The Latvian folk-rock band IVA, fronted by singer Vita Ivaškeviča, has released its long-awaited first album. Titled Tuksneša dārzi (Desert Gardens), the 10-track record was presented earlier this month in Rīga.

The album includes two songs already released as singles, including “Traveller” and “Highway.” Five of the tracks are in Latvian and five are in English.

Ivaškeviča, who also has been active in the local government of Jaunsvirlaukas parish near Jelgava, composed her first song at age 18, according to the band’s Web site. From 2001-2004 she was a member of the band Soli Deo Gloria, after which she spent some time in the United States, becoming familiar with American folk music and the mandolin, as well as composing several of the songs on the album.

Tracks on the album include:

1. Traveller
2. Mīlestība vienā dienā nenotiek
3. Afišstabi
4. Confession
5. Highway
6. Pilsonis
7. Sweetheart
8. Atvadas
9. Laimīgs cilvēks
10. The Beautiful Land

Besides singer and guitarist Ivaškeviča, members of IVA are Baiba Plakane (guitar and mandolin), Andris Tučs (bass) and Viesturs Samts (drums).

For more on the band, visit ivamusic.lv or its page on the social network draugiem.lv. Some videos of IVA may be viewed on the band’s YouTube channel.

A relatively recent guide to the history of Latvians in the West, Latvieši Rietumzemēs, has been drawing attention on the online mailing list of the diaspora organization ELJA50. Unfortunately for author Ilgvars Veigners, the comments have not been all that positive.

Described in publicity copy as the most comprehensive book to date about Latvian emigration to the West, the 978-page tome is being criticized for its errors and omissions. Released by the Rīga-based publisher Drukātava, Veigners’ book is an extension of his 1993 title, Latvieši ārzemēs.

The first book, weighing in at 400 pages, was published by Rīga-based Latvijas Enciklopēdija and was to be part of a 15-volume series on Latvia and Latvians. That Veigners turned to what essentially is a vanity press for his second book may be indicative of the difficulty in getting anything published in Latvia today.

In 1995, I reviewed Latvieši ārzemēs for the Journal of Baltic Studies. Veigners’ first book, I wrote, “is a notable addition to the all too small base of data we have about Latvians outside Latvia.” But I also pointed out the book’s chief editor’s disclaimer that Latvieši ārzemēs should not be considered an encyclopedia and that Veigners’ “collected reports are neither complete nor precise.”

So it seems with Latvieši Rietumzemēs. A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to sneak a peek at Veigners’ manuscript and was shocked by some of the errors (including in the entry about me!).

As with Latvieši ārzemēs, the new Latvieši Rietumzemēs should be considered more as historical evidence rather than historical analysis. Here is the result of one man’s decades of work collecting information about Latvians abroad, using the sources he had available. Given that much of this information was gathered during the years of Soviet occupation, it should not be surprising that data are missing or incorrect. Viewed from that perspective, Latvieši Rietumzemēs could be rather interesting reading.

Latvian-Canadian writer and artist Ilze Berzins is switching from mystery to biography for her next book, which is due out Nov. 30.

Titled Portrait of a Latvian Beauty, the book through text and photographs will tell the story of her mother, Ilze Henriete Bērziņš (née Beldavs).

“The book centres on Bēķi, her grandparents’ country homestead near Talsi which she took over when her grandfather died,” Berzins said in an e-mail. “She has a degree in agronomy from the University of Latvia as does my father Voldemars Bērziņš who predeceased my mother. Bēķi was a romantic idyll for my mother and affected how I saw Latvia back in 1995 when I too longed to savour the enchantment of Bēķi.”

The family, inlcuding the author, left Latvia in 1944 during the Second World War and eventually settled in Canada.

“Most photos were taken by my father who was deeply in love with his Greta Garbo look-alike bride,” Berzins said of the book.

Berzins’ mother died in June 2008.

“This is not an obit,” Berzins said, “but a testament of lasting beauty and the enduring courage of the Latvian spirit.”

Berzins penned the autobiographical Happy Girl in 1997, reporting on her impressions on attempting to repatriate to Latvia. She then turned to mysteries, writing a series of books either set in Latvia or involving Latvian characters. Her most recent book was Freedom, published in 2008.

Portrait of a Latvian Beauty will be published by Albert Street Press and will be available from Ilze Berzins, 30 Mount Pleasant Ave., Ottawa, ON, Canada K1S 0L8. For ordering details, contact the author at ilzeberzins@hotmail.com.

For more on Berzins and her books, visit ilzeberzins.com.