Group of awareness of traditional culture
Trokšņu iela
Review of the folklore festival Baltica, January 2006
Name: Trokšņu iela
meaning: Street of noises
recommended transcription in English: Troksnu iela
approximate pronunciation in English: Truokshngu eala
Listen pronunciation in AU format (17 Kb)
Created: October 1998
Location: Riga
Leader: Anete Simanovska
Number of participants: 7, of them by age:
from 14 to 24 years: 1
from 25 to 44 years: 6
and by gender:
males: 2
females: 5
Forms of activity: sing, play music, dance, play roundelays
Musical insruments:
violin,
drum
and other pulsatile instruments,
monochord,
pipes,
guimbarde,
psaltery,
harmonica.
Description:
The group arouse in autumn 1998. Number of participants has been
changing from 3 to 8 since then, and newcomers are always welcome. The name of
the group (`Alarm street`) comes from a border-street of the medieval Riga,
the address of our former rehearsal place. It has become a symbol of the
border in our minds since we have come together inside the walls of Riga;
still we never forget the outside of our ancestors where we come from.
Our concern in traditional culture is all-inclusive. We pay a special
attention to contemporary phenomena indicating eventual evident or hidden
continuance of old tradition. Thus firstly everyone of us grounds on the
heritage of ones own family. We study and learn to interpret tradition from
different regions of Latvia together. We highlight the difference as well as
look for the context of the large European culture regions and that is why we
also take interest in traditions of other nations.
Our main activities are as follows:
~ traditional singing: under guidance of specialists, we study recordings of
the old bearers of the tradition emphasizing manner of intoning based on
local dialect as well as discuss semantics of the text;
~ traditional music: for the present, we are in a stage of individual
learning of various musical instruments and studying historical, cultural and
social context of using them (violin, drums a.o. percussion, Latvian board
zither (kokles), birch-bark trumpets, various flutes, traditional two-stringed
viol (ģīgas), hurdy-gurdy, harmonica, mouth-harp
). We consult with
connoisseurs of the rules of playing in a band in order to make our own soon.
We also do not let pass a possibility to play together with musicians from
other groups;
~ old traditional crafts: tablet and reed-weaving, needle-knitting, spinning
with a spindle, netting; log building etc. in professional and amateur levels.
We learn more and more while making our historical costumes one by fashion
of Eastern Baltic of XII-XIV centuries, and another by Latvian tradition in
the XIX century. We pay most attention to the general style and mentality of
the period, and do not forget social status of our ancestors and ourselves;
~ vulnerary plants, natural dyestuff, traditional kitchen: exploring heritage
of ones own family in comparison with others. We do cooking and gardening,
and gather wild plants as well as read special books about the subject.
Our desire to live as we like is why we keep together. Presenting ourselves
as a group gives us more possibilities to take an active participation in
various public events, to meet people and learn about what is new. One can
meet us as a folklore ensemble in a concert or festival as well as craftsmen
or seasoning and vulnerary plant sellers in a medieval fair or traditional
crafts market-day. We constantly look for something interesting to take part
in thus invitations from nice people to agreeable events are always welcome.
In Lithuania, May 2005
Address:
in Latvian:
Anete Simanovska, Meža 7a-48, Salaspils, Rīgas raj., LV-2169, Latvija
in English:
Anete Simanovska, Meza 7a-48, Salaspils, Riga distr., LV-2169, Latvia
Phone: (+371) 26548358 (c.)
Fax: (+371) 7240409 (with message for Anete Simanovska)
E-mail: an.ka_1817_N@N_inbox.lv
Date of presenting the information: 16 January 2007
