Culture

Music in Lithuania

The antique Lithuanian music – very archaic, with the purpose of ceremony – it passed from the pagan to Christian. Songs – basic inheritance of musical culture, and particularly – glees which only exist in the north eastern part of Lithuania. Lithuanian folk music is special because majority of them purpose was ritual. Songs compose the mass of music folk. Voice, melodies express the deepest people feelings. Lithuanian folk songs are sensitive, lyric and most often sad. There reflect natural views, animals’ and birds’ life in the texts. There are also singing about severe luck of orphan, hard toil of cultivator, sensitive girlies and feelings of boyfriends’. Life of a human is comparing with plants’, mostly with trees’ life, it is applying help from birds and beasts.
Singing in Lithuania is very important and has very deep traditions. There came into being choirs in Lithuania in the 21st century, it was of service in the time of sovereign to raise national and spiritual culture. Jamborees’ of choirs, festivals which were mostly organized by choirmasters’ simmered to a phenomenal worlds’ appearance – festivals which attracts thousands of performers and spectators. The first festival of songs was arranged in 1924 year in Kaunas. From 1990 year festivals of songs’ are organized one time in four years in the beginning of May. On the average 30 thousands of participants take part in these festivals. Without traditional songs and dances festivals Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania arrange common festivals of students’ songs and dances “Gaudemus” and international folk festival “Baltica”. There is also very popular in Lithuania various festivals of jazz which happens in the majority of the cities.
On the 7th of November in 2003 UNESCO accepted as a masterpiece that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania has a tradition of songs and dances and as a symbolism of humanities’ verbal and immaterial culture heritage.