Review for the festival Baltica'03, Riga,
15 December 2002

      On Saturday, December 14, in Imanta Culture house a Baltica's review of Riga ensembles (more correctly - their half, it was impossible to show all of them in one day) and also some Tukums district's groups was held.

Laiva

      By first performed Laiva - with songs about the Mother of ground and ghosts. As always, the ensemble has pleased with large number of participants, and all of them were "at busines" - both sang and played. The ensemble sang well, but knowing the pedantic attitudeof leader to tuning of instruments, I was surprised that psalteries were not in tune.

Skandinieki

      Skandinieki sang about different mothers - Mother of road, Mother of happiness, Mother of bushes, Mother of moderation and even about the own mum. Interestingly, that the leader of ensemble Helmi Stalte did not performed, and the program was leaded by a daughter Julgi - obviously, the mother with intention transfers ensemble to the daughter beforehand.

Vilki

      Vilki sang the repertoir of the last disc. This time the program already "has stuck" to the men - they did not confuse the words. Convinced faces and strong voices of the performers have created a very powerful impression.

      Dandari have shown a program of Livonian dances. The performance was very balanced and natural, without any excesses; it was much better than performances on other reviewes of the last four years.

Vilcenes

      Vilcenes sang, how a girl leaves the father's house and that her expects in a marriage. Is felt, that She-wolfs have worked and improved their singing, but, anyway, it was not a good choice to let to sing solo some women who have not a talent for singing.

Pūrs

      Tukums' ensemble Pūrs sang about honey and bees. The participants were dressed summerly - in linen clothes (though some were not authentic), barefooted. The musicians played accordion, tuba and violin. The group sang well, but the the performance itself was with strangenesses, for example, gray-haired women ran and buzzed as bees.

Budēļi

      Budēļi sang about rye and - the girls - about lads. The comments of the leader were hearty and witty. They sang well, but, unfortunately, played so-so.

Vilkači

      Vilkači - four young fellows, have pleasantly surprised us: all sang loud and in tune. However, the manner of palpation of the drum was nontraditional.

Milzkalnieki

      Milzkalnieki is the same as Pūrs (both ensembles has the same leader), however, in a increased quantity (in ensemble there are 40 participants!). Though the subject was completely another - shepherds and a work with hay, it looked, that all is the same, except the people.

Pērkonītis

      Children's ensemble Pērkonītis from Zakumuizha sang about "the dairy way" - from a shepherd's rod up to a tub of butter. Both the teenagers, and very small children sang beautifully and in tune.

Riga Dance club

      The Riga Dance club performed the last. They made an impression that the performance is not polished - the program had not enough unity (both thematic and choreographic), the dancers have not danced and musicians have not played together enough too.

      Article: Ansis Ataols Bērziņš, 12 January 2003
      Photos: Ansis Ataols Bērziņš