vēsture - Latvijas Valsts Arhīvu sistēma

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and various tours, as well as food and drink at festival locations with lower
prices for them.
the authoritarian government merged the 9th Song Festival with
another ideological and national event – installation of victory Square. the
Song Festival was to be the opening celebration of the square. the goal in
both cases was to mobilise the masses in support of the regime and of life
under an authoritarian regime. Ulmanis can be seen as the main actor in
the 9th Song Festival, and the event was a dedication to the leader. at the
centre of the programme were Ulmanis’ arrivals, his speech, and his real
and symbolic presence, around which everything else circled. in his official
address, Ulmanis talked about the history of the latvian people and its
links to the present and the future. Song, he claimed, would ensure eternal
life for latvia. Kārlis Ulmanis made promises and oaths, and he spoke the
words “may you live forever, latvia, as the sun which sparkles in the sky.”
the message was that Ulmanis’ regime and “latvia of may 15” would be
the only latvia, and it would live eternally.
Keywords: 9th Song Festival, Kārlis Ulmanis, authoritarian regime,
ideology, cultural management.
iesniegts 2008. gada 1. aprīlī