Arta Jēkabsone’s Garland of Songs

The successful New-York-based Latvian musician is reinventing Latvian folk songs.

What would ancient Latvian folk songs sound like if they wandered out into the world and started a conversation with other musical cultures? That’s the question Arta Jēkabsone, an award-winning Latvian jazz vocalist and composer, seems to explore on her new album “Dziesmu kamoliņš” (Garland of Songs). In 11 original arrangements, she reshapes these traditional melodies into something both fresh and undeniably Latvian.

You might think that after spending almost 10 years in New York, in a multicultural, English-speaking society, it would be easy to lose one’s identity. Arta, however, feels an increasing urge to preserve and nurture it with every passing year.

“I’m lucky to have such a diverse circle of friends and colleagues, because it helps me appreciate every culture and background. At the same time, it makes me value my own Latvian identity even more. It’s wonderful to find a common language, make music together, share our traditions, and sometimes even let them blend naturally. To understand how similar and yet different we are,” she says.

Her music carries this philosophy into the sound of “Dziesmu kamoliņš”. Take the ninth track, “Noriet saule vakarāi” (The sun sets in the evening), for example. It opens with bright, quick Moroccan percussion, and for the first twenty seconds you wouldn’t guess you’re anywhere near Latvian folk music. Then Arta’s voice enters. The old melody and the North African rhythm meet, creating something entirely new.

Or the fourth track, “Lakstīgala” (The Nightingale), which instantly transports you to a dimly lit, vibrating jazz space. When Arta first heard what Keita Ogawa – the Grammy-winning Japanese virtuoso from Snarky Puppy – had created for the percussion, she was blown away:

“I got up from my chair and started dancing. After listening to it once, I called him to say thank you with tears of joy in my eyes. It was so nuanced and heartfelt. And when Kengchakaj added his world of synthesizers, it became one of the album tracks I return to the most.”

The album brings together an exceptional international ensemble. Alongside Arta, Ogawa, and Kengchakaj – a Bangkok-born, New York-based sound artist – ten more musicians from Latvia, the US, Argentina, Italy, Morocco, and Israel joined in. You can feel those cultures colliding and weaving together in every track.

Behind the scenes, the album also had an interesting recording process – each musician contributed from wherever they were, with Arta bringing it all together.

“Everyone recorded where they were – New York apartments, home studios, Italy, Latvia, even one session done a day before a flight to Morocco, with post-production happening all the way in Canada.”

For “Dziesmu kamoliņš”, she became a multi-functional musical mastermind – in addition to vocals, she played the piano and violin, and produced the entire album. From the first spark of the idea to the finished record, the process took almost a decade.

“It was exciting, even if the excitement sometimes mixed with uncertainty about how it would all sound in the end. The magic came from giving each musician the time to experiment and find themselves in the Latvian folk song. That was crucial for me. My friends truly put their hearts, experience, and roots into it,” Arta recalls.

As for when listeners might experience this remarkable ensemble live, Arta is hopeful about bringing it to light in a couple of years. “We’re thinking 2027,” she says. “I hope this time will give people the chance to really listen and learn these songs by heart, so they can sing along at the concerts. That would be the greatest joy – that moment of being and singing together.”

And if you want to start preparing for just that, you can get “Dziesmu kamoliņš” on Bandcamp or listen to it on all major streaming platforms.

For more on Latvia’s vibrant music scene, explore our music coverage.