Nīca
ethnographical ensemble

During concert, 90-th years

      Created: 1953
      Location: Nica, Liepaja distr., Kurland
      Leader: Reinholds Jansons
      Number of participants: 18, of them by age:
          younger than 14 years: 2
          from 14 to 24 years: 2
          from 25 to 44 years: 2
          from 45 to 64 years: 1
          older than 64 years: 11
      and by gender:
          males: 4
          females: 14
      Forms of activity: sing, play music, play roundelays
      Muzīkas: squeeze-box (ievina, accordion), violin, zither, pulsatile instruments (sticks, drums etc.)

Symbolism:     Flag of Nica ethnographical ensemble.

      Description: In 1952 I was nominated the teacher of music in Nica school. I began to work as the director of Nica culture house too and soon I was deeply interested in Nica songs, traditions etc. I found the best Nica singers and narrators, we wrote down the tunes and started to stage: evening parties, christening, matchmaking, wedding.
    In 1953 Ministry of culture selected us for participation in the Decade of Latvian art and literature in Moscow in 1955.
    In 1956 we became winners of 1-st degree of 1-st Youth festival of Soviet Latvia.
    Afterwards times came, when the folklore and the ethnography were considered nationalistic, because of this - undesirable, and this area of the spiritual life began to decline.
    In 80-ties the folklore movement started to blossom again. We participated in the Baltica festivals, visited Lithuania, sang much there and elsewhere itself, and in other places.
    We know many songs: long voices, road songs, labour and household songs, baptism, matchmaking and wedding songs, roundelays, chaffing songs, romances and others.

In 80-th years

      Sound sample: Nīcas garais sauciens (The Nica long call) (1956)
One couplet in AU format (386 Kb)
Full song in MP3 format (289 Kb)

Stagging Wedding in Nica, 1956

      Address:
          in Latvian: Reinholds Jansons, Dārza 2-4, Nīca, Liepājas raj., LV-3473, Latvija
          in English: Reinholds Jansons, Darza 2-4, Nica, Liepaja distr., LV-3473, Latvia
      Phone: (+371) 34-69094

      Date of presenting the information: 25 July 1998