Folklore ensemble
Atzele

In Balvi, 22 May 1994

      Name: Atzele
          meaning: toponym, literal translation - prosperous, resurgent
          recommended transcription in English: Atzele
          approximate pronunciation in English: Atzele
          Listen pronunciation in AU format (12 Kb)

      Created: 1988
      Location: Vilaka, Balvi distr., Latgalia
      Leader: Janīna Dukaļska
      Number of participants: 19, of them by age:
          younger than 14 years: 1
          from 25 to 44 years: 2
          from 45 to 64 years: 6
          older than 64 years: 10
      and by gender:
          males: 5
          females: 14
      Forms of activity: sing, play music
      Musical insruments: kokle (psaltery), violin, accordzither, drum, accordion, squeeze box.

      Description: The folklore ensemble Atzele was founded in 1988 at the state farm Viļaka to carry out cultural measures. Before there was a female folklore ensemble. Kokle player Mārtiņš Baumanis gathered seven folk kokle players and violinists, and offered to found a vocal-instrumental collective.
    Our main "jewel" is the kokle player Staņislavs Zaremba (83 years), perfectly playing on the Latgalian kokle.
    F.e. Atzele performs both local songs and dances, and hits and folklore of other areas of Latvia. In our repertoir are about 150 songs. The folklore ensemble sings also ancient spiritual cantoes and psalms about deceased.
    During its existence f.e. Atzele has participated in six television programmes, in a film magazine Soviet Latvia, 2 times broadcast on radio, participated in Baltica festivals in Balvi, Baltinava, Vilaka, performed in Riga, Jekabpils and others places.

In Jekabpils ethnographical museum

      Sound sample: Pi tō puiša as naīšu (With this lad I will not marry) (1999)
One couplet in AU format (311 Kb)
Full song in MP3 format (577 Kb)

      Address:
          in Latvian: Janīna Dukaļska, Baznīcas 11, Viļaka, Balvu raj., LV-4583, Latvija
          in English: Janina Dukalska, Baznicas 11, Vilaka, Balvi distr., LV-4583, Latvia
      Phone: (+371) 45-63608

      Date of presenting the information: 25 August 1998