Lithuania’s very first Song Festival was organised exactly 100 years ago in Kaunas. Then it lasted for two days – and the centennial event this June will continue a whole week. The programme includes 14 events, all of them part of the long and ever-growing tradition.
Twenty years ago, the Baltic song festivals were added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
The first one was organised in Estonia, back in 1869, and was followed by Latvia four years later.
Lithuania joined in relatively late, in 1924, after the First World War and founding a national republic. Although the origins of the Song Festival in Lithuania can be traced further back, to the turn of the century, when the philosopher Vydūnas organised gatherings of choirs on the Rambynas Hill and elsewhere in the so-called Lithuania Minor, then part of the German Empire.
The first official song festival, then called the Song Day, took place in Kaunas in August 1924.
“Choirs from all over Lithuania participated, there were also wind orchestras, dancers, and on the same day they held an agricultural exhibition, which was very useful for the event in attracting more people,” says Tomas Kreimeris, coordinator of the Songs Day at this year’s Song Festival.
Saulius Liausa, head of the National Centre for Culture, says that the history of the Song Festival is closely linked to the history of the Lithuanian state. During the Second World War, the tradition of the festival was maintained by exiles in Siberia and Lithuanians in refugee camps in Germany.
The tradition was maintained even during the Soviet period. The festival was further developed, it acquired a clearer structure, complete with the Day of Dance and the Evening of Ensembles.
“It’s not easy for cultural historians to say how much ideology there was, how much the tradition was maintained, but history is pretty clear today: it was the only way to keep the tradition alive, to not forget, to come together, to sing,” says Liausa.
He notes that it was during the Soviet era that the songs now most readily associated with the Song Festival and Lithuanian patriotism more generally were first performed: such as Lietuva Brangi (Lithuania Precious) and Kur Giria Žaliuoja (Where the Forest is Green).
After Lithuania regained independence, new events were added to the Song Festival, such as special evenings for kanklės players and vocal ensembles, as well as Folklore Day, which is now one of the biggest events at the festival.
“It is important for us that every participating ensemble bring their own tradition, their own songs, those they inherited from their own place, their own dances and customs,” says Vida Šatkauskienė who heads the Folklore Day creative group. “And all that diversity, every region, every ensemble, maybe even individual performer, are what makes up our day.”
Six years ago, a new tradition was added to the Song Festival: the Day of World Lithuanians and Lithuania’s Ethnic Communities. This year, its participants come from 21 countries, from as close as Latvia and as far as Australia.
The opening concert of the centennial Song Festival will take place in Kaunas on June 29 and the closing events will be held in Vilnius on July 6. The Song Festival events will be broadcast on LRT.
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