mielavs said, and will depend on reaction to these first three.

The stories were chosen based on how interesting and engrossing they are. “UPE isn’t about to become an academic publisher and do what the state’s cultural politicians should do,” Mielavs commented.

Mielavs credited his wife, Iveta Mielava, for the idea for “Mantojums.” She also is the producer of the series. —Andris Straumanis

It was a little after 4 p.m. earlier this month when Marija Naumova answered her mobile phone. The constant drone in the background belied that she was behind the wheel, driving somewhere in Rīga. “We could talk now, but it would be better if you’d call back in 15 minutes,” Naumova said to a reporter in the American Midwest.

Fifteen minutes later the background noise was gone, although Naumova sounded as if she had just caught her breath.

Small wonder: The popular singer had just wrapped up a trio of performances as part of her “Divas sejas” show in three different Latvian cities, was readying for another concert and, apparently, just beginning to think about her upcoming tour of North America. Also on Naumova’s calendar is next spring’s “Sound of Music” show in Rīga featuring Baltic artists.

A year and a half after her Eurovision Song Contest victory in Tallinn, Estonia, the singer and her team are as occupied as ever.

At least Naumova has had some time off. After a busy spring and summer, including co-hosting the Eurovision Song Contest in Latvia, Naumova and her yoga instructor headed off to India to relax.

“It was fantastic,” Naumova said of her two weeks near the Tibetan border. While the trip’s influence might not be heard immediately in her music, Naumova said she’s found a “simple peace.”

She’ll need it.

In late November and early December, a skeleton crew will be in Canada and the United States, traveling to 10 Latvian communities to perform a baker’s dozen of concerts with material from several of Naumova’s recent albums, as well as some new songs.

“It will all be live,” the singer said of the North American shows. Band members are to include a guitar player, a percussionist and a synthesizer player, Naumova explained.

“And, of course, the voice,” Naumova added with a light laugh.

Most audiences may expect to hear material from her album Noslēpumi, released last year, as well as work inspired by her collaboration with composer Raimonds Pauls. Shows at The Note in Chicago and at the American Latvian Youth Association congress in California might include songs from her 2001 French album, Ma voix, ma voie, and perhaps some material in English, she explained. (Naumova, who was educated in law, speaks five languages, including her native Russian, Latvian, English, French and Italian.)

The exact set list will be driven by a sense of what the audience is like, Naumova said.

The singer won’t be focusing just on entertaining Latvian audiences. Meetings are planned with American record producers, too, she said, but declined to discuss details. Besides Latvia, her albums so far have been released in France and Germany.

The North American tour will place Naumova in Chicago for two concerts on Nov. 23; in Kalamazoo, Mich., on Nov. 24; in Minneapolis, Minn., on Nov. 26; at the ALYA congress in Los Angeles on Nov. 29; in Indianapolis, Ind., on Dec. 2; in Cleveland, Ohio, on Dec. 4; in Toronto for two shows on Dec. 6; in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Dec. 10; in New York on Dec. 12 and 13; and at the Priedaine camp near Freehold, N.J., on Dec. 14. This will be Naumova’s second time in the United States. She performed last year at the Baltic Celebration concert in Washington, D.C.

The concert tour is sponsored by ALYA and the New York-based cultural organization Tilts.

An online auction of hockey pucks and other sports memorabilia, the proceeds of which will benefit Latvian children, is scheduled from Nov. 20-30 on the eBay service, the Milwaukee, Wisc.-based Kids First Fund has announced.

The “All-Stars Hockey Puck Auction for Kids” will feature hockey pucks signed by more than 115 National Hockey League players and celebrities.

Among them are Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Pavel Bure, Mike Modano, Bill Guerin, Marty Turco, Ed Belfour, JS Giguere, Brian Leetch, Marian Gaborik, Nikolai Khabibulin, Jeremy Roenick, Jason Arnott, Teemu Selanne, “Mr. Hockey” Gordie Howe, Kids First Fund board member Arturs Irbe and honorary director Sergei Zholtok. Irbe and Zholtok are from Latvia.

The auction will be available at members.ebay.com/aboutme/kidsfirstfund/.

“Sergei Zholtok of the Minnesota Wild and Arturs Irbe have been tremendous assets in organizing our auction,” Jay Sorensen, Kids First Fund board president, said in a press release. “During 2003, Arturs and Sergei personally asked fellow NHL players to donate autographed hockey pucks and other items. Their efforts along with the generosity of players and team staff will raise thousands of dollars for our projects in Latvia.”

The Kids First Fund supports programs in Latvia to educate child welfare professionals such as police officers, judges, social workers and prosecutors on child abuse issues. Direct assistance is also given to centers providing care for abused children. The fund also anticipates it will develop Latvia’s first family shelter for abused children and their mothers during 2004.

Further information about the Kids First Fund is available from the charity’s Web site.