“The Baltic Sisters” is an international traditional music project that was born in late 2022 in Lisbon, Portugal, where Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian singers met. The members of the group, who were initially united by their passion for sutartinės – archaic Lithuanian polyphonic songs, have now expanded their repertoire to include Estonian and Latvian folk songs. “The Baltic Sisters” consists of four singers – Liene Skrebinska and Vineta Romāne from Latvia, Mariona Selgalla from Estonia and Laurita Peleniūte from Lithuania.
“Our first album is like a gateway to the world of traditional music of the Baltic States, as we hear it, feel it and tell about it further. In the album, we collected the songs through which we met and got to know each other,” the members of the group say about their first album.
The album features polyphonic folk songs arranged by the group – a long cry from South Kurzeme, a lyrical song “Soka saule rītiedama” from Latgale, Lithuanian sutartina and Estonian set songs, which are on the UNESCO World Heritage List, as well as several compositions that combine the ethnic music of all three countries.
The album “Värav / Vārti / Vartai” (Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian for “gate”) was released by the German label “CPL-Music”. It can be listened to on all streaming platforms.
The album was recorded in Vilnius, Lithuania (sound director Tadas Dešukas) and Riga, Latvia (sound director Gatis Gaujenieks), mixed and mastered by Gatis Gaujenieks at the studio “GEM Plus”. The album’s designer is Ieva Vaivaraite-Ošikiene.
