Tautumeitas
March 8, 2023 11:21 PM Subscribe
Tautumeitas is a Latvian folk group, comprised of six women vocalists and instrumentalists. They often bring more modern sensibilities into their music, but have also released straight historically sourced music. Their visual imagery has a lot of references to Latvia's pagan past, pretty clearly here in the music video for Raganu Nakts (Witches' Night, english lyrics). Read a bit more and see their video of Muoseņa, a 2022 track where they collaborated with singer-songwriter Renārs Kaupers.
I think I discovered them through their collaboration with DakhaBrakha, a group I found through a MetaFilter post and would also recommend a listen to.
If you'd like to hear their more traditional fare, they released an album called Dziesmas no Aulejas (Songs from Auleja) in 2019. One track I'm fond of is Dīzgon borgais rudiņs nuoca, about a young bride having a hard time living with her husband's family. These, and some of the other tracks, are in the Latgalian dialect and can be a bit hard to follow even if you happen to know Latvian.
You can find them on YouTube, FaceBook, SoundCloud and a not-often-updated web page.
I think I discovered them through their collaboration with DakhaBrakha, a group I found through a MetaFilter post and would also recommend a listen to.
If you'd like to hear their more traditional fare, they released an album called Dziesmas no Aulejas (Songs from Auleja) in 2019. One track I'm fond of is Dīzgon borgais rudiņs nuoca, about a young bride having a hard time living with her husband's family. These, and some of the other tracks, are in the Latgalian dialect and can be a bit hard to follow even if you happen to know Latvian.
You can find them on YouTube, FaceBook, SoundCloud and a not-often-updated web page.
Latvian folk songs are really fascinating. To get a sense what traditional Latvian folk performances look like, here’s a video of a great performance from 2005.
Also, that’s Eurovision’s Renārs Kaupers, whose My Star placed third in 2000 (back when he anglicized his name as Reynard Cowper), starting a proud Latvian tradition of sending indie bands to Eurovision.
posted by Kattullus at 1:42 AM on March 9, 2023
Also, that’s Eurovision’s Renārs Kaupers, whose My Star placed third in 2000 (back when he anglicized his name as Reynard Cowper), starting a proud Latvian tradition of sending indie bands to Eurovision.
posted by Kattullus at 1:42 AM on March 9, 2023
These, and some of the other tracks, are in the Latgalian dialect and can be a bit hard to follow even if you happen to know Latvian.
You’re not wrong. As it happens, I do speak some Latvian (sadly rusty from disuse now). Had I come across this unawares, I’d be hard-pressed to even recognize it and might have thought it was Lithuanian or something.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:57 AM on March 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
You’re not wrong. As it happens, I do speak some Latvian (sadly rusty from disuse now). Had I come across this unawares, I’d be hard-pressed to even recognize it and might have thought it was Lithuanian or something.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:57 AM on March 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm here for more Renārs Kaupers content on Metafilter.
posted by peacesign at 11:19 AM on March 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by peacesign at 11:19 AM on March 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by Harald74 at 11:22 PM on March 8, 2023