Baltic Visitor

[ 4 December, 2007 to 17 December, 2007. ] The name ‘Christmas Jazz’ (Joulujazz in Estonian) may well strike fear into your heart: surely not a festival of Christmas carols performed in a jazz style? Or some kind of Wizzard-meets-Miles-Davis fusion fest?

Thankfully not. Christmas Jazz is simply a jazz festival which takes place in the run-up to Christmas, and what’s more it has a […]

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[ 30 November, 2007 to 9 December, 2007. ] Today sees the start of the 11th annual Black Nights Film Festival (POFF) in Estonia. The largest film festival in the Baltics, this ten day event will showcase more than 200 films from around the globe – most of them with English subtitles.

There will be screenings in Tallinn, Tartu, Viljandi, Narva, Johvi and Kardla, and […]

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[ 12 October, 2007 to 21 October, 2007. ] One of the first festivals to be established in the newly independent Estonia, the Nyyd New Music Festival has been running since 1991. As the name suggests, it specialises in presenting new works by composers from around the world. According to creative director (and composer) Erki-Sven Tuur, quoted on Bonjour L’Estonie, the idea has always […]

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[ 21 July, 2007; ] This weekend sees the most important event in the calendar for Estonian indie music fans – the annual Plink Plonk festival which began in 2005. The event is held in Tartu, helping it to stand out from the myriad festivals which take place in the capital over the summer months. It might not be the […]

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[ 20 July, 2007 to 21 July, 2007. ] The coastal port of Liepaja is widely considered to be the home of Latvian rock music, and every summer since 2001 it has celebrated this heritage with a beach festival. The event has grown over the years, now attracting an impressive 45,000 people. There are five stages this year, hosting everything from pop acts to […]

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[ 5 July, 2007 to 8 July, 2007. ] Today sees the start of the biggest event in the Lithuanian cultural calendar – so big, in fact, that it only happens once every four years. The Lithuanian Song and Dance Celebration brings together thousands of performers, and has been officially recognised by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of […]

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[ 4 July, 2007 to 8 July, 2007. ] The annual Ollesummer (Beer Summer) festival has been running in Tallinn since 1996, and has grown to the extent that it now fills up the entire Song Festival Grounds. This year the event – running from 4th-8th July – will include more than ten entertainment stages, along with beer tents and food stalls. The biggest […]

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I hope that any of my readers living in (or visiting) the Baltics enjoyed last night, and want to wish them a happy Jāņi (Latvia), Jaanipäev (Estonia) or Joninės (Lithuania). If anyone managed to find one of those mythical flowering ferns, please let me know!
I came across a traditional Latvian Jāņi song yesterday in the […]

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[ 22 June, 2007; 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. ] The 22nd June sees an array of events in Riga’s Dome Square. The Green Market (Zāļu tirgus) runs from 9am-5pm, selling traditional Jāņi foods. You can also buy oak leaves and flowers for garlands, which can be threaded while you wait, if you want to go for the traditional Midsummer look. There are musical events […]

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With only a few days to go before Midsummer, there is an excellent article on the annual festivities on Latvians Online – one of the best English-language Latvian websites. The piece by writer and musician Amanda Jātniece describes the run-up to Jāņi (Midsummer) in a manner recalling the days before Christmas:
Jāņi is on the air […]

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