This CD is the latest offering from this energetic and imaginative Latvian folk-rock band. We have everything else they’ve recorded, and listen to them often and with great pleasure. Ej tu dejot (in English, Go Dance) is probably not the CD I’d suggest if you are new to Ilgi. It is not at all representative of their other work.
This CD runs fifty-two minutes long and features a whopping twenty-two tracks, some of which are of necessity very, very short (like ten seconds long). Some of them sound quite traditional, but many do not. All instrumental and varying in rhythm between stately and lively, they leave me with the impression that the band members were trying out some dance or marching tunes but hadn’t quite decided what to do with them. Occasionally they break into pieces that are NOT Latvian at all—on ‘Ackups,’ for example, we caught a bar of ‘What do you do with a drunken sailor.’ What the….?
All five regular members of the band are in attendance, although not necessarily on each track. The most predominant sound on several tracks is Vilnis Strods on drums –and I mean drums played with sticks, not hands. Ilgi founder, mainstay and muse Ilga Reizniece plays her violin, of course—but is very much in the background on many of these pieces. Egons Kronbergs plays guitar, Maris Muktupavela plays accordion, kokles (a plucked string instrument) and dudas (Latvian bagpipe). The sound is rounded out by Gatis Gaujenieks on bass guitar and giga (another Latvian string instrument)—although again, not all artists play on all tracks.
Just to make this all a bit sillier than it already is, a number of the tracks bear very non-traditional names, e.g. ‘pancakes,’ ‘hotcakes,’ ‘crepes,’ flapjacks,’ ‘spacecakes,’ and (last but not least), ‘latkes.’ Did I already say What the…?
The CD case is cardboard and folds out four ways, making for five photos (one behind the CD holder itself) of the band members. There are absolutely no liner notes in English, very few liner notes at all. Anyone read Latvian?
(Biedriba, 2008)
I can not find the compact “Ej tu dejot” for sale on the internet. MP3 I do not care. Do you know where I can find it?
Thanks for the help
You can get the actual CD from balticshop.com; Amazon.com carries it only as a MP3 download.
A few years ago I was on a business trip to Riga, Latvia, and in a spare moment I was walking along a downtown street. I passed a store that had loudspeakers outside from which I heard music that immediately grabbed hold of my folkrock-loving soul, so that I had no choice but to enter the store and ask what it was. Fortunately the people inside spoke English and informed me that I was listening to Ilgi, two of whose CDs subsequently left the store in my hand! The place seemed to be a dedicated folk music and folklore shop, connected in some way with Ilgi or at least with their record label. So I’ve been an Ilgi fan ever since.