Sēju Vēju

Iļģi

2000: UPE Records UPE CD 016

1. Kas Varēja Grožus Vīt / Who Weaves the Reins?
2. Sēju Vēju / Sow the Wind
3. Seši Jauni Bandenieki / Six Young Men
4. No Tālienes Es Pazinu / I Knew From Afar
5. Aiz Upītes Meitas Dzied / Girls Sing Beyond the Stream
6. Seši Mozi Bundzenīki / Six Young Drummers
7. Treis Vosoras Saturēju / Three Summers I Held
8. Es Ar Meitu Dancot Gāju / I Danced With the Girl
9. Pūti Pūti Vēja Māte / Blow Mother Wind
10. Jūra Krāca Jūra Šņāca / The Sea Snarled and Hissed
11. Uz Daugavas Es Dzīvoju / I Lived on the River
12. Tumsa Tumsa Kas Par Tumsu / Darkness, What Darkness…

This was the first Iļģi album I ever heard, but it wasn’t my first exposure to Latvian folk music, just to its potential power when presented in a “contemporary” context. In fact I was astonished to realize that I recognized part of the very first track—“Kas Varēja Grožus Vīt”—because Iļģi musically quoted a song I’d heard once before in a more traditional arrangement (the title track from their earlier album Saules Meita).

Anyway, Sēju Vēju has a number of surprisingly hot tracks; the title song is lots of fun to sing along with (and that’s made possible by the inclusion of the Latvian lyrics with flanking English translations), and the opening track pulses along quite robustly, but the final track is a gas both on the album and in concert.

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Comments © 2005 Mark Ellis Walker, except as noted, and no claim is made to the images and quoted lyrics.