" Saule, Pērkons,

Daugava The Daugava ( ), also known as the Western Dvina or the Väina River, is a large river rising in the Valdai Hills of Russia that flows through Belarus and Latvia into the Gulf of Riga of the Baltic Sea. The Daugava rises close to the source of ...

" 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 ...

n choir song. The text originates from the 1916 poem ''Daugava'' by the Latvian poet

Rainis Jānis Pliekšāns (11 September 1865 – 11 September 1929), known by his pseudonym Rainis, was a Latvian Poetry, poet, playwright, Translation, translator, and politics, politician. Rainis' works include the classic plays ''Uguns un nakts'' ('' ...

, while the musical part is composed by

Mārtiņš Brauns Mārtiņš Brauns (17 September 1951 – 24 November 2021) was a Latvian composer and musician. He composed multiple pieces, most notable of which is '' Saule, Pērkons, Daugava'', a choir song regularly performed at the Latvian Song and Dance ...

. The song was first performed in the Valmiera Drama Theatre in 1988. In 1990 it was performed at the

Latvian Song and Dance Festival The Latvian Song and Dance Festival () is one of the largest amateur choral and dancing events in the world, and an important event in Latvians, Latvian culture and social life. As one of the Baltic song festivals, it is also a part of the UNES ...

and quickly became a musical symbol of the

Singing Revolution The Singing Revolution was a series of events from 1987 to 1991 that led to the restoration of independence of the three Soviet-occupied Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania at the end of the Cold War. The term was coined by a ...

. After Latvia regained its independence, the song remained highly popular and there was even a discussion of it becoming the new national anthem. In 2014, an adapted version of the song with lyrics of

Miquel Martí i Pol Miquel Martí i Pol (; 19 March 1929 – 11 November 2003) was one of the most popular and widely-read Catalan language, Catalan poets of the twentieth century, publishing more than 1,500 poems. Biography At the age of 14, Martí i Pol starte ...

, titled ' became the official anthem of the

Catalan independence movement The Catalan independence movement (; ; ) is a Social movement, social and political movement with roots in Catalan nationalism that seeks the independence of Catalonia from Spain. While proposals, organizations and individuals advocating for Ca ...

. In 2018, it was voted the best Latvian song by listeners of the Radio SWH radio station, winning a plurality of the nearly 137,000 votes cast.

Lyrics

References

External links

Saule, Pērkons, Daugava on the 2018 Latvian Song and Dance Festival
National symbols of Latvia Latvian folk songs {{song-stub