The new folk music CD, Sventava, features Māris Muktupāvels, kokle player and member of the post-folk ensemble Iļgi, along with many friends, performing songs from the Kurzeme region of Latvia. The album, released by MGM Projekti (MGM 001), brings together a wide variety of Latvian musicians to perform these songs.

According to the liner notes, many of these songs are sung by Latvians in the village of Sventāja, which is actually in Lithuania (between Liepāja in Latvia and Klaipėda in Lithuania). The songs were compiled during a folklore ‘expedition’ to the village by Ilmārs Mežs in the 1980s, and these are new arrangements by Muktupāvels.

Joining Muktupāvels are other Iļģi members like Gatis Gaujenieks, Ilga Reizniece, Egons Kronbergs, as well as other well-known musicians such as Ainars Mielavs, Uģis Prauliņš, and Valdis Muktupāvels.