Anda Beitāne

Curriculum Vitae

(last update: December 2022)

Anda Beitāne, Mag.art., PhD.

Professor, Head of the Department of Ethnomusicology and Vice-Rector for Research and Creative Work at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music.

Born in Sigulda, Latvia. 1989-1993 studied musicology at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music in Rīga. 1994-1996 master’s degree in musicology, finishing with the thesis Vokālā daudzbalsība ar augšējo pavadbalsi Šķilbēnu pagastā [Multipart singing with an upper accompanying part in Šķilbēni parish]. PhD in 2006 at the same institution with the dissertation entitled Vēlīnās izcelsmes vokālā daudzbalsība latviešu tradicionālajā mūzikā [Multipart singing of later origin in Latvian traditional music].

1994-1996 responsible for programmes on traditional music at Radio Latvia. 1993-2003 lecturer at the Riga Teacher Training and Educational Management Academy. 2004-2015 researcher at the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia.

Since 1996 engaged at the Latvian Academy of Music: 1996-2006 lecturer, 2005-2007 head of the Department of Music Theory, 2006-2011 associate professor, since 2011 professor. In 2006 established the Department of Ethnomusicology, which she has led until now. Since 2008 Vice-Rector for Research and Creative Work.

2013 visiting professor at the Kazakh National University of Arts in Astana, Kazakhstan. 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022 Erasmus lectures at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. 2015 Erasmus lectures at the Liszt Ferenz Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary. 2017, 2019 Erasmus lectures at the Belarusian State Academy of Music in Minsk, Belarus. 2015 Lectures at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.

Since 2014 Latvian Liaison Officer at the International Council for Traditional Music, ICTM.

Research areas – local practices in Latvia and neighbouring countries, multipart music, religious musical practices, intangible cultural heritage: between music makers and cultural policies.

Fieldwork in Latvia, Russia (Siberia), Belarus and Greece.

Publications

Books

• 2019. Beitāne, Anda, Annija Bičule, Maija Rozenfelde, Gunda Miķelsone and Artūrs Kondrāts. 2019. Stories in Sounds: 100 years of the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music. Riga: Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music.
• 2009. Vēlīnās izcelsmes vokālā daudzbalsība latviešu tradicionālajā mūzikā [Multipart singing of later origin in Latvian traditional music]. 3 CDs with audio examples included. Riga: Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia.
• 2008 (ed.). Medņevas dziedātājas [The singers of Medņeva]. 2 CDs with audio examples included. Riga: Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia.
• 2008 (Ed.). Kara dziesmas [The war songs]. CD with audio examples included. Riga: Musica Baltica. CD with audio examples included.

Recordings

• 2018. Notes from Latvia. Multipart Music in the Field. European Voices: Audiovisuals 1. Ardian Ahmedaja (Ed.). Vienna: Department for Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna / Riga: Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, 212-page booklet, 2 CDs with audio examples included, ISBN 978-9934-547-02-7. Colour photographs.
• 2016. Beitāne, Anda and Edīte Husare (eds.). Škilbanu sīvas [The women of Škilbani]. Rēzekne: Latgolys Producentu Grupa.
• 2016. Suitu kāzas. Precību un kāzu dziesmas [Suiti wedding. The wedding songs]. Alsunga: EKC Suiti.
• 2009. Beitāne, Anda, Mārtiņš Boiko and Gita Lancere (eds.). Anthology of Latvian Traditional Music. Riga: Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia.

Articles (a selection)

• 2021. “Adapting the Parts: An Experiment as an Analysis Tool.” In Shaping Sounds and Values: Multipart Music as a Means of Social and Cultural Interaction. CD-ROM with 27 audiovisual examples included. Ardian Ahmedaja (Ed.). A publication of the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music.  Riga: Musica Baltica, 35-57.
• 2017. “The Sound of Medņeva: Local Multipart Singing Practice as an Instrument of Identity in North-Eastern Latvia”. In European Voices III. The Instrumentation and Instrumentalization of Sound. Local Multipart Music Practices in Europe. Ardian Ahmedaja (ed.). Vienna: Böhlau, 183-200.
• 2017. “Historical Sources and Fieldwork in Latvian Ethnomusicology: Experience and Results”. In Historical Sources of Ethnomusicology in Contemporary Debate. Susanne Ziegler, Ingrid Åkesson, Gerda Lechleitner and Susana Sardo (eds.). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 50-67.
• 2016. “The Question of ‘Harmony’ in a Local Multipart Music Practice: Eastern Latvia as a Field for Terminological Experimentation”. Res Musica, No. 8/ 2016, 87-99.
• 2015. Beitāne, Anda and Ruta Cibule. “Nemateriālais kultūras mantojums teorijā un praksē. Ziemeļlatgales pieredze. Intangible Cultural Heritage in Theory and Practice. The Experience of Northern Latgale”. In Nemateriālā kultūras mantojuma saglabāšana: Latvijas pieredze. Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage: Latvian Experiences. Anita Vaivade (ed.). UNESCO Latvijas Nacionālā komisija, Latvijas Nacionālais kultūras centrs, 86–107.
• 2015. “Who Influences Whom? Educated Musicians and their Influence on Local Multipart Music Practice in Eastern Latvia”. In Multipart Music. Personalities and Educated Musicians in Traditional Practices. Pál Richter and Lujza Tari (eds.). Budapest: Institute for Musicology RCH HAS, 226-243.
• 2014. “Traditional Polyphony in the Officium Defunctorum in North-Eastern Latvia”. In Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony. Rusudan Tsurtsumia and Joseph Jordania (eds.). Tbilisi: International Research Center for Traditional Polyphony of Tbilisi Vano Sarajishvili State Conservatoire, 238–245.
• 2013. “Multipart Singing in Latvian Traditional Music: Awards and Everyday Practice”. In Local and Global Understandings of Creativities: Multipart Music Making and the Construction of Ideas, Contexts and Contents. Ardian Ahmedaja (ed.). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 314-329.
• 2012. “Multipart Singing in Northern Latgale: Dynamics of Tradition in the Late 20th – Early 21st Century”. Res Musica, Nr. 4/ 2012, 125-143.