DZIESMU UN DEJU SVĒTKI 2008

INFORMATION FOR MASS MEDIA

Starting from July 3, 2008, all photo galleries are stored here.
(Please fill free to download the photos. The photos are free and can be used for non commercial purpose. Please display the Author and the Song and Dance Celebration Office. Thank you.)

Latvian Nationwide Song and Dance Celebration logo

Latvia is the first country in the world that has adopted the Song and dance Celebration law (2005).

Tradition and Symbolism of the Song and Dance Celebration Process in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

Latvian Nationwide Song and Dance Celebration Event Calendar

Proclamation 2003: "The Baltic Song and Dance Celebrations" ^UNESCO

In order to promote the recognition of Latvia’s unique tradition in the world, the Ministry of Foreign affairs, in cooperation with the Latvian Institute and the Song and Dance Celebration Office, has created a travelling photo exhibition about the Song and Dance Celebration tradition in Latvia with the motto ‘When many become one’ (Kad daudzi kļūst viens).

The exhibition includes 39 photos by various Latvian photographers, forming an emotional story that reflects the preparatory process of the Song and Dance Celebration – rehearsals, auditions, as well as Celebration events – procession, concerts and, finally, the huge closing concert on the Mežaparks open-air stage.
The first exhibition opening outside Latvia will take place on April 15, 2008 at the European Parliament in Brussels. It is possible to view the exhibition electronically here

History

Period between the first and the fifth Song Festival
Period between the sixth and the ninth Song Festival
Period between the tenth and the nineteenth Song Festival
20th, 21st and 22nd All Latvian Song Festival
23rd All Latvian Song Festival

LATVIA – THE LAND THAT SINGS

In 2008, three Baltic countries – Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia – will celebrate 90 years since their independence. Year 2008 will also be significant for Latvia as around 35 000 participants will gather in our capital Riga for the XXIV Song and XIV Dance Celebration. It is not just a festival – the tradition goes back for 135 years and in 2003 together with Lithuanian and Estonian Song and Dance tradition it was recorded in the UNESCO list of Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage. The celebration is due to take place from the 5th through the 12th of July 2008, in Mezaparks and Daugava Stadium in Riga. Attendees are certain to experience Latvia as the Land That Sings.Every spring all Latvian dance groups and choirs take part in displays involving more than 15 000 dancers and around 13 000 singers, demonstrating to the jury from the compulsory repertoire as well as freely chosen ones. In spring, 2008 dance displays will take place so that the jury can determine which dance groups and choirs are suitably prepared for the Song and Dance Celebration. The cream of the crop will be invited to participate in a final round on May 24! They have been preparing for 5 years to be named the best and win the participation at the celebration in July. The atmosphere will be similar to that of the 100 metre sprint at the Olympic Games!

In short - what makes the Song and Dance festival so unique?

Choir of 12 000 people jointly sings wide and difficult repertoire a cappella in 8 voices;

Joint dance concert unites 15 000 dancers;

Every singer and dancer wears a folk costume;

Festivals take place each 5 years but in between there are competitions and displays reflecting the dynamic existence of the celebration tradition throughout the country.

Tradition has a deep symbolic meaning as a representative of national identity creation and development

Aspect of multiculturalism: Alongside Latvians, representatives from 156 various nations live in Latvia (2.3 million people) and nowadays the festival gives them the opportunity to perform their traditions or to melt in the joint activities;

About the history of the Song and Dance tradition:

Taking the idea from the recent German practice of organising huge choir concerts, the Latvians organised their first Song Celebration in Riga in 1873 in which 45 choirs and 1019 participants took part. Much of the aim of the festival was to help foster in Latvians a sense of national identity - and this certainly worked, as in 1918, during the aftermath of the First World War and the Russian Revolution, Latvia declared itself an independent state.

Unfortunately for the Latvians, Soviet Russia was to reclaim the state as its own following WWII. However, even the Soviets, who had criminalised the ownership of a Latvian national flag, dared not deny the people their beloved Son Celebrations. And so the Song Celebration continued to exist, albeit with an unhealthy amount of panegiric in praise of Lenin. Despite the heavy russification of the festival it was understood between Latvians, at first tacitly and later in the 1980s more openly, that the event stood for Latvian national identity. From 1987 to 1991 in fact singing protests became Latvia's most powerful weapon against the Soviet regime, as it did in Lithuania and Estonia, in what is now termed the Singing Revolution.

But enough about history, what does this Latvian Song and Dance Celebration (the dance element was added in 1948) actually consist of? Well basically some of the largest choirs in the world getting kitted out in national dress and singing their hearts out! At the last Song and Dance Celebration in 2003 over 30,000 participants, 300 different choirs, more than 500 dance groups, plus 57 brass bands, three symphonic orchestras and one chamber orchestra all took part during crazy eleven days in June and July. On top of that a large number of art exhibitions, parades and also some contemporary rock and pop concerts took place. In 2008 around 35 000 participants are expected to come to Riga from all over the country as well as some friendship groups from other countries.

Not in vain is Latvia the ‘Land that Sings!’

Our Song Celebration is rooted in the folk singing tradition. Traditional or folk song is the name we give to our four-line verses (dainas) created in a specific form of expression. 217 996 of these songs were written down at the beginning of the 20th century and placed in a unique cupboard (dainu skapis) for safe-keeping, but the exact number is not known. There exists a saying, “A traditional song for every Latvian”, meaning that there could well be 1. 5 million - making Latvian oral tradition one of the richest in the world.