Foto: Sandra Jascherica

On Thursday May 24th at 8 p.m. in Valmiermuižas alus vēstniecība in Riga (A.Briāna iela 9a) the Latvian World Music Group Lata Donga will present its first album “Variācijas”.

The concert is part of the churning concerts in preparation of the Ethno Festival „Sviests 2018”, in Valmiermuiža.

The heart of the group is a family of folkmusicians in the third generation  – Aīda Rancāne, Asnate Rancāne, Aurēlija Rancāne and Andris Kapusts. The heartfelt understanding  of the traditional musical heritage and long-time practice in the folklore movement in combination with studies of ethnomusicology, visual arts and contemporary dance create the musical basis of Lata Donga.

The special sound of Lata Donga is created by the emotional, peculiar and inspiring voices in combination with a very creative and contemporary instrumental arrangement. The ancient and the contemporary, the Latvian and the global, the female and the sacral create a special integrity and is the main source of inspiration of the group.  

“The melodies recorded on this album represent various styles and also various geographic regions. Correspondingly, the techniques of variation in the songs differ as well. Lata Donga’s album Variations justifies its name not only by demonstrating variation in folk melodies; associatively, it also incorporates variations (variants) in order to show that a modern approach may be taken with these melodies and variation techniques, thereby connecting them in different ways through the use of style elements from the wider world of music.” (M.Boiko)

The album is released with the support of the State Culture Capital Foundation.