Auļi is a

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

band formed in 2003. The band consists of 6 bagpipers, 3 drummers and 1

electric cello The electric cello is a type of cello that relies on electronic amplification (rather than acoustic resonance) to produce sound. An acoustic cello can be fitted with a bridge or body mounted contact pickup providing an electric signal, or a built- ...

player. The band also uses the

Jew's harp The Jew's harp, also known as jaw harp, juice harp, or mouth harp, is a lamellophone instrument, consisting of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue or reed attached to a frame. Despite the colloquial name, the Jew's harp most likely originated in ...

and the

shawm The shawm () is a Bore (wind instruments)#Conical bore, conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 13th or possibly 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissanc ...

, an ancestor of the oboe, in their music.

History

In 2005, Auļi released their 12-track debut album ''Sendzirdēju''. In 2010, the band released their third studio album titled ''Etnotranss'' (Ethno trance), a term they created to describe their music. The album features Andris Grunte on

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

. On May 4, 2013, Auļi performed a 10-year anniversary concert at Palladium Riga. The same month the band released a

best of A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

album ''Dižducis'' with 12 of their previously released compositions, re-arranged by multi-instrumentalist Kārlis Auzāns and joined by Juris Kaukulis from Dzelzs Vilks, folk singer Zane Šmite, Madagascarian musician Kilema (vocals and

valiha The valiha is a tube zither from Madagascar made from a species of Valiha diffusa, local bamboo; it is considered the "List of national instruments (music), national instrument" of Madagascar. The term is also used to describe a number of re ...

) and other guest musicians. In 2016, Auļi released their fifth studio album ''Gadalokos'' with compositions about the Latvian seasons (''Sala laiks'', ''Sērsnu laiks'', ''Pavasara laiks'', ''Ziedu laiks'', ''Siena laiks'', ''Rudens laiks'', ''Veļu laiks'' and ''Ledus laiks'') and celebrations ( Meteņi,

Lieldienas The Christian festival of Easter is celebrated in Latvia as Lieldienas (). Lieldienas enters Holy Week with Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, but Sunday will mark first Lieldienas. Second Lieldienas is on Monday of t ...

, Ūsiņi,

Jāņi Jāņi () is an annual Latvians, Latvian festival celebrating the summer solstice. Although, astronomically the solstice falls on the 21st or 22nd of June, the public holidays—Līgo Day and Jāņi Day—are on the 23rd and 24th of June. The d ...

, Māras, Apjumības, Mārtiņi,

Ziemassvētki Ziemassvētki (), also Ziemsvētki is an annual festival in Latvia which observes the winter solstice and birth of Jesus Christ. Latvians around the world celebrate it from 24 to 25 December. 24 December is Ziemassvētku vakars (Christmas Eve, lit ...

and Pieguļa). The album was inspired by a calendar pendant found in a 1999–2000 archaeological excavation in

Tukums Tukums (; ; ) is a town in Latvia and serves as the administrative center of Tukums Municipality. It is located in the eastern part of the historical region of Courland, and with more than 16,000 inhabitants Tukums is the 13th largest settlem ...

. In 2017, Auļi together with Tautumeitas released a 13-track album ''Lai māsiņa rotājās!'' dedicated to

engagement An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''f ...

s and

wedding A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicity, ethnicities, Race (human categorization), races, religions, Religious denomination, denominations, Cou ...

s. The album received Annual Latvian Music Recording Award as the Best Folk music album of 2017. ''Lai māsiņa rotājās!'' also reached position No. 26 in the 2018 World Music Charts Europe, as well as No. 38 in the April 2018 and May 2018 Transglobal World Music Chart. In 2019, Auļi released a 12 song album ''Senĉu Balsis: Voices of the Ancestors'' featuring four guest musicians (Batzorig Vaanchig, Albin Paulus, Kai Somby, and Edgars Lipors) each representing a distinctive singing style (

Tuvan throat singing Tuvan throat singing, also known as Mongolian throat singing, is a style of singing practiced by people in Tuva and Mongolia, the main technique of which is known as ''khoomei'' ( or ). It is noted for including overtone singing. In 2009, it w ...

, yodeling, joiking, and traditional Latvian singing). Two months after the release of the studio album Auļi released a live concert recording of this album called ''Voices of the Ancestors (Live at GORS, Rēzekne, 2019)''. In 2020, Auļi released a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

inspired remote performance single alongside many other drummers and bagpipe players called ''Alšvangas dūdu meldiņš.'' This performance was released 10 May 2020 amidst the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In 2021, Auļi released a 12-composition instrumental album ''Visapkārt'' ("Immersive") using

Dolby Atmos Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels as well as free-moving sound objects, interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horiz ...

surround sound Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener ( surround channels). Its first application was in movie theaters. Prior to ...

technology.

Members

* Kaspars Bārbals —

dūdas ''Dūdas'' or ''somas stabules'' is a type of bagpipe native to Latvia, popular from the 16th to 18th centuries. History The instrument is believed to have first appeared in Livonia in the 15th century, with the first documentary evidence of ...

, pipe, bombard and drums * Leanne Barbo — torupill and

jew's harp The Jew's harp, also known as jaw harp, juice harp, or mouth harp, is a lamellophone instrument, consisting of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue or reed attached to a frame. Despite the colloquial name, the Jew's harp most likely originated in ...

* Gatis Valters — ģīga and drums * Māris Jēkabsons — dūdas and vocals * Edgars Kārklis — dūdas * Normunds Vaivads — dūdas * Gatis Indrēvics — dūdas and bombard * Mikus Čavarts — percussion instruments * Edgars Krūmiņš — drums * Kaspars Indrēvics — tree trunk drums

Discography

* ''Sendzirdēju'' (2005) * ''Auļos...'' (2007) * ''Etnotranss'' (2010) * ''Dižducis'' (2013) * ''Gadalokos'' (2016) * ''Lai māsiņa rotājās!'' (2017; with Tautumeitas) * ''Senču balsis'' (2019) * ''Voices of the Ancestors (Live at GORS, Rēzekne, 2019)'' * ''Visapkārt'' (2021)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Auli 2003 establishments in Latvia Latvian folk music groups Latvian world music groups Musical groups established in 2003