The lady in the picture is Ms. Laima Jansone, a Latvian musician who plays the kokle, sometimes known as the Latvian Harp. She is a prodigious talent on an archaic instrument, and carries forward ancient Baltic Pagan musical traditions which have thankfully been preserved in her homeland.My late husband was of Latvian descent (I am of Polish/Slovene heritage), and the all-too-short YouTube video of her playing out in the middle of a forest truly evokes another time and place.
It is traditional for Latvians to celebrate Midsummer (the Summer Solstice) with music, song and dance, and since Midsummer is rapidly approaching, I decided to post this as a musical Blessing for all. The YouTube link is below-- Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAwRI1Ahzvw
For those of you with better bandwidth, here are two more links (better video and sound quality) for her over at Exposure Room. The first link is for the same piece on the YouTube video, and the second link is for a piece called 'Sounding the Trees'...
http://exposureroom.com/members/Avatar.aspx/assets/51dd76f1ce714bbb89e37d3739ad6eff/
http://exposureroom.com/members/Avatar.aspx/assets/f0f3f38ebe4945a882bf540e8626d7db/
2 comments:
wow, this is so beautiful! It's late right now so I won't listen to the second song, but I absolutely love the first! It reminds me of my friend Kerc and the way he plays guitar and piano. It has a very similar feel. This is the exact feeling I try for and get when I play with a capo. She's perfectly crystalized the very emotion I feel when I play. Brilliant! Thanks for sharing!
Yeah, I love the way her music just seems to flow out of her. It is just mesmerizing to watch. Glad you enjoyed her music!
Peace,
T'Z
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