Our dear friends at CPL-Music have done it again! This 60-track album by Saucejas is an ethnographer’s dream if you’re into Latvian music, and there is an organic feeling to this album. Nothing too terribly processed, nothing added that didn’t need to be there. The album is appropriately titled, as Dabā is Latvian for “in nature.” This is simply beautiful choral traditional music from one of my favorite regions of the world.
The Jauno Jāņu Orķestris (The New Midsummer Orchestra) are a folk music band hailing from Latvia, an area we don’t get to cover terribly much here on this blog, which is a shame. This is a one-track single of very well-done traditional music with, of course, updated production values and a very full sound. The vocals are cheery and dramatic, and as far as I can translate the lyrics (shown on the band’s Bandcamp page), it’s hard to pin down if they are referring to early Christian or pagan times. It’s a fascinating song regardless.