SASKANDINOT (LATVIAN BALLADS AND DRINKING SONGS):

This is a collection of sultry, soulful ballads and drinking songs with a gypsy flavor and an existential twist, sung with passionate abandon by Latvian singer Laila Salins - with a vivid accompaniment of laouto, accordion, clarinet, violin, flute and percussion (music of Eastern Europe). The songs are brooding but luscious, with a dark sense of irony and an elemental passion. "Saskandinot" is the Latvian word for toasting: the clinking of glasses, the resonance that arises from it; an affirmation of affinities.

The musicians who brought these songs to life are: Jim Matus on laouto (creator of Mawwal and Paranoise); Bill Schimmel on accordion (founder of The Tango Project, composer and chamber musician); Alicia Svigals on violin (a founder of the Klezmatics and Mikveh), Lutz Rath on cello (St. Luke's Orchestra, Elysium String Quartet); Perry Robinson on clarinet (the Brubeck Family; Gunter Hampel; Raga Roni); and percussionists Brian Caudle, Marty Elster, John de Kadt and Michel Moushabeck. Lalita Salins (Kolibri) plays flute and sings back-up vocals and Jason Schwartz plays acoustic bass (Jason Schwartz Project). Joe O'Brien plays electric bass and his sister Jill O'Brien sings back-up vocals (both of Mawwal and Metacomet).

This CD was made possible by a generous grant from the American Latvian Association's Cultural Foundation.

 

Listen to tracks from Saskandinot: http://cdbaby.com/cd/lailasalins

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DiGSTATION

"Listening to the collection, Saskandinot, one admires the deeply rhapsodic musical accompaniment and the singer's richness of imagination. Laila Salins and her instrumental ensemble achieve a dynamic rendition of these songs, casting a musical spell that is both ancient and contemporary. The songs fascinate and intrigue." --Dace Aperans, Laiks (Time )

"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." Eric Salzman (composer, producer, author of Twentieth Century Music: An Introduction )