Čikāgas Piecīši catalog now available for download

Andris Straumanis | 

What’s on your iPod? What, you don’t have the complete Čikāgas Piecīši catalog?! Now you can, thanks to Platforma Music. The Rīga-based recording company is offering digital downloads of all Piecīši albums.

Platforma announced the availability of the MP3 files on Dec. 17, just weeks after the legendary Latvian-American band completed a November tour of Latvia—complete with a Nov. 18 concert in Rīga.

Single songs cost 47 santīms and full albums cost LVL 4.72.

Ten albums ranging from the 1963 debut Čikāgas Piecīši sveicina to this year’s retrospective compilation Čikāgas Piecīšu zelts are already online. Platforma promises that an album of children’s stories and other recordings will soon follow.

Platforma’s television commercial featuring the group can be viewed on YouTube.

For a look back on the history of Čikāgas Piecīši, see Egils Kaljo’s article from November 2007.

Andris Straumanis is a special correspondent for and a co-founder of Latvians Online. From 2000–2012 he was editor of the website.

New CD set presents all Trīs no Pārdaugavas recordings

Egils Kaljo | 

A three-compact disc set containing all songs recorded by the Latvian-American trio Trīs no Pārdaugavas (Felikss Ērmanis, Mārtiņš Ērmanis and Vilnis Baumanis) is now available.

The set is called Reiz dziedāja and its release was supervised by Baumanis, the sole living member of the group. Mārtiņš Ērmanis died in 2000 and Felikss Ērmanis died in 2004.

The collection contains the debut album from 1970, Zilā jūriņā (1972), Dienu virpulī (1975), Mīkstās mēbelēs (1979) and No tālām robežām (1985), as well as six additional songs recorded in the early 1990s and originally released in 1992 on the cassettes Ar rozi un prievīti and Tēvzemei. In all, the set includes 70 songs.

The trio’s album of children’s songs, Circeņa kāzās (1974), was released on CD separately in 2004.

The group’s career lasted from the 1970s to the early 1990s, and was a popular draw in Latvian centers in the United States, Canada and Europe. Trīs no Pārdaugavas also gave a concert tour in Latvia in 1990, including a performance at the Mežaparks open air stage in Rīga.

The package includes a booklet with lyrics to all the songs, as well as notes about many of the songs, and a short essay by Baumanis.

The CD set may be ordered from Vilnis Baumanis, 15542 Ambiance Drive, North Potomac, MD 20878, or from Inga Priede, 935 Flintlock Road, Southport, CT 06890. For more information, e-mail tnpepasts@gmail.com.

Trīs no Pārdaugavas

The three-disc set Reiz dziedāja contains all recordings ever made by the Latvian-American trio Trīs no Pārdaugavas.

Egils Kaljo is an American-born Latvian from the New York area . Kaljo began listening to Latvian music as soon as he was able to put a record on a record player, and still has old Bellacord 78 rpm records lying around somewhere.

IMF, Latvia agree on loan package worth billions

Andris Straumanis | 

A loan package worth EUR 7.5 billion (USD 10.5 billion), aimed at helping Latvia stabilize its economy, has been announced by the International Monetary Fund.

The agreement between the IMF and Latvian authorities still needs the approval of the fund’s executive board, but that is expected before the end of the year.

The Dec. 19 announcement by the IMF comes a week after the Saeima approved a tighter 2009 budget that includes big cuts in government spending and higher taxes.

The loan package includes:

  • EUR 3.1 billion from the European Union
  • EUR 1.8 billion from Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
  • EUR 1.7 billion from the IMF.
  • EUR 400 million from the World Bank.
  • EUR 200 million from the Czech Republic.
  • EUR 100 million each from Estonia, Poland and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

“We will continue assisting the Latvian authorities in their courageous efforts to adjust in the midst of the global financial turmoil and we will work closely with them and other stakeholders as the program unfolds,” IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a press release.

A World Bank spokesperson said the organization welcomes the agreement.

“This is a fragile period,” said Shigeo Katsu, the World Bank’s vice president for Europe and Central Asia, said in a press release, “so we must do everything we can to prevent the financial crisis from becoming a human crisis. As part of the international effort, the World Bank stands ready to do its part to provide financing and help tackle long-term structural problems.”

Andris Straumanis is a special correspondent for and a co-founder of Latvians Online. From 2000–2012 he was editor of the website.