Folklore group
Ventiņ

10'th anniversary of Ventiņ, Ventspils, 25 October 1997

      Name: Ventiņ
          meaning: name of Latvian "subnationality", living near Venta river
          recommended transcription in English: Ventin
          approximate pronunciation in English: Venting
          Listen pronunciation in AU format (9 Kb)

      Created: November 1987
      Location: Ventspils, Kurland
      Leader: Regīna Lapsiņa
      Number of participants: 22, of them by age:
          younger than 14 years: 6
          from 25 to 44 years: 1
          from 45 to 64 years: 15
      and by gender:
          males: 7
          females: 15
      Forms of activity: sing, play music, dance, play roundelays
      Musical instruments: accordion, flute, devil drum.

Symbolism: Flag of folklore group Ventiņ.

      Description: Folklore group Ventiņ has arisen during the period of the 'third Latvian national revival'. It did not appear out of the blue. We, a few women and men had already sung together in Ventspils road department, but this first ensemble had broken apart. How good, that in 1988 we had gone to Riga to see Baltica-88. We liked it so, that, after returning home, we started to study our old traditions. Our children and grandchildren helped us.
    In 1993, when Regīna Lapsiņa took over the management of the group, Ventiņ swerved a little from the real folklore and - at the request of people - started to make songs and dances in old Ventin style. Sometimes our leader herself composes melodies on Ventin verses, or somebody recalls an old game.
    In 1995 happiness has smiled to Ventiņ to visit Sweden. With a large pleasure we searched for sponsors and in August we sang and danced in Degerforce.
    Ventiņ has close and friendly contacts with Lithuanian folklore ensembles and with just a few collectives in Latvia.
    Our songs are basically about sea, Venta, fishermen.

Ventin meeting, the park of Cesis castle, 6 June 1998

      Sound sample: Ventiņ dejs dziesm (Ventin dancing song) (1998)
One couplet in AU format (176 Kb)
Full song in MP3 format (211 Kb)

      Address:
          in Latvian: Regīna Lapsiņa, Brīvības 23-19, Ventspils, LV-3600, Latvija
          in English: Regina Lapsina, Brivibas 23-19, Ventspils, LV-3600, Latvia
      Phone: (+371) 36-33864

      Date of presenting the information: 1 August 1998, 15 May 1999