Singing together is part of a normal lifestyle to us. Historically, singing has been used as a way of protest or even resistance. There's hardly a community where singing enthusiasts have not joined forces to form an ensemble or a choir. In 1873, Latvian singing groups were core around which our collective self-confidence was built. The ideas encrypted in the song lyrics helped us become aware of ourselves as a nation.

There are places in Latgale and Kurzeme that are particularly charged with some mysterious energy where the so-called ethnic singing is still being practised. The singers are mostly wise and experienced women and youngsters who are apprenticing. In Latgale it’s the women singers of Rikava, Upīte and Medņeva, in Kurzeme such singers can be found in Alsunga.

Latvians consider it prestigious to sing in a choir. During the quinquennial Song Festival we hold song fights. Singers from all over Latvia come to Riga to compete with each other and proudly show off the most beautiful, the most ethnographically accurate traditional costumes from different parts of the country. UNESCO has acknowledged the Song Festival by including it in the list of Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.