Reflections from Dainų Šventė

“Funk and dance,
not folk song, is our life,
our lifestyle”

Breakdancer executing a one-handed spin to the song Jump
Around by House of Pain in Kalnu Parkas, Vilnius,
on the opening night of Dainų Šventė, 2009

Text: Emily Šaras
Associate Editor

It was a misty and moist afternoon in the summer of 2009, a year that celebrated Vilnius, Lithuania as a European Capital of Culture.  Just as eager as I was sleep-deprived, I started my ethnomusicology research project that night by observing the opening Dainų Šventė event.  My particular strain of jet lag – the seven-hour difference between Vilnius and Boston – was still a haunting presence, leading me to wander zombie-like throughout the streets of Senamiestis that evening.  But even in my undead state, I was on a mission: like the hundreds of Lithuanians gathered in the city center, I had come to the opening night festivities of Dainų Šventė to hear my first taste of Lithuanian dainos (folk music) performed live.  A hedgehog in the fog, I sought musical truth to clear out my haze.

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