Auļi - "Ozols" (Live)
It has been 20 years since the then not very numerous but passionate Latvian bagpipe and drum enthusiasts decided to play together. The revival of the Latvian bagpipe began in the late 1980s. For more than 50 years, this traditional instrument had been absent from Latvian culture, even in such activities as the Orchestra of Folk Music Instruments, through which, for example, the kokle (a traditional Latvian psaltery) took on a new form, repertoire and place in Latvian music. In the past couple of decades, however, Auļi have created several concert programmes reflecting repertoire that is characteristic of the bagpipe as well as composing original music that tells about important characters in Latvian folklore. Much of that repertoire is instrumental, with bagpipes and drums in the foreground. At the same time, Auļi are always keen to experiment by adding singers to their music, and in recent years the group has included male voices, which make the Auļi sound even more colourful and hypnotic.
“Ozols” (Oak tree) is a track from Auļi’s 2010 album Etnotranss, when the band was eager to try out different sounds to entertain audiences in Latvia and abroad. An experiment in the direction of ambient and new age music resulted in the Etnotranss programme. This live recording comes from Auļi’s performance at the Great Amber Concert Hall in Liepāja during the group’s grand 20th anniversary tour in 2023. “In honour of the ‘Deviņvīru spēks’ concert programme, and in collaboration with musical instrument maker Rihards Valters, we’ve made a new tree-trunk drum – even bigger than the previous one. The process of making the drum can be followed on Auļi’s social media accounts, and audiences will see and hear it at our concerts,” commented drummer Kaspars Indrēvics.