Folk songs of Lithuania

Lithuanian folk songs (in Lithuanian: Lithuanian: liaudies dainos) are often noted for not only their mythological content but also their relating historical events.

Lithuanian folk music includes romantic songs, wedding songs, as well as work songs and archaic war songs. Traditional songs are performed either solo or in groups, in unison or harmonized in primarily in thirds (tūravoti - lith. "to harmonize"). There are three ancient styles of singing in Lithuania that are connected with ethnographical regions: monophony, multi-voiced homophony, heterophony and polyphony. Monophony mostly occurs in southern (Dzūkija), southwest (Suvalkija) and eastern (Aukštaitija) parts of Lithuania. Multi-voiced homophony is widespread in the entire Lithuania. It is most archaic in the western part (Samogitia). Polyphonic songs are common in the renowned sutartinės tradition of Aukštaitija and occurs only sporadically in other regions. Many Lithuanian dainos are performed in the minor key.

Parts of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring are based on Lithuanian folk melodies, as are works by many Lithuanian composers, including Juozas Naujalis and Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis.

Cf. Celtic Gaelic duan 'song'; Romanian doină, daină 'folk song, often with a sad music or contents'.

Lithuania is home to many folk music festivals. The "Dainų šventė" (literally Song Celebration ) a state-supported festival, is perhaps the most famous. First held in 1924, it has continued every five years since and helps to keep the folk and choral music tradition alive. Other major folk festivals include the Skamba skamba kankliai and the Atataria trimitai, both held annually. Of historical importance is the Ant marių krantelio, which was held in the 1980s and was the first major festival of its kind. The Baltica International Folklore Festival is held in one of the Baltic states every year.

The tradition of mass Song Festivals was inscribed in the UNESCO list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2003.

Sutartinės - multipart songs, (from the Lithuanian word sutarti — to be in concordance, in agreement, singular sutartinė) are unique examples of folk music. They are an ancient form of two and three voiced polyphony, based on the oldest principles of multi-voiced vocal music: heterophony, parallelism, canon and free imitation. Most of the sutartinės were recorded in the 19th and 20th centuries, but sources from the 16th century on show that they were significant along with monophonic songs. Recognizing their uniqueness and value, UNESCO inscribed sutartinės into the representative list of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2010.

The topics and functions of sutartinės encompass almost all known Lithuanian folk song genres—work, calendar cycle ritual, wedding, family, wartime, historic, etc. Melodies of sutartinės are not complex, containing two to five pitches. The melodies consist of two equal-length parts; the rhythm of one of the two parts is typically syncopated, creating rhythmic counterpoint when sung as a round.