On Thursday, April 24, Lea Borcak and Rūta Muktupāvela from The CRIES Project (lead by Project Leader Katrine Frøkjær Baunvig) had the pleasure of participating in a fascinating panel at the 16th Conference of Baltic Studies in Europe, hosted by the University of Cambridge, UK.

Their session, "Collective Singing as Cultural Resilience in the Baltic and Scandinavian Regions", explored how singing traditions strengthen communities, preserve cultural memory — and sometimes, quietly draw lines of exclusion.

Lea's (Aarhus University) paper examined the ambivalent role of communal singing in Denmark, showing how this celebrated tradition can both foster community and enforce emotional conformity.

Živilė Arnašiūtė (University of Chicago) offered a powerful analysis of Soviet-era operas in Lithuania as spaces where national identity and suppression collide.

Rūta Muktupāvela (Latvijas Kultūras akadēmija / Latvian Academy of Culture) discussed collective singing and the inclusion/exclusion of ethnic minorities in Latvia, asking crucial questions about representation and participation.

A key theme across their papers was, as Živilė put it, the "anxiety of belonging" — how singing can simultaneously unite and divide.In the engaged discussion that followed, an important point emerged:

Part of the inclusivity myth around collective singing stems from the fact that singing traditions are often studied within national frameworks. Rarely are they explored transnationally, across borders and contexts.

Through The CRIES Project, we are proud to be taking steps toward a transnational conversation about singing cultures, their histories, tensions, and possibilities across Baltic and Scandinavian spaces.

Thank you to our brilliant co-panelists and to everyone who contributed to such a rich and forward-thinking discussion!

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