RĒVELE, folklore group of the Latvian National Cultural Society in Estonia
Folklore group Rēvele of the Latvian National Cultural Society in Estonia was founded in Tallinn at the beginning of 2011.
It unites both Latvians living in Estonia and their children and representatives of other nationalities. The manager of the group Laura Šmideberga is trying to pass on to its members the best traditions inherited from Latvian Skandinieki and considers Helmī and Dainis Stalti her main inspirers.
The wide repertoire of the group includes songs of different Latvian regions, which the inspiring pedagogue Zane Smite helps to acquire according to local traditions. A particular interest and popularity in Estonia has been earned by the Rēvele Liv folk programme. The group has repeatedly been invited to perform it in Latvia as well. The group Rēvele is an active participant in Estonian minorities’ events organized in cooperation with other nationalities, and each participant of Rēvele is invited to look for and to find their own roots, therefore in the repertoire of the group there are songs in Latvian, Liv, Seto, Estonian, Lithuanian, Russian, Ukrainian and other languages. The well-known Estonian ethnographer Igor Tõnurist helps the group to acquire local traditions. He has done the translation of Latvian folk songs, and so the group performs them also in Estonian.
Rēvele believes its main task is to present the Latvian traditional culture and has been invited to do so not only in Estonia, but also in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium and also in Latvia.