Composer Vilnis Salaks has been leading the VEF Culture Palace’s Male vocal ensemble for over half a century. Their repertoire is purely based on folk – folk songs, folk song adaptations, patriotic Latvian songs. Ensemble annually gives countless concerts for wide variety of events – both on personal and National importance levels.
Vilnis Salaks has brought his ensemble’s folk repertoire to further and nearer countries, they have participated in an International festivals in Copenhagen, Denmark, in Poland, attended the 13th Latvian Song festival in Hamilton, Canada, and in 2012 took part in the 4th International Ancient culture academy congress in India. The group has performed numerous times in Lithuania, amongst those, also Baltic Unity Day, receiving a lot of praise and further invitations.
The vocal ensemble works as a traditional group, holding in their repertoire about 200 songs, suitable for all occasions of life – original songs and various arrangements of traditional folk songs. The average age of the participants of the group is around 50. The composer Vilnis Salaks has been leading the group for 55 years now – he is a vocal instructor and a concertmaster. As the leader of the group, Vilnis Salaks says: “We perform where we are invited and where we plan to perform ourselves”.