I am deeply grateful to the musicians who brought these songs to life: the luscious laouto playing of Jim Matus (creator of Mawwal and Paranoise) which provided the initial sound fabric for the weaving together of these songs; the vivid flights of fancy of accordionist extraordinaire Bill Schimmel (founder of The Tango Project, performer, and composer); the wild and fearless violin of Alicia Svigals (a founder of the Klezmatics and Mikveh), the soulful cello playing of Lutz Rath (St. Luke’s Orchestra, Elysium String Quartet); Perry Robinson’s wise and playful spirit on clarinet (the Brubeck Family; Gunter Hampel; Raga Roni); and the dynamic percussionists: Brian Caudle, Marty Elster, John de Kadt and Michel Moushabeck. My dear and gifted sister, Lalita Salins (Kolibri), plays flute and sings back-up vocals; and two young bass players contributed their talents - Jason Schwartz on acoustic bass (Jason Schwartz Project), and Joe O’Brien on electric bass, whose sister Jill O’Brien joined me on back-up vocals (both of Mawwal and Metacomet).
Laila Salins (vocalist, arranger and composer) has spent her life traversing the diverse musical worlds of chamber music, folk music, opera, art-rock and music theater. She is of Latvian descent, and has performed in the United States, Canada, Latvia, England, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and Australia. In this CD of Latvian ballads and drinking songs, she brings together a lively musical ensemble (including laouto, accordion, cello, violin, bass, clarinet, flute and percussion) to revisit some familiar Latvian melodies, as well as to create a few new ones.
The CD SASKANDINOT can be obtained at: BalticShop.com; cdbaby and digstation
Saskandinot:
It’s the Latvian word for toasting: the clinking of glasses; the resonance that arises from it; an affirmation of affinities. This is a collection of songs from my own idiosyncratic Latvian psyche, reconfigured on a far-away shore. Some of these songs I’ve heard since childhood - at late night celebrations; or around a blazing fire; or in my parents’ living room. Two of the drinking songs come from the rich Latvian folk tradition; some are melodies that were passed down through decades of late-night brooding and celebrating, based on verses written by earlier poets, sung to melodies whose origin we no longer know. In many of these songs - even in the darkest moments - there's an an ability to filter sorrow and disappointment through black humor and irony. There's a song written together with my friend and laouto player, Jim Matus - an ode to midsummer‘s eve in the city - and I set to music two poems of my father, Gunars, both of which playfully address themes of death and beyond." (Laila Salins)
Eric Salzman (composer, producer, author of Twentieth Century Music: An Introduction ) writes of SASKANDINOT :"Imagine a collection of drinking songs, poems and ballads from a small, seemingly lost and long-oppressed country on the far-off Baltic Sea, a country sandwiched in between Scandinavia and the dark Slavic world. Imagine listening to one song after another obsessed with death, gloom, misery and unrequited love and then finding yourself so uplifted, so filled with the spirit of the muse as to take your breath away, seduced by minor-key song that turns deep pessimism into beauty and life-affirmation. The place is Latvia and the creators of this verbal and musical poetry are little-known to most of us. The person who has revealed this world to us is Laila Salins, a classically trained singer of Latvian descent and of great vocal and personal beauty, talent and intelligence. She crosses all the old barriers to open a door to the riches of a culture where deep, ancient and ancestral strains meet the contemporary worlds of folk and popular music, all in a mix that is as true to its roots as it is original, moving and articulate for our latter day."
